On This Day in HistoryOn This Day in 1993, Production Began on This Groundbreaking Movie That Transformed Hollywood ForeverWith Toy Story, computer animation began its rise to dominanceToy Storywas the firstfull-length feature film to be produced entirely with computer animation. PS Photography via Getty ImagesWith a To infinity and beyond! Toy Story captured the hearts of kids and adults alike when it reached theaters in 1995. But when the movie began production on January 19, 1993, its makers didnt know it would rake inand spawn a successful franchise.They did know that they were attempting something groundbreaking: the first full-length feature film to be produced entirely with computer animation.Toy Story was shot entirely on locationin cyberspace, Wireds Burr Snider wrote in 1995.How Toy Story Changed Animation History | Pixar's First CGI Animated MovieWatch on Prior to Toy Story, animated movies were largely hand-drawn. At that point, the contribution of computer animation to feature films was measured in seconds or minutes, wrote a group of Pixar employees in a paper for an international computer conference in 1996.Pixar had put out several computer-animated short films during the 1980s, including Tin Toy, which won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film and caught the eye of Walt Disney Pictures. Its plot of toys coming to life also provided the basis for Toy Story. In 1991, Disney made a big bet, signing a deal funding a full-length film from Pixar. Toy Storys creative development phase began that year.They essentially made a commitment to the film before we had all the software ready to do it with, Ed Catmull, then president of Pixar, told Wired. It was nuts when you think about it, but we knew we could do it.Computer animation offered higher visual complexity than hand-drawn animation, from a new 3D style to details like the pattern of the plaid shirt worn by cowboy doll Woody or the precise timing of action hero Buzz Lightyear waving his hand.It was a movie. It was lit, it was dimensional, we had cameras moving around through things. It felt like a movie, Pixar co-founder John Lasseter said in 2015. Yet, they were cartoony, and they were moving like cartoons. They were plastic.The new approach also made animation less time- and labor-intensive. Hand-drawn animation could require up to 30 people to complete one shot. Meanwhile, a team of just 30 total animators completed Toy Storys more than 1,500 shots.Pixars subject matter matched the mediumthe animation style rendered geometric shapes well, but struggled with more organic shapes, making them look plastic. Toys were the perfect central characters.Though Pixar had spent years developing animation tools, still plenty more was left to be figured out on the fly.Id always say, Hey can we do this? Theyd say, No, but lets try, Lasseter told Time magazine in 2015.Despite the technological innovation and ingenuity involved, the Toy Story team didnt want the animation to be the star of the film. Instead, they wanted the story to be the priority.There are more PhDs working on this film than any other in movie history, and yet you dont need to know a thing about technology to love it, Lasseter told Wired.That dedication paid off. Lasseter received a Special Achievement Academy Award for the films technological prowess, and Toy Story also became the first animated feature ever to be nominated for Best Original Screenplay. The movie launched Pixars longstanding commercial success and movies that continued to push the bounds of what was possible in animation.Its the ugliest picture we will ever make, but you dont care because you get wrapped up in the story to this day, Andrew Stanton, who co-wrote Toy Story and many subsequent Pixar films, told Time.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Disney, Film, Movies, On This Day in History