Disclaimer: don’t work for Pixar, am simply amazed at the creative quality and output of the studio.
One reason you can cite is that animation – whether it’s cel or computer, it takes time. Lots of time.
With cel animation you have a tremendously tedious process to paint each moment to make it match the storyboards and present the characters accurately and timing is everything – it has to be exactly right, otherwise you have a jarring experience. With computer animation you have a tremendously laborious process to render each scene… But the same principles noted above apply. The scenes have to be true to the story and the characters.
And that is the real reason that you have to look to when it comes to the output of Pixar: be true to the story, and focus on telling a great one.
Pixar has revisited and thrown away their own work more than once (the most noteworthy example was making Toy Story 2 a theatrical release instead of a direct-to-video release, and revising the majority of what they had done to date). They do it because they are focused on quality, on producing the best work they can.
They are well aware that quality takes time, and even though they work on deadlines (like all other studios) they go the extra mile to make things as good as they can. It’s a work ethic I try to aspire to and I daresay that a lot of that culture comes from the former CEO of Pixar, a gent who has displayed a similar work ethic at his other company. His name is Steve Jobs, and he is not a man who settles for second-best.
But even more than Jobs, the primary influence on Pixar is the amazing John Lasseter. He lives breathes eats and sleeps Story, and the palette he uses to tell his stories is animation. He is the heart of Pixar and his focus and passion has set a standard that the rest of the company follows. Quality takes time, and so Pixar takes the time to get there. And get it right.
I wish, someday, that I could be good enough at what I do for a company like Pixar. And maybe, if I keep working at it, I will.