Austin Film Festival Preview: Pixar Panels [#aff10]

Pixar, through their partnership with Walt Disney, have released some of the most successful and iconic animated films of all time. Over the last fifteen years, they've used state of the art computer animation to craft stories of toys, cars, fish, monsters, cooking rats, and bugs that have connected with adult audiences just as much (if not more so) than their intended demographic.

Toy Story 3 was released earlier this year and has become the first animated film in history to cross $1 billion in worldwide box office grosses. Disney executives are rumored to be pushing hard for a full Oscar campaign and are hoping for Best Picture recognition. No matter what happens during awards season, it's hard to deny that the series has become a phenomenon around the globe.

Badgeholders for this year's AFF can sit in on two informative discussions about the creative process behind Toy Story 3. The film's screenwriter, Michael Arndt (who previously won an Academy Award for his Little Miss Sunshine script), will be on hand for Pixar Story Development Process at 9 a.m. on Saturday morning. Pixar Development Execs Mary Coleman and Emily Zuluaf will also be part of the panel as they discuss how story ideas make it to the big screen.