The Disney Years

2006-2012

Thanks to new Disney CEO Bob Iger, in January 2006, Disney acquired Pixar. The Disney Animation department had not been able to compete with Pixar throughout the late 1990s and into the 2000s. Their own movies were being beaten out at the box-office consistently, with Pixar’s movies gaining much attention and praise from the critics. Disney had been left out in the cold.

So, it was only natural for a powerhouse studio to go and acquire its competition. It’s just business, and in a way, the two do complement each other, with John Lasseter overseeing Disney Animation as well as Pixar for a time, which allowed both studios to create some brilliant work throughout Pixar’s next decade.

More beloved movies came out of Pixar in this time period, including the tear-jerkers of Up (2009) and Toy Story 3 (2010), along with some newer ideas such as Ratatouille (2007) and Brave (2012).

Image from: https://www.laughingplace.com/w/news/2021/03/07/pixar-gives-us-a-closer-look-at-when-we-first-met-dug-in-2009s-up/

Image from: https://www.wired.com/2012/06/brave-workout/