A look back at Pixar, 20 years after "Toy Story"

This story originally aired on November 23, 2015.

When Buzz, Woody and the gang from "Toy Story" were first brought to life 20 years ago, they seemed more realistic than anything previously created in an animated movie.

It was the result of more than four years of work at Pixar Animation Studios. Pete Docter was one of the animators changing the way movies are made.

"You'd come to work every day and somebody would've figured something else out that you'd never seen before," said Docter.

"Toy Story"'s animators went beyond what had been done before by creating entire worlds on computers. But getting closer to reality was more challenging than they expected.

"In 'Toy Story,' almost every scene we would go, 'Oh, that's going to be really hard.' Just as a simple example, if you look at Mom or Andy, the clothes that they wear are very tight-fitting, so we don't have to deal with wrinkles and folds and movement," said Docter. "But part of the fun of working here was this was a new toy. And I was a kid who, you know, enjoyed figuring out how things work."

Pixar was owned by somebody else who liked to figure things out -- Steve Jobs. When "Toy Story" was released, Charlie Rose talked to Jobs about his role as a movie maker.

"You know the things that I've done in my life and the things we do now at Pixar, these are team sports," Jobs said.

In 1986, Jobs bought Pixar for $5 million from filmmaker George Lucas. Galyn Susman was a technical director on "Toy Story," and has worked on every sequel.

"There's no way that 'Toy Story' would've ever been made without Steve," said Susman. "He was the one who had the belief and the passion and, frankly, the gumption to go and fight for us to get us the resources that we needed to make the movie."

The studio and its arsenal of films -- including "Finding Nemo," about talking fish, and "Ratatouille," about a rat who likes to cook -- has received massive critical acclaim and collected 12 Academy Awards.

But when Pixar had no movie ready for release in 2014, some in the industry wondered whether the studio had lost its edge. Then came the release this year of "Inside Out."

So far, the movie about the inner workings of an 11-year-old girl's mind has earned more than $800 million.

"It was never a guarantee that something as bizarre and abstract as going inside the adolescent's mind, would resonate with people, make sense to people, connect with people," said Docter. "Who knew?"

In spite of the animation technology Pixar has pioneered, its films still start the old-fashioned way. "It all starts with a drawing, although we do draw digitally," said Kelsey Mann, story supervisor on "The Good Dinosaur," which Pixar will release this week.

From these drawings and the imagination of all those working on a movie at Pixar, a story takes shape. "Hundreds of those drawings for a couple minutes" of film action, said Mann.

The creativity of Pixar's animators extends to their offices. Simon Christen's workspace appears to be part of a 1930s aircraft crashed in the jungle.

"Our back story is that we were the scientists on board and now we're trying to find our way out of the jungle!" said Christen.

"The Good Dinosaur" marks the first time Pixar is releasing two movies in one year. Originally scheduled to be in theaters two years ago, the movie was delayed by production problems. In 2013, Peter Sohn replaced the movie's first director.

"A lot of the Pixar films go through these challenges of trying to make the story right," said Sohn. "And when those problems arise, just like a good parent, if there are issues, you have to bring in help."

"The Good Dinosaur" is Sohn's debut as a director, but in 15 years at Pixar, he has filled many other jobs -- from animation to voice-over work. In "Up," he was the inspiration for wilderness explorer, Russell.

"You know, when you're in a story room with these artists, everyone is going to be drawing you," said Sohn. "And the guys would draw me like a giant thumb with a hat!"

More than 90 animators worked on "The Good Dinosaur." Three seconds of animation takes about a week to complete.

Sohn said it takes a certain personality to work frame-by-frame: "You have to be patient, you have to have long vision. You know it's all about the long game."

In the 20 years since "Toy Story," Pixar has been playing that long game -- and winning.