Watch: 1996 interview with Steve Jobs about the early days of Pixar
by Alex Billington
November 21, 2025
Source: YouTube
“We’re trying to build a big animation studio.” A fascinating blast from the past – harkening back to the very early days of Pixar and the computer graphics industry. A long-lost interview with 1996 was found and uploaded to YouTube – thanks to Steve Jobs Archives website. The 22-minute video (recorded exactly 29 years ago) features Steve Jobs talk about the “beginnings” of Pixar Animation Studioswhich he helped found in the 80s and 90s. This was recorded right after the original Toy story opened in 1995. This is a fascinating conversation with Steve Jobs, as it covers the business side of things, the industry, the culture and how Pixar is so unique. He explains very succinctly: The best creative people will only work in a few places… And the best IT people will work in a few places. Pixar is the only place that can hire the best in both fields. I also really like what he says about how he “works for all these people”, meaning the creators, animators, and technicians who actually do all the hard work at Pixar. And this wisdom cannot be bought, it lies in the talent of the creators and the passion of the people who make films. I wish studios would still hold on to these ideals and try to stick to what he says here. See below.
Published by Steve Jobs Archives (via Daring Fireball). Their introduction: “To mark Toy story 30th anniversary, we share a never-before-seen interview with Steve from November 22, 1996, exactly one year after the film’s theatrical release. In this sequence, he reveals the long game behind Pixar’s apparent overnight success. With striking clarity, he explains how his business model gives artists and engineers a stake in their creations, and he reflects on what Disney’s hard-earned wisdom taught him about focus and discipline. He also talks about the challenge of leading a team so talented that it inverts the usual hierarchy, the incentives that make people stay with the company, and the deeper purpose that unites them all: to tell stories that last and put something of lasting value into the culture. ” Jobs also discusses the real origins of Pixar: Ed Catmull of Lucasfilm helped found Pixar in 1986 with help from Jobs and they made commercials for 9 years before directing Toy story as their first feature film. And the rest is history! Their workforce doubled in 1996 then they made The life of an insect in 1998. It is truly fascinating to listen to Jobs talk about the ideas and aspects of Pixar that have remained values that still guide their vision and operation. Pixar 30 movie Hoppers should be released next March.
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