The Pixar Story: The Letter of a lifetime That Started Everything With Alvy Ray Smith, Co-Founder of Pixar

Alvy Ray Smith is an American computer scientist and a Co-founder of the Lucasfilm Computer Graphics Division, Pixar, and Altamira Software. Alvy was part of the 1980s and 1990s expansion of computer animation into feature films. 

He created his first computer graphic in 1965 at New Mexico State and, by 1970, he had earned a Ph.D. in computer science from Stanford University. 

Alvy would later become the first Graphics Fellow after Microsoft bought Altamira Software. He was also the first Director of Computer Graphics at Lucasfilm. More recently, he authored the book, A Biography of the Pixel.

In this episode…

Have you seen the Toy Story series or The Incredibles? Pixar, the company behind these animated movie classics and many others, has been around for decades and is worth $7 billion today. What's more exciting is that a letter started it all as one of the co-founders, Alvy Ray Smith, said. 

How did Pixar start, and what's its connection to Disney? What are the inner workings of such a company, and what has Steve Jobs got to do with it? Alvy answers these questions and shares never-before-heard parts of the building of Pixar. He even reveals how he convinced a millionaire to fund the world's first 24-bit pixel. Want the full story? 

Listen to this episode of the Inspired Insider podcast with Dr. Jeremy Weisz, featuring Dr. Scot Gray of Top Minds as co-host, and Pixar co-founder, Alvy Ray Smith as a guest. They discuss the genesis of full animated movies in America, Pixar's contributions, Pixar becoming part of Disney, Steve Jobs's infamous role, and some business partnership lessons.