Most of us know Pixar Animation as the world leader in producing animation movies, but lesser known are the stories of exemplary leadership and team work that brought about the success of the company. In his excellent work “Superteams”, noted author Khoi Tu documents the initial days of Pixar Animation when the company was struggling to stay afloat in spite of having some of the best minds in the animation industry. No story about Pixar is complete without mentioning the core leadership team of Pixar from its initial days – 3 stalwarts of the industry – Steve Jobs, Ed Catmull, John Lasseter. These were the 3 leaders who led Pixar in times of hardship and transformed the struggling company into an animation powerhouse.
One of the biggest turning points in Pixar’s journey was in 1993 during the production of Toy Story (produced by Disney) which went on to become the biggest hit of the animation industry and catapulted Pixar to the top of heap in the animation world. However in 1993, midway during the production of Toy Story, the situation was very grim – after reviewing the work done so far, the general feeling in both Disney and Pixar camps was that the movie was headed nowhere. Disney was ready to pull the plug and halt production of the movie, when Lasseter (head of animation) convinced them to grant a few weeks extension to turn around the situation. The rest, as they say is history.
The Inflection Point: The Toy Story Crisis
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The pivotal year was 1993. Toy Story — Pixar’s first major collaboration with Disney — was falling apart mid-production. Executives were unimpressed, deadlines loomed, and morale was low. It’s at this moment that John Lasseter (then head of animation) convinced Disney to give them a few weeks to turn things around.
What followed was not just a creative sprint — it was a team transformation.
The team’s response in those few weeks laid the groundwork for what would later be known as “The Pixar Way.”
The new Toy Story went on to become the biggest hit the animation industry had seen – however more importantly, the crisis brought out the best in the Pixar team – struggling for their very existence, they started intuitively using and practicing excellent team work skills which they incorporated later into the company’s very DNA. What are some of the key lessons from Pixar’s turnaround?
Individual Brilliance, Aligned to Shared Goals
Michael Jordan is reported to have once remarked “There is no I in team, but there is in Win!” The core leadership team of Pixar is a case in point – brilliant, innovative minds who worked towards a common purpose. With great talent and brilliance came big egos and friction too as in any other team, but the 3 men shared a common belief that animation technology would revolutionize the movie industry. It was not without casualties however – one of the original 4 leadership team members, Alvy Ray Smith had multiple disagreements with Steve Jobs and eventually left Pixar.Source: Flickr The remaining 3 core members, fed off each other’s strengths – Steve Jobs with his eye for spotting the big opportunity and acting quickly, Ed Catmull’s engineering brilliance and Lasseter’s artistic talents were also instrumental in ensuring that the company hired the best people in their respective fields and never compromised on the quality of personnel.
In our experience, we’ve seen how many leaders struggle with balancing individual brilliance and collaboration. At Pixar, this balance was powered by three giants:
Steve Jobs: The visionary, constantly scanning for opportunity
Ed Catmull: The technical genius, grounding ideas in engineering rigor
John Lasseter: The creative heart, giving ideas life through storytelling
Together, they built something greater than any one of them could’ve done alone. And yes, the journey included conflict—Alvy Ray Smith, one of the original co-founders, left due to friction with Jobs. But even this departure clarified the team’s core: aligned passion, with clarity in roles and trust in strengths.
This is something we’ve noticed in our team-building interventions as well. Great teams don’t eliminate ego—they channel it toward shared impact.
All the 3 leaders were united in their belief that animation technology could bring magic to the way movies were produced and set about proving it to the world. The determination and belief of the leaders were infectious, the Pixar team is known to have set extremely audacious targets for themselves in every aspect of their work– some of which were unheard of in the animation industry. In the crisis of 1993, the belief in the shared vision was one of the major factors in helping the company pass through the tumultuous period. While facilitating visioning workshops for leadership teams, we have seen the same passion for a shared vision in all the leaders that we have been fortunate to work with. Catmull and Lasseter recently paid tribute to Jobs’ role in a public statement issued condoling his passing – an excerpt here– “Steve Jobs was an extraordinary visionary, our very dear friend and the guiding light of the Pixar family. He saw the potential of what Pixar could be before the rest of us, and beyond what anyone ever imagined. Steve took a chance on us and believed in our crazy dream of making computer animated films; the one thing he always said was to simply ‘make it great.’ He is why Pixar turned out the way we did and his strength, integrity and love of life has made us all better people. He will forever be a part of Pixar’s DNA.”
Pixar wasn’t just trying to make animated movies. They were trying to prove that computer-generated films could tell deeply human stories. This wasn’t just a stretch goal—it was uncharted territory.
In our workshops, we often emphasize the power of a compelling shared vision. When team members believe in something bigger than themselves, extraordinary things happen. We’ve seen this belief pull teams through restructures, product launches, and cultural shifts.
Pixar’s vision became a rallying cry: not just for leaders, but for every animator, engineer, and storyteller in the building.
The crisis literally melted barriers within the team like nothing else could. The Pixar team which was known to dream big and measure themselves against high standards of excellence took accountability to a new level for emerging stronger from the crisis. They started sharing ideas quickly without holding back and were brutally honest with each other in sharing feedback too. The high standards that each individual set for his/her work slowly became part of the “Pixar Way”. They were quick to take feedback, make decisions on stopping or going ahead with a particular design – the very nature of the crisis was such that without such behaviors, the company might have ceased to exist.
The Toy Story crisis forced Pixar into an “all hands on deck” mode. Hierarchies flattened, silos dissolved, and honest feedback became the norm.
In our experience, accountability becomes a real force when it’s peer-driven. At Pixar, teammates didn’t just hold themselves accountable—they held each other to the highest standards. That kind of peer culture takes time to build, but it creates teams where excellence becomes the default.
From a learning and development standpoint, we encourage managers to build peer accountability through rituals like weekly retrospectives, demo days, and structured feedback forums. Pixar lived these habits long before they were buzzwords.
A Culture That Encourages Risk and Rewards Creativity Source: Pixar
Certain elements in the team’s functioning became ingrained in the very culture of the company and has shaped the way it functioned post the crisis as well. In an article published by the Harvard Business Review, Ed Catmull points to a strong peer culture as a crucial ingredient in Pixar’s success. Tremendous amount of leeway was given to creative people in making crucial decisions regarding animation work, and they responded by putting in more than 100% into every project they worked on.
Open communication still continues to be one of the hallmarks of Pixar’s culture, where anyone who faces a problem related to their work has complete freedom in walking up to anyone else in the organization who they think can help, irrespective of their seniority or job profile. The culture also encouraged risk taking and in ensuring all ideas were heard. Catmull sums it up best when he says “Pixar’s customers expect to see something new every time. That’s downright scary. But if Pixar’s executives aren’t always a little scared, they’re not doing their jobs.”
Ed Catmull, in his Harvard Business Review piece, emphasized Pixar’s commitment to creative freedom. Decisions were made close to the work, not layered in bureaucracy. This autonomy gave animators room to experiment—and the safety to fail.
In one session with a technology company, we showed Catmull’s quote: “If you’re not a little scared, you’re not doing your job.” It sparked a discussion around psychological safety—a concept we now actively integrate into our leadership journeys.
Pixar wasn’t fearless. They just valued courage more than comfort.
Communication That Cuts Across Levels
Pixar’s open-door policy wasn’t a tagline — it was practiced. Anyone, regardless of rank, could walk up to anyone else for help. Ideas were debated freely. That kind of flat communication structure still eludes many modern teams.
In our team effectiveness sessions, we often ask teams: “Who feels comfortable disagreeing with the most senior person in the room?” The silence that follows is revealing.
Pixar’s culture encouraged dissent—not because it was easy, but because it was necessary for innovation.
Values That Outlived Their Founders
When Steve Jobs passed away, Catmull and Lasseter released a statement that beautifully captured Pixar’s DNA:
“He saw the potential of what Pixar could be before the rest of us… The one thing he always said was to simply ‘make it great.’ He is why Pixar turned out the way we did.”
In our leadership programs, we often say: legacy isn’t what you leave behind. It’s what you embed into culture.
Pixar embedded excellence, belief, and creativity — not just in their films, but in how they built their teams.
What Corporate Teams Can Learn From Pixar
If you’re an HR leader, L&D professional, or business manager, here are some ways to reflect Pixar’s principles in your own workplace:
Build rituals that reinforce shared purpose
Create space for constructive conflict and real-time feedback
Use cross-functional collaboration to break silos
Empower the frontlines with autonomy and decision-making
Celebrate risk-taking — even when it doesn’t immediately pay off
We’ve tried variations of these practices with multiple teams across industries—and the results have been consistently transformational.
Final Thoughts
Pixar’s journey reminds us that great teams aren’t a result of luck or talent alone. They are designed, nurtured, challenged, and constantly evolved.
The world sees their movies. We see their mindset.
And that’s the deeper story worth learning from.
We’d love to hear about your favorite stories of great teams. Join the conversation in the comments—or check out the other parts in this series:
Check out our other parts of “Stories of Great Teams”:
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