What was the first Pixar movie?
Toy Story (1995) was Pixar's first feature film and the first feature-length movie made entirely with computer animation. Pixar made short films before that.
Pixar started as the computer graphics group of Lucasfilm and became an independent company in 1986, funded by Steve Jobs. Its early work included short films such as Luxo Jr. (1986), starring the desk lamp that later became Pixar's logo, and Tin Toy (1988), which won an Oscar and inspired ideas used in Toy Story.
Toy Story was directed by John Lasseter and released by Disney in November 1995. Tom Hanks voiced the cowboy doll Woody and Tim Allen voiced the space ranger Buzz Lightyear. The film was the highest-grossing movie released that year in the United States.
A turning point for animation
Toy Story earned a special achievement Oscar and became the first animated film nominated for Best Original Screenplay. Its success pushed studios around the world toward computer animation. Pixar went on to make hits such as Finding Nemo, Up and Inside Out, and Disney bought the studio in 2006.
Did You Know?
Toy Story took about four years to make, and each frame needed hours of computer time to render. The film has more than 110,000 frames in total.