Toy Story is turning 30. But can Pixar recapture its magic?

It may seem hard to believe, but it’s already been three decades since Andy first wrote his name on the bottom of Woody’s boot in the movie Toy Story. And that anniversary is nothing to scoff at; the animation powerhouse behind it, Pixar, is celebrating its birthday in style — with brand collabs, live concerts, new merch and even unearthed Steve Jobs interviews proclaiming people will still be enjoying the movie in 60 years.

But it's doing so in the shadow of a rather large elephant in the room. Despite strong performance for a few tentpole sequels, much of the magic Pixar once commanded seems to have dissipated. And while its original films, from Elemental to Elio, struggle in the box office, films from countries and studios less well-heeled in the world of animation have somewhat usurped its throne. 

“All of these studios — the American ones especially — for so long were chasing what Pixar could do,” said entertainment reporter Petrana Radulovic. “And now they've decided that, maybe, they don't have to.”

According to Daniel Gies, co-founder of Montreal animation studio E.D. Films, the areas Pixar now struggles in are particularly difficult given how it began. Originally a computer division of Lucasfilm, Pixar burst onto the scene in 1995 with Toy Story, the tale of lost toys running back to their beloved owner.

And while the story itself tugged at the heartstrings, the achievements ran far deeper. Prior to its release, computer animation was seen as more of a novelty: 3D rendering so complex and unwieldy it could only possibly be used for image generation instead of video.

After releasing a number of short films — like the Oscar-winning Tin Toy — showcasing the technology it was at the forefront of, Pixar stunned the animation world with Toy Story, the first full length 3D computer animated film. 

More than just a moderate milestone for animation, Time magazine noted, it was “possibly the most significant since the introduction of colour.”

“The stories were really strong and really relatable at the time, but they were also performing a magic trick that no one had ever seen before,” Gies added.  

That turned what was essentially a software company into an animation behemoth overnight. And it led to a string of hits that equally rested on a supposed timeless storytelling quality and insistence on innovating what was possible in the world of animation. 

Each new movie was inextricably and excitingly connected to a new technique other animators could follow, according Alla Gadassik, an associate professor of media history and theory at Emily Carr University.

“Brave is a beautiful film about a young woman in her relationship with her mother. But for the animation industry, when they look at that film, they see incredible rendering of 3D hair and textiles,” she said. “Finding Dory is really a film about ‘How do you animate water?’ And Monsters, Inc. was a film about ‘How do you animate hair and fur and different textures?’”

“That's really been a gift — not necessarily a gift because they profit from the software, but that's been something Pixar has given all the other animation studios.”

But after a virtually unending slew of successes, came its inevitable first dud. Right on the heels of one of Pixar's biggest successes, Inside Out, 2015 saw the release of The Good Dinosaur. 

A visually stunning but narratively dull flick, Gies says it showed what happens when an animation studio gets so big it can’t risk being as creative or innovative as it once was.