But that golden standard now shows its first signs of tarnish. The studio is lauded as the gold standard for animation, a level of praise last extended to the Disney of yore. It is now expected of Pixar that every one of its films will similarly resonate and produce hundreds of millions - sometimes billions - of dollars at the box office. Among them are titans like “Finding Nemo,” which revolutionized how the ocean is animated in cinema “Up,” which struck such a chord with families that one Utah couple built their own Disney-authorized replica of the movie’s rainbow-hued house and “WALL-E,” which secured recognition as one of the nation’s most important modern films by the Library of Congress.

In nearly three decades since, Pixar has released a total of 27 features. Each subsequent creation would build upon that approach and rival it. From its very first attempt, Pixar had evinced a novel approach to storytelling. Disney forged an agreement to produce five additional movies with Pixar, an agreement that would later lead to an unprecedented repertoire of hits and Disney’s eventual purchase of the company. Nothing else quite like the film existed at the time, and its success signaled people wanted more. Walt Disney Studios helped produce the film in partnership with the newly minted Pixar, and it became the highest-grossing picture of 1995 - earning almost $400 million in worldwide ticket sales, worth about $800 million in present-day dollars. … These are all about human relationships people can relate to.” They are all adult characters who have these quirks and their quirks can be summed up in a sentence or two. “You can see the filmmakers are not talking down to the audience,” says Jake Friedman, an animation historian at New York University and the Fashion Institute of Technology, of “Toy Story.” “There really are no child characters in the movie. It pioneered computer-generated features and proved the use of technology didn’t have to sacrifice storytelling or soul. “Toy Story” reimagined what animation could be. Such ardor might appear overdone in another context.

The audience laughed and cheered as if the two were of flesh and blood. Woody stood to thank the Academy with his trademark concoction of charm and arrogance Buzz beamed his laser at the Oscar statue in a predictable attempt at heroism. Soon, the characters, just as they do in the film, stirred to life on an enormous screen. “‘Toy Story’ carries a human spirit that shines even brighter than its computerized glow,” he said before walking off stage and leaving, curiously, the award and toys behind on the podium. The director and Pixar executive spoke with a steady timbre indicative of someone aware he’d forever altered the course of entertainment. At the glass podium, he set the iconic spaceman and cowboy toys face down beside his Oscar, then described “Toy Story,” the world’s first computer-animated feature-length film, as a labor of love for his then-fledgling studio. When John Lasseter strode onstage at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion to accept the 1996 Academy Award for special achievement, he carried with him a Buzz Lightyear action figure and a Woody doll.

Recent disney movies not pixar