Disney Fires Pixar Employee Behind Toy Story 2’s Rescue

Disney has recently made headlines by laying off 75 employees from its esteemed animation studio, Pixar. Among the unfortunate casualties of these layoffs are some of the studio’s long-time and senior personnel. Notable names affected by the cuts include Angus MacLane, the director of the highly anticipated film “Lightyear,” who had dedicated an impressive 26 years to Pixar, as well as Galyn Susman, a renowned producer famous for her pivotal role in “saving” the beloved animated masterpiece, Toy Story 2.

The story of Susman’s heroics during the production of Toy Story 2 has been recounted numerous times over the years, most notably in a detailed account published by TNW in 2012. It was during the late 1990s that an animator, while cleaning up files, accidentally deleted a substantial portion of the team’s two years’ worth of work on the film. However, they breathed a sigh of relief upon realizing that they had backup tapes, albeit in the form of physical tapes since it was the era of 1998.

Initially, it seemed like a minor setback. While some recent animation work had been lost, it appeared to be just a week’s delay in the grand scheme of a project that had been years in the making. Unfortunately, as the team delved into the restored data, they encountered a series of problems. The backup tapes had their own issues—they had silently reached their capacity months earlier and had been overwriting old data with new saves during each backup. Consequently, the restored animation proved to be faulty as well.

Oren Jacob, the former Chief Technical Officer of Pixar, vividly recalls the disheartening moment: “That work is definitely wasted because it’s on top of an unreliable restoration. Now, sadly, what’s happened is that there is zero confidence in any solution because the restoration is bad, the work on it is bad, the deletion was horrible, and the backup tapes are busted.”

The situation seemed bleak, with all potential paths forward appearing broken. The team found themselves in a pivotal meeting in Bugville, Pixar’s corporate complex, where panic set in. Amidst the despair, one individual, Supervising Technical Director Gayle Susman, stepped forward with a remarkable idea. Having recently become a mother, she had been working from home and maintained her own backups.

With determination, Susman and Oren Jacob left the meeting and swiftly made their way to her Volvo. They embarked on a nerve-wracking journey across the bridge, securing the precious machine and carefully wrapping it with blankets. In their desperate pursuit to return, they even hoped for a police escort, but luck was not on their side. Nevertheless, they arrived safely back in Richmond, where a team of eight people greeted them in the parking lot, carrying a plywood sheet to act as a makeshift pedestal. With the utmost care, they escorted the Volvo, now bearing the weight of the team’s immense efforts, into the machine room.

Miraculously, their plan worked! Integrating the data with the rest of the team required extensive effort, but they eventually regained momentum, ultimately saving the movie. However, the story takes a bittersweet turn. It is less widely known that despite Susman’s heroic efforts, Pixar’s leadership was dissatisfied with the film to such an extent that a significant portion had to be scrapped and redone in a grueling, months-long crunch. This period of intense pressure took a severe toll on Pixar’s workforce, resulting in physical and emotional strain. Reports indicate that “a full third of the staff” experienced repetitive strain injuries (RSI), and there were distressing incidents such as an animator forgetting his child in the back seat of his car in a haze of exhaustion.

Fast forward to 2023, and as part of broader layoffs at Disney, which include both staff reductions and the cancellation of TV shows, Galyn Susman finds herself among those let go. Alongside her, director Angus MacLane, responsible for “Lightyear,” and Michael Agulnek, Pixar’s vice president of worldwide publicity, also face the unfortunate consequences of these cutbacks. According to a Reuters report, their dismissals appear to stem not only from the underperformance of “Lightyear” at the box office, by Pixar’s standards, but also from Disney’s frustration that the film could not be shown in 14 Middle Eastern and Asian countries due to its depiction of a same-sex relationship—an aspect that reportedly impacted its financial success.

Despite Susman’s invaluable contribution to the history of Pixar and her pivotal role in rescuing Toy Story 2, the recent layoffs serve as a sobering reminder of the volatile nature of the entertainment industry and the challenges faced by even the most talented and dedicated individuals.

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