Pixar's Mistake with Toy Story 2
Visual booknotes for Creativity inc. bestseller - Part 4
Having survived their first challenges as a company and made history with the release of "Toy Story", the Pixar team was about to face new troubles that would force them to reconsider everything they thought had made them successful.
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Chapter 4 - Establishing Pixar’s Identity
After the triumph of "Toy Story", Pixar had forged two guiding principles:
"Story is King" and "Trust the Process".
These principles gave their artists the freedom to experiment and set the tone for all their productions: without a good story everything else was meaningless.
When Disney proposed releasing "Toy Story 2" as a direct-to-video product, Pixar boldly rejected the idea. This decision left them with the daunting task of producing two theatrical releases simultaneously: "Toy Story 2" and "A Bug's Life". To meet this challenge, they needed to scale up their team rapidly.
Ed Catmull put in charge two new directors and John Lasseter provided them with a promising story concept: Woody, the beloved cowboy toy, would face a choice between a comfortable life as a collectible and returning to his original owner, Andy, who might one day outgrow him.
The first reels created by the new directors lacked emotional depth, but the team continued to "Trust the Process", believing that things would improve with time.
Months passed, and Ed Catmull and his team clung to their principle of trusting the process until, with 9 month left before the release and still nothing good in sight, they had to acknowledge their error:
“Trust the process” had become an excuse to be passive…
Ed describes now their former “principles” as a suitcase, that somebody can pick up by the handle and leave without the rest.
Disney would have accepted the weak story, but Ed decided that it was not Pixar’s way. He appointed new directors and assembled a group of experienced storytellers dubbed "The Braintrust" to assist with story reviews. The entire team then raced against time to fix the story before the fateful release date…
.. and their efforts paid off! "Toy Story 2" not only met the deadline but became another resounding success, even outshining the original!
The real victory however was what Pixar learned from this experience:
Focus on having the right people and the right environment.
A talented, dedicated team can salvage a weak idea or broken project.
“The Process” is only a tool that can be used or changed to achieve the quality that the team strive for.
This insight would shape Pixar's approach to filmmaking for years to come, setting the stage for more future successes.
That’s it for this week. See you in the next one!
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