Pixar's Braintrust: How Brutal Honesty Saved Toy Story 2 (And Every Film Since)
Toy Story 2 was a disaster. Four months before release, Pixar screened an early cut for the leadership team. It was bad. The story didn’t work. Characters felt flat. Jokes landed with thuds. John Lasseter, Pixar’s creative chief, said: “This isn’t working.” Most studios would have panicked, blamed the director, or shipped it anyway. Pixar did something different. They convened the Braintrust. A group of Pixar’s best storytellers sat in a room with the director. For hours, they picked apart every scene. Brutally honest. No sugarcoating. ...