I've always wondered what the big deal was with these two. I remember when people used to fight over these two saying things like "That's not a Disney movie! It's Pixar!" Even when it came to Kingdom Hearts, people used to use that logic to say Pixar movies don't belong in Kingdom Hearts games.
That has never made any since to me. As far as I know, yes they've always been two different companies but they both always worked on the same type of stuff. In fact, I think they would share employees from both sides to do the jobs. To me, saying Pixar is not Disney is like saying, Walmart and the Walmart neighborhood market are not the same thing.
I'm trying to understand because I could definitely be way off with what I said above. Was Pixar it's own bigger entity back in day and Disney bought them out? Kinda like how they did with Marvel and Star Wars? Was Pixar always apart of Disney as kind of outsource and became their own thing later in the 90's?
Are there any long time Disney fans that care to explain?
Oh maaaaaaaan. Okay.
Pixar began in 1979 as the Graphics Group, that was later bought by George Lucas to become a part of the Lucasfilm computer division. They made a bunch of experimental stuff and worked with Industrial Light & Magic on a bunch of special effects stuff in big motion picture films. Eventually some personal issues with George Lucas and the decrease in licensing revenue from Star Wars led to the Graphics Group to want to spin itself off into its own company again.
There is some history that I'm skipping but know it was mostly about what direction the company even wanted to go, which led to developing computer hardware while working on computer animated projects as a side thing, but eventually with Steve Jobs' help they were able to buy themselves out and become Pixar.
Walt Disney Studios bought a Pixar Image Computer with custom software written by Pixar so they could simplify the process of inking 2D stuff. This began the relationship between Pixar and Disney.
Their hardware business was experiencing some major rough patches due to their hardware not selling well privately or publicly. Meanwhile, John Lasseter is at Pixar developing animation demos to show off the power of their hardware and this starts catching the eyes of companies out there. They start making computer generated commercials for other companies and that starts netting them some minor success while their hardware business is crashing and burning.
Due to some miracle while they were just on the edge of probably going out of business, Pixar signed a big three-film deal with Disney. While they developed the film, the company continued to experience some awful rough patches. Steve Jobs was considering selling the company, but then reviews about Toy Story came out and then the film blew up into a major success...
And that was what put Pixar on the map.
Of course, shit hits the fan here too. Pixar begins working on Toy Story 2 as a direct-to-video movie and they get into some major disagreements with Disney on the status of the film within their 3-film deal. The film got upgraded to a theatrical release because of the success of Toy Story, but even with that Disney didn't want it to count as the second film in the deal they made with Pixar. Pixar wanted it to count for the deal, and they were also really frustrated that while the production and marketing costs were split evenly between the two companies, Disney retained all of the rights to the IP. Eventually they did count it for the deal, and the film was a major success like the first one but Pixar was still unhappy about the whole thing.
They got into some major fights after that, seeking to alter the terms of their contract so Disney only had distribution rights while still having right of first refusal if they didn't like the project pitched to them. Pixar also wanted to maintain the rights and distribution rights of the projects they had started working on at the time that they didn't view as being a part of the deal they struck with Disney but Disney didn't want to agree with it. In 2004, Pixar's relationship with Disney completely broke down and Pixar began shopping projects to other studios while self-releasing the Incredibles in that period.
Then Eisner left Disney and Pixar was more open to negotiating with Disney again. Then Pixar decided to enter an acquisition deal with Disney. The talks weren't looking that great because they were still having a lot of fights about IP rights and distribution rights and it was almost about to fall apart AGAIN but the deal went through in 2006 and all was well (and Steve Jobs was laughing it all the way to the bank because he got his revenge on Eisner, holding more shares in Disney than him lol)
After that even though Pixar was owned by Disney, it operated independently from Walt Disney Studios up until John Lasseter took over WDAS as its president and took his revenge on 2D animation by gutting the whole department and refocusing on CG films, leading Disney into its golden Revival era starting with Tangled. WDAS began to adopt Pixar's ideology on film creation being about story first (or whatever) and began to share processes between studios.
At this point, they still operate independently in terms of not working on each other's projects, but there is much more workflow, resource, and staff sharing going on ow than before.
ALL OF THAT SAID~
Pixar was not Disney. It is Disney now in that they are owned by Disney and they are much closer than before, especially with Merida being a Pixar creation but considered a part of the Disney Princess brand, but it isn't Disney because they work on distinctly different kinds of films.
That history is why people get upset when others say Pixar is Disney. Pixar worked hard to create its legacy and create a style and form of storytelling that was all its own. They fought really hard against Disney, and I think that is a legacy worth remembering before saying Disney and Pixar work on the same stuff.
(NOTE: I've always wanted Pixar in KH so I can't talk much about that weird belief. I think people who don't want Pixar in KH have forgotten what it is like to be a kid)