Watching some of my favorite Pixar films, never had I imagined that I would be in San Francisco standing in Pixar Animation Studios.
Some of our favorite animations such as Toy Story, Cars, Inside Out, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Monsters University, The Good Dinosaur, and Up have all come to life at Pixar Animation Studios. This is where ideas and dreams were brought to life by some of the most talented people, It was definitely a bucket list moment for me. How can you walk onto that campus and not geek out? Especially when you see the giant and iconic Luxo Jr., and his ball.
Needless to say, I was excited to see where all the Pixar magic happens and it all starts in the Steve Jobs Building (yep, the “Steve Jobs”) since he was the one who brought Pixar to life in 1986 (It was then purchased by Disney in 2006). Not only did I see Jon Favreau & Rashida Jones hanging out in the lobby (yes, that happened), I also got to do some shopping at the Pixar store AND we were able to get a small tour of the facilities.
A Behind the Scenes Look at Pixar Animation Studios
So what do you see as you make your way around the campus? Well of course there is a ton of movie memorabilia. Like lots of it.
In addition to the memorabilia, you’ll find art work of whatever movie they are currently working on display. Oh, did I mention there is also a pool table?
In addition to a coffee stand, they also have a cereal bar that allows you to have cereal anytime you want and you have quite the selection to choose from.
There’s a soccer field, basketball court and volleyball area for the employees to enjoy.
They even have access to a swimming pool!!!!
Fun Facts
- Steve Jobs was the CEO when it first was built and the main building was named after him after he passed away.
- The main building used to be a Del Monte fruit canning company.
- Before it was the Del Monte factory, the parking lot was the outfield of the Oakland Oaks ball club.
- They have 5 facilities in total on their campus and all of them (except for 1) are named after cities in New York.
- Steve Jobs Building houses everything in production pipeline from animation forward
- The Brooklyn building (opened in 4/11) houses early parts in film making. It features some stainless steel characters in concrete, a Library on the top floor, Fireplace and a Lounge behind the fireplace with baseball stuff that was part of Oakfield team (which they used to preserve the history of site).
- The West village building houses HR, finance and theme parks.
- The Soho building has a mix, one of which is IT.
- The Archive facility is called Ellis Island
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This is really neat and it looks like so much fun!
What a fun visit! You got to see all kinds of interesting things.