Everyone knows Pixar as one of the premiere animation studios on the planet. But did you know Pixar was originally part of Lucasfilm? It’s true; before Pixar became a separate organization it was a division of George Lucas’ company, where it worked on creating computer technology that could be used in special effects. Its early work included some of the first computer-generated special effects in movies, including Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Young Sherlock Holmes. That’s one of the facts featured in this all-Pixar edition of You Think You Know Movies!

Computer animation was not Pixar’s primary business at first. The company was originally focused more on hardware, and even sold a “Pixar Image Computer” for several years. Meanwhile, John Lasseter’s animation department became successful making computer-animated commercials for other companies, and slowly but surely Pixar phased out its sales business to focus on animation. Eventually the company struck a deal with Disney for three computer animation features; the first became Toy Story, and the course of film history was changed forever.

You Think You Know Movies? is a ScreenCrush original series that dives deep into the cinematic worlds of your favorite movies and freeze frames a few tidbits you might not have known. We’ve already tackled Star Wars, The Avengers and Spider-Man, but this time we’re shining a light on the inner-workings of Pixar. Watch more installments of ‘You Think You Know Movies?’ below and let us know in the comments what movies we should cover next!

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