Disney Owned Pixar, Disney Animation, And A Third Animation Division That Never Made a Movie

In the 1990s, Disney Animation Studios was on top of the world. They released hit after hit, including some of the most iconic Disney films ever: Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), and Lion King (1994). But in 1995, Pixar Studios released Toy Story and changed the game.

When Disney faced an adversary, they did what they usually do: buy it, which came later. Pixar and Disney had a cooperation agreement, but Pixar CEO Steve Jobs’ deal with Disney had some stipulations, including that Pixar would remain independent. Pixar kept cranking out hits, making both companies rich, but at one point, Disney decided it would try and sink its cash cow. It was a battle of egos between Jobs and former Disney CEO Michael Eisner.

After the release of Toy Story 2 (1999), Eisner wanted Pixar to focus on making sequels, while Jobs wanted Pixar to have the creative freedom to go in any direction. According to Collider, Eisner believed that Pixar’s latest release, Finding Nemo (2003), was going to be a disaster, and that would bring the studio back in line.

Eisner was wrong. Finding Nemo was the second-highest-grossing movie of 2003—this emboldened Jobs. So Eisner created Circle 7 Studios. The new studio’s only job was making financially successful Pixar film sequels. It was charged with creating Toy Story 3, Monsters Inc 2, and Finding Nemo 2. 

Circle 7 went on to write a script for a Toy Story sequel that saw Buzz Lightyear being recalled to China and his fellow toys mailing themselves to China to save him.

So what happened? Before Circle 7 Studios could release a movie, Eisner was forced to resign, and CEO Bob Iger was installed. Iger and Jobs agreed, and ultimately Disney bought Pixar Studios for $7.4 billion. Like Iger recently did with former CEO Bob Chapek, he cleaned house, including shutting down Circle 7 Studios.

Most of the 168 employees at Circle 7 Animation went to work for Disney Animation and John Lasseter. The studio became known around Disney as Pixaren’t. A clever name, but we will never know what kind of Disney/Pixar film Circle 7 would have created, and now we never will.