Pixar

“When Pixar was founded and when Steve acquired that company, it was a computer, was not a storytelling company like it is today. It was a big, what we used to call a rendering engine for graphics, and I think that Steve was certainly very visionary to acquire …”

“So at this point, Steve, recognizing the advantage that was there, came in and negotiated with Pixar to do a three-picture deal with Disney.”

“For me, the magic means that people throw out ideas and they're not attached to them. If they help and they're accepted, good. If they don't help and they're not used, that's okay too, because you're not attached to them. And what we're trying to do is to figu…”

“The film focused on toys because toys are all on flat surfaces and they're made of plastic. So it's easier to do. So some of what drove the topic was the limitations of what could even be done with computers at the time.”

“Steve Jobs did believe that the potential for graphics was going to become important in the future. Steve wasn't saying, I know how to make a business out of this right now. This is going to be of value in the future, so let's figure out what we do to get ther…”

“The listing raised a hundred and forty million dollars for Pixar and beat Netscape as the biggest IPO that year.”

“In the case of nimbleness, it turns out that different groups have different notions of how to be nimble. And I like the fact that they've got their own approaches to it because they're going to bring something to the table. Without a notion that is always goi…”

“We put together what we thought was a long-term plan because we knew that underlying this industry was the exponential change in computer power and that the economics were not right and wouldn't be for several more years. But we had a plan to get ready for it,…”

“I would say from 91 to 95 was a dramatic change in him as a person. He became more empathetic and caring. He paid attention to people. You actually begin to see him having a sense of humor.”

“What they were supposed to do was to point out the problems, discuss it, make suggestions, but they couldn't tell people how to solve the problem. They couldn't override the director, and all this frankly was just to get it so that the director was free to lis…”

“There isn't the recipe. There isn't that sweet spot and you get there and you've made it. This stuff is fundamentally unstable. There is no stable point. You have to keep doing this over and over again, and it's always different. You go down a path and you rea…”

“It was also the first three-D animated computer film to be nominated for an Oscar.”

“Which was that when the film comes out, then Michael Eisner will realize he's just created his worst nightmare, because with two more films, you know, the deal's over with, but now we're a free and independent company, and so we then become a competitor. So St…”

“You could not do production work for the other. But on the other side, you could beg, borrow, and steal ideas from each other. Because we did not want them to be an existential threat to each other. We wanted them to have a good relationship and want the other…”

“So sure enough, when the film came out, it was a big success. One week later, we went public.”

“The most damaging thing is if the leader thinks their job is to be right and to know the answer, well, you're kind of shutting things off when you think that way.”

“Steve realized that it wasn't a matter of getting a good deal over somebody else. You actually need to think of them as equal partners. So in order to do that, We have to be able to put up half the money for the films so that we can genuinely say, coming into …”

“Meanwhile, Lucasfilm was put under financial strain by George's 1983 divorce settlement. Although Ed's computer graphics division was making huge strides in technology, it wasn't making money for its parent company, so George made the decision to spin it off.”

“At Disney, all the films should be musicals with five to seven musical numbers and a funny sidekick.”

“In February, 1986, Steve Jobs paid five million dollars to buy Lucasfilm's computer graphics division of 40 or so staff and establish it under a new name, Pixar.”

“Don't assume that you have to have all this experience to get something done. If you get some smart people who are in the right arc, they can do more than you expect.”

“I would say from 91 to 95 was a dramatic change in him as a person. He became more empathetic and caring. He paid attention to people. You actually begin to see him having a sense of humor.”