Pixar Animation Studios/Summary

Background
Pixar Animation Studios (pronounced "pics-ar") was formed in 1979 as The Graphics Group of Lucasfilm Computer Division by Edwin Catmull, Steve Jobs, and John Lasseter. It was renamed to its current name in 1986, and originally produced CGI animated shorts, most notably The Adventures of André and Wally B., Luxo Jr., and Tin Toy. They later began working on feature films starting with 1995's Toy Story, a joint production with Walt Disney Feature Animation which was the first ever full-length film to be computer-animated. In 2006, Pixar was acquired by The Walt Disney Company.

=== 1st Logo (August 17, 1986-1989) === Nicknames : "The Square", "The Pixar Square"

Logo : On a black background, we see a gray square with four circles in red, green, blue, and white respectively below. Suddenly, a white light hovers over them, making them 3-D. The circles then turn into spheres. A circle zooms in on the square and the four spheres zoom out. The word "P · I · X · A · R" in Trajan Pro font fades in with each sphere and the end of the letter.

Trivia :
 * The square in this logo was based on the Pixar Image Computer, which is also where the company got its name.
 * On Tin Toy, the square can be seen on a bag.
 * The square can also be seen on the game box on Geri's Game.
 * This logo also makes a cameo in Toy Story 2 on a television channel seen by Andy's toys during the channel-changing scene.
 * This logo was created by director and executive producer John Lasseter on a stone cutting machine.

Variants :
 * At the end of Luxo Jr., an in-credit text is used with the square to the left of the text.
 * On a demo reel from 1988, the standard logo is still and gray diamonds replace the spheres. The end of the reel has the logo pushed up with the company's address below. The text style used in this variant is also used on all variants listed below.
 * At the beginning of another demo reel from 1990, Tinny from Tin Toy can be seen on the right side of the screen with the Pixar logo at the top left and a 1990 copyright stamp on the bottom left. At the end, it just shows the normal Pixar logo without the symbol but with a different address and phone number.
 * On Red's Dream, the Pixar square logo is seen, which fades into the text "PIXAR".
 * On Tin Toy, we see only the "PIXAR" text and it scrolls from right to left.
 * On the original version of Knick Knack, the Pixar square logo zooms appears by a light and the text zooms up to the screen.
 * On the 1989 party video, the Pixar logo is rendered with a high specular and no wordmark.

FX/SFX : The light, the circle in the square zooming in, the circles at the bottom zooming out and the fade in of the text.

Music/Sounds : On original prints of Luxo Jr., and Beach Chair, it used a big band style tune (which is taken from the ending of "Take a Bow 1", composed by David Lindup for Bruton Music (now APM Music)). The same stock music is from a syndication promo Studio City made called "Spin City on Ice" which you may find at the beginning here: https://vimeo.com/387020580 The variants use the short's opening theme. On newer prints of Luxo Jr. starting with the DVD and Blu-ray for Pixar Short Films Collection Volume 1, the standard logo is silent, likely due to the use of the 5.1 remix from the 1999 prints that accompanied Toy Story 2, which replaced the logo with the 1995 logo and a notice.

Music/Sounds Variants:
 * On the 1989 party video, we hear a triumphant majestic fanfare followed by a voiceover (Pixar employee Craig Good) remarking "The 1989 Christmas Video, brought to you by Pixar. Nobody knows exactly what it is we do, but they know we do it better than anyone in the world."
 * On the original release of Knick Knack, Bobby McFerrin's vocals that play throughout the short is used.
 * On Tin Toy, a whimsical orchestral tune plays (taken from "Puffin' Billy" by Bruce Campbell).
 * On Red's Dream, a rainy sound effect plays, followed by a saxophone playing a sad tune.

Availability : Uncommon. Seen on Pixar's animated shorts from 1986 until 1989. It is usually plastered over on re-releases of these shorts, but it is intact on certain shorts released on Pixar Short Films Collection Volume 1. It has turned up on an original Australian VHS copy of Toy Story 2 which had the short Luxo Jr. before the film. Was also seen on the early short Beach Chair which can be found on the aforementioned Pixar Short Films Collection Volume 1 DVD (without the logo) as a bonus feature, as well as the rare Pixar employee DVD Made In Point Richmond (with the logo).

Editor's Note : While this logo may look simple, it is still well-animated, and it was very advanced for its time.

2nd Logo (Original Version) (November 22, 1995- )
Nicknames : "Luxo Jr.", "Pixar Lamp"

Logo : On a light blue background, we see the text "PIXAR" in a spaced-out Charlemagne Bold face (the "X" and the "R" appear to overlap the floor). Then, a lamp hops by. He stops once he notices the "I". He shakes his body and bounces on the "I" four times before squishing it. He looks around as the text "ANIMATION STUDIOS" fades in underneath the letters "A" and "R". He then faces the camera. Afterwards, either of the two will happen:


 * Opening: (since A Bug's Life) The logo fades out.
 * Closing: (since Toy Story) The light slowly dims until it's completely dark. Luxo Jr.'s light is still on though, but he then turns off.

Trivia:
 * The lamp is the titular character from Pixar's very first animated short, Luxo Jr., made in 1986. The sound effects are also taken from said short.
 * The logo was designed by Pixar veteran Pete Docter and animated by Pixar subsidiary Hi Tech Toons.
 * This was done on a SGI Indigo workstation. The lamp and the letters were modeled with Alias/Wavefront PowerAnimator and textured with Amazon Paint. The logo was rendered with PhotoRealistic Renderman on a Sun Microsystems supercomputer with a SPARC processor. The logo was recorded to 35mm negative on Management Graphics equipment with Monaco Labs developing it to reversal.
 * The remastered 2008 version was animated and produced by Pixar employee Gini Cruz Santos.

Variants :
 * On Cars and its video game adaptation, the text "20 YEARS" (with Luxo Jr.'s light replacing the 0 in "20"), with "CELEBRATING" above it in tiny letters, appears when the logo dims. This was plastered with the standard "scope" version on the 2013 3D re-release.
 * On the theatrical release of Cars 2, the logo plays but after the logo finishes, the letters disappear leaving just the lamp. Then, everything fades out and "CELEBRATING" fades in and slowly zooms in on a black background. Behind the text "25 YEARS" (with "25" above the "YEARS") fades in behind the "CELEBRATING" and is in a light blue font. All home video releases use the standard "scope" version of the logo.
 * On Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, the Game Boy Color version of the Monsters, Inc. video game, and Operation: Camouflage for the iPhone and iPod Touch, a still version without Luxo Jr. on a white background exists.
 * On Toy Story trailers and TV spots, a still version without Luxo Jr., with white text on a black background, can be seen.
 * On Toy Story 3 for the iPhone and iPod Touch, a still version with Luxo Jr. exists.
 * There is a short version which starts with the completed logo and only includes Luxo Jr. looking at us. It usually appears in front of shorts and trailers, as well as at the very beginning of Monsters, Inc.
 * On Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins, the logo is slightly zoomed in and slightly pushed down from the center of the screen.
 * Starting in 2008, the logo was remastered in HD.
 * On Jack-Jack Attack, the logo starts at the point where the lamp squishes the "I" and fades out just as the lamp turns towards the camera. This also applies to the 2008 logo on the 2011 reprint of the short.
 * On Cars Toons, the logo starts when the lamp lands on the "I", similar to Jack-Jack Attack, only it cuts in from the preceding Walt Disney Pictures logo and doesn't fade out when the lamp turns towards us, but instead transitions to the opening of each episode.
 * A 3D version also exists since 2009. The description can be found right below this description.
 * On Cars Toons: Mater's Tall Tales, the "ANIMATION STUDIOS" text is absent.
 * At the end of Up, Cars 2, Brave, Finding Dory, Toy Story 4, Luca, and Turning Red, the start and end of Cars 3, and at the start of the original Toy Story 4 opening scene "Bonnie's Playtime", it cuts in instead of fading in as it usually would.
 * Starting in 2019, the logo was re-animated and re-rendered with Pixar's current software. Changes include some minor color correction and the lamp being remodeled with a new base and an LED bulb.
 * On Kinect Rush: A Disney/Pixar Adventure, the animation starts from the point where the lamp is already in place.
 * On Toy Story 4 and at the end of movies produced in a 2:39:1 aspect ratio (Onward, Soul, and Lightyear), the words "ANIMATION STUDIOS" are already formed while the logo still plays as normal.
 * On Pixar's 20th Anniversary Special, when the lamp has squished the I, we can see "CELEBRATING 20 YEARS" in gold.
 * In movies produced in a 2:39:1 aspect ratio, starting with Onward, the background is slightly darker.

FX/SFX : Very nice CGI that still holds up 25 years later.

Music/Sounds : In order: the metallic sound of the lamp hopping, some whizzing sounds when the lamp shakes his body, squeaky rubber-like sounds when he jumps on the "I", and then some more squeaking sounds and a clunk as he looks around. Designed by Gary Rydstrom at Skywalker Sound, and mixed by Tom Myers.

Music/Sounds Variants :
 * On The Incredibles, Monsters, Inc., Ratatouille, Inside Out, Onward, Soul, Luca, and Lightyear, the opening theme of the movie plays over the logo.
 * On Coco, the last sound is replaced by a bell tolling, continuing into the film's intro.
 * At the end of A Bug's Life, the ending credits song ("The Time of Your Life" by Randy Newman) is used, with the last sound intact.
 * At the end of Toy Story 2 (except for the fullscreen version on the 2000 DVD and post-2009 prints), the second end credits song ("You've Got a Friend in Me (Wheezy's Version)" by Robert Goulet) is used.
 * On Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins, the first sound of the logo is strangely absent.
 * The music varies at the tail end of Monsters, Inc.; the first month of its theatrical run, the widescreen version on DVD, Blu-ray/Blu-ray 3D and Digital releases have the closing music ("Walk to Work", an excerpt from Randy Newman's score), but for the rest of the theatrical run, the 2002 VHS release, the full-screen version on DVD, the 2002 Australian DVD, and the 2012 theatrical 3D re-release, the music uses one of the songs ("If I Didn't Have You", sung by Billy Crystal as Mike Wazowski and John Goodman as Sulley) from earlier in the credits reel due to bloopers and a conclusion short being shown earlier on.
 * On Mike's New Car and Ciao Alberto, the logo is silent.
 * The logo's sounds are not normally heard whenever music plays over it. The only exceptions are the 2003 reprint of Knick Knack, Jack-Jack Attack, Cars Toons, Party Central, Auntie Edna, the original Toy Story 4 opening scene "Bonnie's Playtime", the Forky Asks a Question episode, "What is a Leader?", and Lamp Life.
 * On Lifted, the last two sounds are swapped, with the final sound being slowed down, lower-pitched, and reversed.
 * On Your Friend the Rat, the sound Luxo Jr. makes when he looks at us is noticeably slowed down and lower-pitched.
 * At the end of Toy Story 3, Finding Dory, Cars 3, Incredibles 2, and Soul, the closing theme of the movie plays over the logo, continuing on from the preceding Disney logo, and with the last sound intact.
 * On Incredibles 2, the fanfare from the custom Disney logo carries onto the custom variant of the Pixar logo.
 * On Turning Red, just after Luxo Jr. squashes the "I", the last sounds have been drowned out by a Chinese melody.

Availability : Current and very common. Seen on all Pixar movies and shorts from 1995 onward, with the exception of 3-D prints of most newer movies, which use the next logo below. It first appeared at the end of Toy Story (and appears at the beginning of said film on most current prints, following the 2006 Walt Disney Pictures logo, and plastering the Pixar variant of the WDP logo) and has appeared at the beginning and end of all Pixar features starting with A Bug's Life. The remastered version was first seen on WALL-E and last appeared on the first trailer for Toy Story 4, although it still appears in some TV spots for some of the company's newest films. It also plasters the original version of the logo in reprints of Toy Story, Toy Story 2, Monsters Inc., FInding Nemo, and Cars, as well as the Disney+ print of For the Birds (following the 2011 Disney logo) and the 2011 reprint of Jack-Jack Attack (which still retains the Pixar variant of the WDP logo). The reanimated variant first appeared on the second trailer for Toy Story 4, and made its official debut on the movie itself, even appearing on the 3-D version; also appearing on both 2020 movies (Onward and Soul), the 2021 film Luca, and both 2022 films (Turning Red and Lightyear). It plasters the previous logo on newer prints of Luxo Jr. and Knick Knack.

Editor's Note : This is one of the most popular logos in existence, and is cherished by many. The many variants that have been created are fun to watch as well.

2nd Logo (3-D Version) (May 29, 2009- )
Nicknames : "3-D Luxo Jr.", "3-D Pixar Lamp"

Logo : We start on a black screen. Then, the camera pans away from the "P" in "PIXAR", and we zoom out as Luxo Jr. (who is much smaller and is colored white) appears and does his usual animation. Instead of "ANIMATION STUDIOS" fading in, it fades in, then zooms in until it stops under the Pixar logo. The rest of the logo plays as normal.

Variants:


 * Just like its 2D counterpart, the logo has also been re-animated and re-rendered with Pixar's current software.
 * When you click on the Pixar menu on Disney+, the logo will play when you enter said menu, although it is silent. Also, the "ANIMATION STUDIOS" text fades in early, doing so without zooming in.

FX/SFX : Same as the last logo, with the addition of the moving camera.

Music/Sounds : Same as the previous logo or the opening theme of the movie.

Availability : Current and common. Seen on most Pixar 3-D releases starting with Up. Also seen when the first two Toy Story films were re-released in Disney Digital 3-D. This and the 2011 Disney logo plaster the previous logo on 3-D prints of For the Birds. It also appears on both 3-D print of newer shorts (starting with Partly Cloudy) and 2-D prints of newer shorts (from La Luna up until Lava). The reanimated variant appears on 3D versions of films starting with Onward, as well as the 2020 Disney Investor Day and when you click on the Pixar menu on Disney+.

Editor's Note : A fun twist on the Pixar logo, perfectly taking advantage of the 3D format.