Pixar's Senior Archivist Christine Freeman Reveals Studio's Historical Collection and Origins

Christine Freeman, Senior Archivist at Pixar Animation Studios, manages a 1,600-square-meter climate-controlled archive near the Emeryville campus. The collection preserves materials from early productions like Toy Story, A Bug's Life, and Toy Story 2, including original Pixar Image Computers. Pixar's history traces back over forty years to Ed Catmull's work at Lucasfilm's Computer Division, where innovative hardware and software were developed to replace analog compositing. In February 1986, Steve Jobs acquired the division for $10 million, formally establishing Pixar. The archive now holds concept art, sculptures, storyboards, and digital files, with a dedicated sculpture room. Freeman's team maintains relationships with former staff and facilitates access for current productions like Toy Story 5. Pixar currently has public exhibitions "Emotions at Play" in New York and "Science behind Pixar" in Columbus, Ohio, and Seville, Spain. The studio pioneered 3D computer animation with Toy Story in 1995, emphasizing story over technique. RenderMan software, once proprietary, now has an open-source version used in the 2025 Oscar-winning film Flow.