 When we think of computer animation, we inevitably think of Pixar. Though competitors like Dreamworks, Elimination Entertainment, and Time Warner definitely exist and put out successful entertaining movies, Pixar is the oldest, most highly awarded computer animation studio in the world, starting with their first feature, Toy Story, in 1995. Even after Disney acquired Pixar in 2006, they kept producing incredible films like Up, Brave, and Inside Out. But Pixar's success wasn't always inevitable. In honor of their 22nd feature film, Onward, it's a perfect time to tell Pixar's story on this short edition of Out of Frame. The history of Pixar is truly remarkable, and it's skillfully related in the book Creativity, Inc., by co-founder Ed Katman. It's one of the best books you'll ever read about creativity and nurturing a collaborative innovative team. If you haven't read it and you're interested in a creative career, I could not possibly recommend it more highly. Back in the 1950s, a young Edwin Katmul sat captivated every Sunday by the explanations of Walt Disney on how his company was blending innovative technology with the classic art form of cartoon animation. Although he loved to draw, Ed quickly figured out that he didn't have the kind of talent necessary to become an animator at Disney, and turned his attention to math and science instead. But he never gave up on his dream of making animated movies. While studying computer science at the University of Utah in 1969, Katmul got an idea for a new tool for filmmaking. Computer graphics. Sure, it seems obvious now, but at the time, it just seemed crazy. This was back before personal computers existed, when mainframes with less computing power than a discount smartphone took up entire rooms, and data storage cost about a million dollars per megabyte. But technology barely existed to create and manipulate two-dimensional static graphics, much less 3D moving images. But Katmul believed in the potential of smart, creative humans to innovate their way around technological constraints. After getting his PhD and briefly working as a teacher in the mid-70s, he was hired by the New York Institute of Technology to run their computer graphics laboratory. His team made some major advances, but they didn't really make any headway in terms of actual production. One of the biggest problems Katmul faced was that most movie studios, including Disney after Walt died, were completely uninterested in what computer technology could offer them. While George Lucas smashed box office records with Star Wars in 1977, the visual effects offshoot of Lucasfilm, Industrial Light and Magic was the cutting edge for live-action movies. And in 1979, Lucas set out to add a computer division to ILM, and he hired Ed Katmul to run it. Now, again, this is 1979, we're still a year away from IBM releasing its first PC with a Microsoft operating system. Even with the enthusiastic backing of George Lucas and the carefully cultivated culture of Skywalker Ranch headquarters, it still took four more years to effectively blend computer-generated effects with live-action footage. And it required building a unique piece of technology to do it, the Pixar image computer. Around the same time, a bright young Disney animator named John Lasseter stopped by Lucasfilm to see what was in development. Shortly after that, Lasseter pitched an innovative project to his superiors at Disney that blended traditional animation with computer-generated backgrounds. Not only was Lasseter's idea rejected by his bosses, he was promptly fired. But Disney's short-sightedness was the Pixar group's gain, and Ed Katmul didn't hesitate to hire Lasseter to help with their first animated short, The Adventures of Andre and Wally B, released in 1984, eight years before Disney would use computer-generated effects in their animated feature, Aladdin. But George Lucas wasn't actually interested in making animated films. He only wanted to incorporate computer graphics into live-action movies. That, combined with financial constraints, pushed Lucasfilm to sell the Pixar group to another firm in 1986. And who bought it? Steve Jobs. Soon, the now-independent company released a new animated short, Luxo Jr. in 1987, and another, Tin Toy, in 1988, that won the company its first Oscar. But as a business, Pixar struggled. It tried to be a hardware company by selling its Pixar image computer, then shifted to a software company, neither with any real success. In 1990, they started producing commercials for companies like Trident and Tropicana. They won awards, but didn't make much money. Steve Jobs actually came close to selling Pixar three separate times, between 1987 and 1991, and poured more than $50 million of his own money into keeping the company afloat. But finally, Disney, which had ignored Katmul and fired Lasseter, came to Pixar and offered a deal to finance the production of three feature-length movies. It took some time and a lot of revisions to get a green light from Disney for the script for Toy Story. But a week after Toy Story's record-breaking release in 1995, Pixar went public as a company, exceeding Netscape as the biggest IPO of the year. The rest is mostly history. Thankfully, Ed Katmul, John Lasseter, Steve Jobs, and all the others in the early days of Pixar had confidence in their entrepreneurial vision, despite years of dismissal from others in the movie and technology industries. This is what entrepreneurs all over the world do every day. They have a vision of a better world, and they devote themselves to figuring out how to get there. Whether that's through groundbreaking technology like Pixar or building a better widget, entrepreneurs drive our standards of living higher and higher just by pursuing their own goals in a market economy. Pixar has remained a relentlessly innovative company ever since, pushing the limits of what's possible with technology while still holding fast to its core mission of telling great stories. That's why Pixar has not just survived its 34 years in existence, but found a way to thrive. Hey, everybody. Thanks for watching this short episode of Out of Frame. What did you think? Let me know in the comments. If you want to know more about the importance of entrepreneurs and the entrepreneurial way of thinking, check out the links in the description. And don't forget to like, share, and subscribe to all our social channels on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Thanks for watching.