Instruct: Given a question, retrieve documents that answer the question.
Query: When was Pixar founded?
Pixar Animation Studios, commonly referred to as Pixar (/ˈpɪksɑːr/), is an American computer animation film studio based in Emeryville, California, that is a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, owned by the Walt Disney Company. Pixar began in 1979 as the Graphics Group, part of the Lucasfilm computer division, before its spin-out as a corporation in 1986, with funding by Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs, who became the majority shareholder.[2] Disney purchased Pixar in 2006 at a valuation of $7.4 billion by converting each share of Pixar stock to 2.3 shares of Disney stock,[4][5] a transaction that resulted in Jobs becoming Disney's largest single shareholder at the time. Pixar is best known for CGI-animated feature films created with RenderMan, Pixar's own implementation of the industry-standard RenderMan image-rendering application programming interface, used to generate high-quality images.
Often outtakes can be found as special features on DVDs. Outtakes can also be found playing over credits at the end of a film or TV program. Well known examples of this are Jackie Chan and Pixar movies, almost all of which play outtakes at the end of the movie. Pixar films, being computer-generated, do not feature "real" outtakes, but rather staged ones in which the animation features "mistakes."
According to the terms of Pixar's initial seven-film deal with Disney, all characters created by Pixar for their films were owned by Disney. Furthermore, Disney retained the rights to make sequels to any Pixar film, though Pixar retained the right of first refusal to work on these sequels. In 2004, when the contentious negotiations between the two companies made a split appear likely, Michael Eisner, Disney chairman at the time, put plans in motion to produce "Toy Story 3" at a new Disney studio, Circle 7 Animation. Tim Allen, the voice of Buzz Lightyear, indicated a willingness to return, even if Pixar was not on board. It was originally going to start production in 2006 and was set for a theatrical release in 2008.
Following the release of Toy Story 2 in 1999, Pixar and Disney had a gentlemen's agreement that Disney would not make any sequels without Pixar's involvement despite their own right to do so. After the two companies were unable to agree on a new deal, Disney announced in 2004 they would plan to move forward on sequels with/without Pixar and put Toy Story 3 into pre-production at Disney's then-new CGI division Circle 7 Animation. However, when Lasseter was placed in charge of all Disney and Pixar animation following Disney's acquisition of Pixar in 2006, he put all sequels on hold and Toy Story 3 was cancelled. In May 2006, it was announced that Toy Story 3 was back in pre-production with a new plot and under Pixar's control. The film was released on June 18, 2010 as Pixar's eleventh feature film.
Beginning with Pixar's second film "A Bug's Life", all subsequent Pixar feature films, except "Coco", have been shown in theaters along with a Pixar-created original short film, known as a "short." Other Pixar shorts, released only on home media, were created to showcase what Pixar can do (either technologically or cinematically), or were created specifically for a client.
The Vancouver animation establishment opened with much fanfare around Gastown in 2010, with an approval to produce short films based on esteemed Pixar characters. The Vancouver company worked on layout, sets and characters, animation, effects, lighting and rendering departments.
Walt Disney Studios closed its Vancouver-based Pixar Canada studio leaving nearly 100 Pixar employees without a job three years after opening. Viewers of the animation scene in Vancouver disregarded Pixar’s departure, suggesting the industry is robust enough in the province to easily absorb the displaced Pixar workers. When Pixar set in motion in British Columbia came the arrival of U.S. studios such as Digital Domain and Sony Pictures Imageworks, with Pixar touting Vancouver’s talent base, proximity and shared time zone with Los Angeles and a digital animation tax credit offered by the B.C. government. Provincial Jobs Minister Shirley Bond said that it is “disappointing” that Pixar is leaving the province, however, she saw the decision as tied to the company’s overall business strategy as opposed to the B.C. business climate.
Due to the large construction phase in the park, the parade went on hiatus starting on January 4, 2011. It was originally set to return in November, however it did not as construction was still ongoing. During the hiatus, it was replaced by "Pixar Pals", an interactive show that only featured characters from "Monsters, Inc." and "The Incredibles". Pixar Pals concluded in May 2012 and Pixar Play Parade returned on June 15, 2012 to coincide with the grand reopening of Disney California Adventure. During the 2016 Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival, the parade was put on hiatus and Pixar Pals temporarily returned to the park with "The Incredibles", but "The Monsters Inc" float did not return this time. The parade later returned when the Food and Wine Festival ended.
In January 2006, he was replaced by Pixar co-founder Edwin Catmull, when Disney acquired Pixar. It also made Catmull and Pixar's chief creative officer, John Lasseter, heads of both studios.
Beginning with "Red's Dream" and its references to previous Pixar short films, Pixar has included references in its films to other works produced by the studio. These have included cameo appearances, references to characters, objects, and titles of works. Additionally, such easter eggs or in-jokes can refer to Pixar staff, associates, or places or events from the company's past. Lastly, some items, such as A113, Pizza Planet or actor John Ratzenberger have appeared in the majority of Pixar films, establishing a set of traditions that subsequent Pixar films try to include.
Pixar and Disney had disagreements over the production of Toy Story 2. Originally intended as a straight-to-video release (and thus not part of Pixar's three-picture deal), the film was eventually upgraded to a theatrical release during production. Pixar demanded that the film then be counted toward the three-picture agreement, but Disney refused.[37] Though profitable for both, Pixar later complained that the arrangement was not equitable. Pixar was responsible for creation and production, while Disney handled marketing and distribution. Profits and production costs were split 50-50, but Disney exclusively owned all story, character and sequel rights and also collected a 10- to 15-percent distribution fee. The lack of story, character and sequel rights was perhaps the most onerous aspect to Pixar and set the stage for a contentious relationship.[38]
Furthermore, in 1988, Apple's Advanced Technology Group produced "Pencil Test," a computer-animated short to showcase the Apple Macintosh II line. Although Pixar was not officially affiliated with this film, several members of the Pixar staff advised and worked on it, including directors John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, and producer Galyn Susman. John Lasseter was credited as "Coach" in the credits of the film. The Pixar Co-op Program, a part of the Pixar University professional development program, allows their animators to use Pixar resources to produce independent films. The first CGI project accepted to the program was "Borrowed Time" (2016), directed by Pixar animators Andrew Coats and Lou Hamou-Lhadj; all previously accepted films were live-action.
Pixar's ideas and technical capabilities have developed by producing shorts since the 1980s. The first shorts were made while Pixar was still a computer hardware company, when John Lasseter was the only professional animator in the company's tiny animation department. Starting with "Geri's Game", after Pixar had turned into an animation studio, all later shorts have been produced with a larger crew and budget.
Eisner found these terms unacceptable. Then executive producer of Pixar John Lasseter, who had personally directed "Toy Story" (1995), "A Bug's Life" (1998), and "Toy Story 2" (1999), was distraught at the breakdown of the Disney Pixar relationship, as he was worried about what Disney might do with the characters Pixar had created. 
Disney initially envisioned "Toy Story 2" as a direct-to-video sequel. The film began production in a building separated from Pixar, on a small scale, as most of the main Pixar staff were busy working on "A Bug's Life" (1998). When story reels proved promising, Disney upgraded the film to theatrical release, but Pixar was unhappy with the film's quality. Lasseter and the story team redeveloped the entire plot in one weekend. Although most Pixar features take years to develop, the established release date could not be moved and the production schedule for "Toy Story 2" was compressed into nine months.
When Kondo and Tsutsumi completed production on "The Dam Keeper", they found themselves restless at Pixar. "Of course they were great to us", Kondo said of his friends at the studio. "They're our family still, but...if we didn't go back to [independent filmmaking] and challenge ourselves...in the end not only would we suffer but Pixar would suffer as well." He and Tsutsumi made the difficult decision of leaving their employment behind. Tsutsumi was a new father at the time. Kondo was soon to be married. Friends and family questioned them. However, the duo had grown deeply enamored with the experience of making films on their own. When they had first set out to direct "The Dam Keeper", they had been looking for something that could mirror the early days of Pixar. "Creating something from scratch is what 'creating' means", Tsutsumi explained. "We didn't experience that beginning and, if we stayed at Pixar, we never would." The two of them felt they had learned more in the nine months that it took to produce "The Dam Keeper" than in all of their previous years as art directors. They did not want this rewarding period of their lives to only last for a short while.
In "To Infinity and Beyond!: The Story of Pixar Animation Studios", the companion book to documentary "The Pixar Story", Karen Paik states that there are many internal references between various films in the Pixar universe. In 2009, "CityNews Toronto" made comparisons between nine "Pixar universe" films.
Due to George Lucas's financially crippling divorce, he was forced to sell off Lucasfilm Computer Graphics, by this time renamed the Pixar Graphics Group, founded by Smith and Catmull, with Lasseter as one of the founding employees. It was spun off as a separate corporation with Steve Jobs as its majority shareholder in 1986. Over the next 10 years, Pixar evolved from a computer company that did animation work on the side into an animation studio. Lasseter oversaw all of Pixar's films and associated projects as executive producer. As well as "Toy Story", he also personally directed "A Bug's Life" (1998), "Toy Story 2" (1999), "Cars" (2006), and "Cars 2" (2011).
Games of Pixar Pier is a collection of four boardwalk games themed to several different Pixar characters. It is located in Pixar Pier at Disney California Adventure.
The Interactive Products Group (also known as the Pixar Interactive Division), a Pixar subsidiary, was founded in 1996. Its staff included 95 of Pixar's 300 and was headed by Vice President Interactive Products Pam Kerwin. It was founded to create computer games and it had its own animators, art department, and engineers. They were tasked with creating two products amid intense time constraints: "Toy Story Animated Storybook:" (released April 1996) and "Toy Story Activity Center" (released October 1996), to coincide with the VHS release of the "Toy Story" film. As vice president of the Interactive Products Group from 1996 to 1998, Pam Kerwin spearheaded development of interactive edutainment products based on Pixar's feature film properties. She adapted the feature production process to the production of interactive products. The division produced the two products within 16 months. "Disney's Animated Storybook: Toy Story" was touted as "the first CD-ROM to deliver full screen, motion-picture-quality animation on home computers". Between the two products, the group had created as much original animation as there was in the "Toy Story" film itself.
These Pixar films contain references to Pixar employees.These Pixar films contain the following references to an assortment of other things.
The Pixar Photoscience Division, a division of Pixar Animation Studios, was founded in 1979 at Lucasfilm for the express purpose of designing and building a laser recorder/scanner system to input and output film to a computer for compositing and color correction of special effects. In the early years of Pixar's history, the team was responsible for the design of color monitoring instrumentation to control the color gamut and gamma of the digital images onto 35mm film using a more advance laser recorder system called PixarVision. In later years at Pixar, the team was responsible for transforming the artists computer animated images onto film master negatives. Today the team manages all digital content to a variety of delivery media, film, DVD, and digital cinema projection. The team has won Engineering and Technical Academy Awards and patents for their work in Motion Picture Sciences.
In 1987, Pixar redesigned the machine to create the P-II second generation machine, which sold for $30,000. In an attempt to gain a foothold in the medical market, Pixar donated ten machines to leading hospitals and sent marketing people to doctors' conventions. However, this had little effect on sales, despite the machine's ability to render CAT scan data in 3D to show perfect images of the human body. Pixar did get a contract with the manufacturer of CAT Scanners, which sold 30 machines. By 1988 Pixar had only sold 120 Pixar Image Computers.
Pixar Pier and Paradise Gardens Park are themed lands at Disney California Adventure, based on that of Victorian boardwalks that were once found along the coast of California. Despite its name and the presence of a nearby man-made lake, Pixar Pier is not actually a pier, but a waterside area of the park. Incredicoaster sprawls across much of the area, with various other attractions and forms of entertainment scattered around it. 
Pixar's string of critical and box-office successes continued with "Monsters, Inc.", "Finding Nemo", "The Incredibles", "Cars", "Ratatouille", "WALL-E", "Up" and "Toy Story 3" all receiving rave reviews, earning huge profits, winning awards, and overshadowing Disney's in-house offerings until "Cars 2" in 2011 ended the streak when it proved a critical disappointment, albeit still a commercial success. Disney produced a CGI/live action feature film of its own without Pixar ("Dinosaur"), but the film received a mixed reaction, even though it was a financial success. During the later years of Michael Eisner's management, friction between Disney and Pixar grew to a point that Pixar considered finding another partner when they could not reach an agreement over profit sharing. When Eisner stepped down in 2005, his replacement, Robert Iger, arranged for Disney to buy Pixar in a $7.4 billion all-stock deal ($ in today's dollars) that turned Steve Jobs into Disney's largest individual shareholder. The deal was structured so that Disney Animation and Pixar Animation would continue to operate as completely separate studios under the Disney corporate umbrella; Lasseter was placed in charge of greenlighting all new animated films for both studios in his new role as Chief Creative Officer.
Lasseter and Catmull's oversight of both the Disney Animation and Pixar studios did not mean that the two studios were merging, however. In fact, additional conditions were laid out as part of the deal to ensure that Pixar remained a separate entity, a concern that analysts had expressed about the Disney deal.[49] Some of those conditions were that Pixar HR policies would remain intact, including the lack of employment contracts. Also, the Pixar name was guaranteed to continue, and the studio would remain in its current Emeryville, California, location with the "Pixar" sign. Finally, branding of films made post-merger would be "Disney•Pixar" (beginning with Cars).[50]