Woody and Buzz are 10

On Monday, this article tells us, Pixar celebrated the 10th anniversary of “Toy Story,” its debut film. The article also tells how Pixar almost lost Toy Story. The folks at Disney who bankrolled the film did not understand the vision of “Toy Story,” they hated it so much they shut down production!

Disney, the article tells us…

“…peppered the young animators with notes and suggestions. The story was too juvenile, the higher-ups said, and the characters had to be edgier. Afraid to trust themselves, Lasseter and his crew tried to follow all the directions.

It was, nearly everyone agrees, a train wreck. Disney hated the movie and the idea — and shut it down.

Lasseter recalls that he “begged’‘ for two weeks to fix things. The animators went back, took out all of Disney’s suggestions and made the movie they wanted to make in the first place. And, naturally, when they screened the new version, Disney execs loved it. There’s your corporate minds at work: First they screw it up and hate it, and then don’t even realize that they’re watching what they hated in the first place.

In the 10 years since we met Woody the cowboy, Buzz Lightyear and the rest of the “Toy Story” gang, Pixar has won 16 Academy Awards and grossed over $3 billion.

Happy Birthday Woody and Buzz!