Pixar's Risks, Successes & Partnerships: "To Pixar and Beyond" Book Review & Signed-Copy Giveaway

To Pixar and Beyond by Lawrence Levy isn't just another Pixar history book. The 251-page book is Levy's view as the company's first Chief Financial Officer (1994-2006), his partnership with Steve Jobs as well as his own personal journey after his tenure with Pixar. The bulk of the book delves into Lawrence's impact on the business and how each step forward presented a new challenge which he and the team had to unlock to get Pixar to a place of profitability.

The book's prologue summarizes the book incredibly well when it says,

This is the story of how the little company that made the world fall in love with toys, bugs, fish, monsters, cars, superheroes, chefs, robots and emotions emerged from forces at work beneath it. It is about the choices and the absurd bets and risks that made it possible. It is about the tension between creative integrity and real-world necessities, and how that tension shaped those involved with it.

For Pixar fans, you can expect to read fantastic insights into the studio's past, but the book also includes many insights and direct feedback we haven't read in any other Pixar books to date. For example, we were riveted reading additional details regarding the original Disney contract with Pixar.  Some of the items, like the difficult relationship between Steve Jobs and Michael Eisner have been well documented previously, but we haven't read such direct insights into the stronghold that Disney had on Pixar due to their restrictive contract.


In all fairness to Disney, and as Levy soon found out when talking with industry experts, this seemed to be a common contract for new players to the market. But Levy, Jobs, John Lasseter, Ed Catmull and the team also realized that this contract was too restrictive on Pixar's growth if they were to become an independent, thriving company — so the team formulated 4 pillars for their growth strategy.

1. Increase Pixar's share of the profits from their films.
2. Pixar had to pay the largest portion of the production costs.
3. Increase the frequency with which Pixar released films.
4. Build Pixar into a worldwide brand.

Once the strategy was in place, the book tackles the steps needed to stand up each pillar and achieve success in that area. The first pillar was about re-negotiating the original Disney distribution deal, the second was achieved through Pixar's Initial Public Offering (IPO) when becoming a public company, while the third was about staffing.

One particular topic which captivated us was tied to pillar number four. Pixar needed to build a brand, but under the original deal, Disney wouldn't have to display Pixar's name in a meaningful way on advertisements or products. The biggest example of the benefits of the renegotiation is the comparison between the Toy Story and A Bug's Life movie posters where you can see how Toy Story was titled, "Walt Disney Pictures Presents", while A Bug's Life, under the renegotiated contract, now had to display Disney and Pixar as "perceptually equal" near the film's logo.


As mentioned above, another area which couldn't have been told by anyone else and held as much validity (since Levy was the CFO) was the topic of taking the company public. There are amazing insights into the IPO process — such as the process of how an initial date was chosen, how Pixar ended up working with non-Hollywood investment banks, how they utilized the IPO roadshow to drum up interest in the investment and how the initial stock price was selected.

In addition to the great Pixar and financial details, this book also has some very thought provoking business and personal insights (including Lawrence's interest in the Buddhist philosophy of the Middle Way) along with a very clear view of Pixar's first CEO, Steve Jobs. Lawrence and Steve worked very closely after Steve hand-picked Lawrence to come to Pixar. This book may lay out the most complete look at Steve's involvement with Pixar specifically and showcases not only key negotiations but also small details among the team.

As we sat and discussed how we were going to summarize the book for our review, we realized that it wasn't going to be easy. Not because it wasn't a fantastic book, but because there were so many great topics we wanted to summarize. One final thought we wanted to include was one of Lawrence's most personal projects that he wanted to achieve. He wanted to find a way to include staff who was not "strictly speaking on the film crew" included in the film's credits — so without Levy's passion for supporting the entire studio, we may not have a view at the famed "Production babies", the Public Relations team or so many others who helped shape the studio into what is it today.

All we can say is that the book is highly recommended for Pixar fans, people interested in financial insights, business details or the entertainment industry in general — it is a well-rounded book that you'll find yourself reading very quickly. Click here to purchase To Pixar and Beyond on Amazon (sold in hardcover, paperback, ebook and audiobook formats).

If you've read To Pixar and Beyond, let us know your thoughts by leaving a comment at the bottom of this post.

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