PIXAR's Various Commercial Division Works (Resurfaced 1989-2000 Commercials)

To give the company funding and to build up their company, as well as give itself practise towards their animation and skills and to build up a production team for future projects, PIXAR put their focus towards commercials in the late 1980s and early-to-mid 1990s for a better start for their company (as do many animators and animation companies starting out or continuing in the field of animation) at the decision of Steve Jobs after the company had been losing a lot of money for years, by opening up their commercial division in 1989. These commercials would gradually help the company become stand alone and lead them to work their way to making a fully CGI-animated movie.

The commercial brands, like Tropicana, Listerine and Lifesavers, were impressed by PIXAR's shorts so much that they came to them to propose the idea of them making CGI commercials for their brands. And these commercials were different in that PIXAR would only produce the ads if they could be part of the creative development on them, where as most animated adverts would only have the animation company just make the animation. And thus, PIXAR was given much more creative freedom, in advertising and in general. And as mentioned before, a lot of notable PIXAR illuminati worked on these in animation or directing, from John Lasseter to Pete Doctor to even Henry Selick, with the same couple people working in the producing and technical directing department. And the sucess surely showed as PIXAR gained $2 million per year from these while continually getting exposure to the mainstream public.

The commercial division was officially closed on July 8th, 1996; shortly after the sucess of Toy Story. However, they did still make some commercials for McDonalds coinciding with the releases of A Bug's Life and Toy Story 2 in 1998 and 2000 respectively, and of course the company continues to make commercials with their characters to this day. And despite all of this only some of the commercials have made their way to the internet in recent years, and even though they have mentioned and have shown clips of the commercials in documentaries (The Pixar Story & Pixar Shorts: A Short History) they have yet to properly rerelease the commercials in a current format. There lies hope that PIXAR may release these on one of their "PIXAR Shorts" DVDs. But until something like that happens, we have to rely on personal VHS tapings for the old ads, with quite possibly not every single last one intact.

A playlist of 28 of the original 79 PIXAR commercials can be found here and two more can be foundhere, which currently leaves 49 out of the original 79 ads still unfound or unknown as to their whereabouts to these areas.

List of the original 79 PIXAR commercials (courtesy of PIXAR Talk)
Toppan Printing – “Dance of the Waterlilies” (1989)Toppan Printing – “Galaxy” (1990)Tropicana – “Wake Up” (1989) (Director: John Lasseter, Producer: Ralph Guggenheim)'Lifesavers Holes – “Babies” (AKA “Skateboard” “The Park”) (1990) (Director: John Lasseter, Producer: Ralph Guggenheim)California Lottery – “Dancing Cards” (1990) (Director: Flip Phillips, Producer: Ralph Guggenheim)Trident – “Quite a Package” (AKA “The Piano”) (1990) (Director: Andrew Stanton, Producer: Karen Robert Jackson)Volkswagen – “La Nouvelle Polo” (1990) (Director: Andrew Stanton, Producer: Karen Robert Jackson) +Pillsbury – “Pump” (AKA “Grands”) (1990) (Director: Henry Selick & Flip Phillips, Producer: Ralph Guggenheim)Fleischmann’s Eggbeaters – “Cracks” (1991) (Director: Flip Phillips, Producer: Craig Good)Cellular One – “Moving Target” (1991) (Director: Pete Docter, Producer: Karen Robert Jackson)Tropicana – “Warehouse” (1991) (Director: John Lasseter, Producer: Ralph Guggenheim)Tropicana – “Orange Kiwi Passion” (1991) (Director: John Lasseter & Andrew Stanton, Producer: Ralph Guggenheim)Tropicana – “Three Fruits Dancing” (1991) (Director: John Lasseter & Pete Docter, Producer: Ralph Guggenheim)Toys R Us – “Grand Opening” (1991) (Director: Andrew Stanton, Producer Karen Robert Jackson)'Tetra Pak – “Lunchbox” (1991) (Director: Pete Docter, Producer: Tom Porter)'Listerine – “Knight” (AKA “The Plaque Slayer”) (1991) (Director: John Lasseter, Producer: Ralph Guggenheim)'Lifesavers – “Gummie Savers Conga” (AKA “Dance Club”) (1991) (Director: John Lasseter, Producer: Craig Good) *'Lifesavers Holes – “Life At the Beach” (AKA “Sand Castles”) (1991) (Director: Pete Docter, Producer: Karen Robert Jackson)'Listerine – “Boxer” (1991) (Director: John Lasseter, Producer: Ralph Guggenheim)Volkswagon Polo – “Interview” (1992) (Director: Andrew Stanton, Producer: Karen Robert Jackson) +Listerine – “Swinging Bottle” (AKA “The Jungle”) (1992) (Director: Andrew Stanton, Producer: Karen Robert Jackson)Tetra Pak – “Daydream” (1992) (Director: Pete Docter, Producer: Karen Robert Jackson)Kellogg’s All-Bran – “Balloon” (1992) (Director Galyn Susman & Andrew Stanton, Producer: Karen Robert Jackson) #Kellogg’s All-Bran – “Hourglass” (1992) (Director Galyn Susman & Andrew Stanton, Producer: Karen Robert Jackson) #IBM – “Logo” (1992) (Director: Henry Anderson III, Producer: Karen Robert Jackson)IncrediBites – “Chomp Chomp” (1992) (Director: Jeff Pidgeon, Producer: Karen Robert Jackson)La Poste – “Ladybug” (1992) (Director: Jeff Pidgeon, Producer: Karen Robert Jackson) +Bunn Coffee Makers – “In the Mood” (1992) (Director: Andrew Stanton, Producer: Karen Robert Jackson)Kellogg’s All-Bran – “Cello” (1993) (Director: Rich Quade, Producer: Karen Robert Jackson) #Kellogg’s All-Bran – “Sprinkler” (1993) (Director: Rich Quade, Producer: Karen Robert Jackson) #Bank South – “Hungry” (1993) (Director: Jeff Pidgeon, Producer: Karen Robert Jackson)Tetra Pak – “Stranded” (1993) (Director: Roger Gould, Producer: Darla K. Anderson) **Carefree – “Bursting” (1993) (Director: Pete Docter, Producer: Karen Robert Jackson)Fresca – “Chuckling Straws” (1993) (Director: Andrew Schmidt, Producer: Darla K. Anderson)Jordan Magic Toothbrush – “Launching Magic” (1993) (Director: Roger Gould, Producer: Darla K. Anderson)Dow Corning – “Ideas at Work” (1993) (Director: Andrew Schmidt, Producer: Darla K. Anderson)Bank South – “Chase” (1993) (Director: Andrew Schmidt, Producer: Karen Robert Jackson)Listerine – “Arrows” (1994) (Director: Jan Pinkava, Producer: Darla K. Anderson) *Coca Cola – “Kaleidoscope” (1994) (Director: Andrew Schmidt, Producer: Darla K. Anderson)Arm & Hammer – “About to Uncover” (1994) (Director: Mike Belzer, Producer: Darla K. Anderson)Arm & Hammer – “Here, There and Everywhere” (1994) (Director: Mike Belzer, Producer: Darla K. Anderson)Levi Strauss – “Woman Getting What She Wants” (1994) (Director: Jan Pinkava, Producer: Darla K. Anderson) *Nutri Grain – “We’ve Got Taste” (1994) (Director: Roger Gould, Producer: Susan Tatsuno)Lifesavers Gummisavers – “Wacky Frootz” (1994) (Director: Mike Belzer, Producer: Kori Rae)Boston Chicken – “Fresh Salad” (1994) (Director: Mike Belzer, Producer: Kori Rae)Listerine – “Mission” (1994) (Director: Andrew Schmidt, Producer: Darla K. Anderson)Prime Option Credit Card – “Shaping Up Nicely” (1994) (Director: Bud Luckey, Producer: Karen Robert JacksonPrime Option Credit Card – “Strong Option” (1994) (Director: Bud Luckey, Producer: Karen Robert JacksonParamount – “Logo” (1994)Chips Ahoy – “Balloon” (1995) (Director: Jan Pinkava, Producer: Darla K. Anderson)Chips Ahoy – “Circus” (1995) (Director: Bob Peterson, Producer: Darla K. Anderson)Ortho – “Flamingo” (1995) (Director: Andrew Schmidt, Producer: Susan Tatsuno)Levi’s Dockers – “Pinheads” (1995) (Director: Jan Pinkava, Producer: Susan Tatsuno)Hershey’s – “Amazin’ Straws” (1995) (Director: Andrew Schmidt, Producer: Susan Tatsuno)Coca Cola – “Learning Lesson” (1995) (Director: Jan Pinkava, Producer: Susan Tatsuno)Coca Cola – “Secret Weapon” (1995) (Director: Andrew Schmidt, Producer: Susan Tatsuno)Coca Cola – “Pin Box” (1995) (Director: Bob Peterson, Producer: Susan Tatsuno)Disney Interactive – “Toy Story Videogame” (1995) (Director: Glenn McQueen, Producer: Susan Tatsuno)'McDonald’s – “Art Store Break” (1995) (Director: Bob Peterson, Producer: Susan Tatsuno)Tower Records – “Christmas Conga” (1995) (Director: Shawn Krause, Producer: Susan Tatsuno)Sun Microsystems – “Magic Desktop” (1996) (Director: Andrew Schmdit, Producer: Kori Rae)Hallmark – “Magnets” (1996) (Director: Bob Peterson, Producer: Susan Tatsuno) Clio Award WinnerTwizzlers – “Check Me Out” (1996) (Director: Jan Pinkava, Producer: Darla K. Anderson)Twizzlers – “Let Me In” (1996) (Director: Jan Pinkava & Shawn Krause, Producer: Darla K. Anderson)Hershey’s – “The Tastetations” (1996) (Director: Steve Segal & Dave Feiten, Producer: Kori Rae)'Disney Interactive – Toy Story CD-Rom “Out of the Box” (1996) (Director: Glenn McQueen)Rosarita – “Wild Frijoles” (1996) (Director: Andrew Schmidt, Producer: Richard Quan)Levi’s Jeans for Women – “Shake It” (1996) (Director: Shawn Krause, Producer: Kori Rae) *Nickelodeon Zolo – “Look Away” (1996) (Director: Bob Peterson, Producer: Kori Rae)'McDonald’s – A Bug’s Life – “Belt Loop 1” (1998) (Director: Bob Koch, Producer: Karen Dufilho)'McDonald’s – A Bug’s Life – “Belt Loop 2” (1998) (Director: Bob Koch, Producer: Karen Dufilho)'McDonald’s – A Bug’s Life – “Big Toys” (1998) (Director: Bob Koch, Producer: Karen Dufilho)'McDonald’s – A Bug’s Life – “Nothing Good on TV” (1998) (Director: Doug Sweetland, Producer: Karen Dufilho)'McDonald’s – A Bug’s Life – “Nothing Good on TV Jr.” (1998) (Director: Doug Sweetland, Producer: Karen Dufilho)McDonald’s – A Bug’s Life – “Watches” (1998) (Director: Bob Koch, Producer: Karen Dufilho) Mexican TVMcDonald’s – Toy Story 2 “Up Periscope” (2000) (Director: Scott Clark, Producer: Karen Dufilho)'McDonald’s – Toy Story 2 “Remote” (2000) (Director: Scott Clark, Producer: Karen Dufilho)'McDonald’s – Toy Story 2 “Toys vs. Candy” (2000) (Director: Tasha Weeden, Producer: Karen Dufilho)'McDonald’s – Toy Story 2 “Surveillance” (2000) (Director: Angus MacLane, Producer: Karen Dufilho) Bold = FoundNon-Bold = Not found+ produced for French TV# produced for Mexican TV* Clio Award Winner** Telly Awards Winner