When Pixar started out as a computer hardware company in the late seventies, the prospect of producing Oscar-winning features seemed an unlikely one. Financial losses were mounting, the company had turned to creating commercial advertising to stay afloat and, by 1990, its technology was being sold off to keep it in business.
Fast forward 20 years and the studio has made a name for itself as the leader of the animation game – thanks in part, at least, to the vision of the late Steve Jobs, who bought the company in 1986. "The company has this counter-culture, do-it-differently mentality," says producer Jonas Rivera. "That comes from him."
The main driving force remains John Lasseter, its Hawaiian shirt-toting chief creative officer who's been at its helm for two decades. Having been fired from Disney for pitching The Brave Little Toaster, an adventure film in which household appliances are able to talk, Lasseter has gone on to direct some of Pixar's biggest hits including Toy Story and A Bug's Life, and serves as executive producer of all of the studio's features. His relationship with Disney was revived in 2006 when they bought Pixar, and he has subsequently advised on every animated Disney feature from Wreck-It Ralph to recent cult kiddie hit, Frozen.
For Lasseter, the essential mix of entertainment and emotion are at the core of Pixar's work. "Walt Disney always said, 'For every laugh, there should be a tear.' I believe in that."