Pixar Animation Studios is a CGI animation production company based in Emeryville, California, United States. To date, the studio has earned twenty-two Academy Awards, four Golden Globes, and three Grammys, among many other awards, acknowledgments and achievements. It is best known for its CGI-animated feature films which are created with PhotoRealistic RenderMan, its own implementation of the industry-standard Renderman image-rendering API used to generate high-quality images.

Pixar started in 1979 as the Graphics Group, a part of the Computer Division of Lucasfilm before it was bought by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs in 1986 and given its current name.

Pixar has made 9 feature films beginning with Toy Story in 1995 and each one has received critical and commercial success. Having won critical acclaim and commercial success with Toy Story in 1995, Pixar has followed it up with A Bug's Life in 1998, Toy Story 2 in 1999, Monsters, Inc. in 2001, Finding Nemo in 2003 (which is, to date, the most commercially successful Pixar film, grossing over $800 million worldwide), The Incredibles in 2004, Cars in 2006, Ratatouille in 2007 and WALL-E in 2008. Their 10th film, Up, is set for release on May 29, 2009 and will be the first Pixar film presented in Disney Digital 3-D.

Since the inauguration of the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2001, Pixar has been nominated 6 times, losing twice with Monsters, Inc. and Cars, to Shrek and Happy Feet respectively, but winning 4 times with Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Ratatouille, and WALL-E. Pixar did not have a film nominated in 2002 and 2005.

Early history

The team began working on film sequences produced by Lucasfilm or worked collectively with Industrial Light and Magic on special effects. After years of research, and key milestones in films such as the Genesis Effect in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and the Stained Glass Knight in Young Sherlock Holmes, the group, who counted about 45 individuals back then, was purchased in 1986 by Steve Jobs shortly after he left Apple Computer. Jobs paid $5 million to George Lucas and put $5 million as capital into the company. The Computer Division was renamed Pixar, a fake Spanish word meaning "to make pictures" or "to make pixels." A factor contributing to Lucas's sale was an increase in cash flow difficulties following his 1983 divorce, which coincided with the sudden dropoff in revenues from Star Wars licenses following the release of Return of the Jedi and the disastrous box-office performance of Howard the Duck. The newly independent company was headed by Dr. Edwin Catmull, President and CEO, and Dr. Alvy Ray Smith, Executive Vice President and Director. Jobs served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Pixar.