1995 was a weird year for theatrical animation. It was the year everyone thought they had it all figured out — until they didn’t.
Walt Disney Studios’ most recent film was The Lion King. It had been a huge hit — their biggest hit ever. The toys flew off the shelves. The video game topped SNES and Genesis charts even though its second level was incredibly frustrating. The videotape was a fixture of every carpeted suburban living room within weeks of release. One thing was clear: the future was in 2D animated Broadway-style musicals with epic plotlines. Hunchback of Notre Dame was getting animated of all things. But before that, Disney had what it expected to be its biggest hit yet: Pocahontas.
Internally, Disney had assumed The Lion King would be merely a middling success; a stepping stone on the way to their REAL blockbuster. So if the response to Lion King was THIS big, Pocahontas had to be even bigger! In the weeks leading up to its release store shelves were crowded with pink-boxed merch featuring the Powhatan’s smiling face — as well as a new line from a rival toy company also called “Pocahontas” that coincidentally launched itself at the same time. I remember walking into the supermarket and seeing dual displays for both Pocahontases stacked next to each other.
Oversaturation? Well, it was believed that 90s Disney simply could not miss. Then this movie came out.
I heard a lot more chatter over Pocahontas pre-release than I did in the weeks afterward. It just did not capture the same excitement. That dual merch shelf at Fred Meyer just sat there and neither party, real or illegitimate, made much from it.
When I saw Pocahontas, a trailer appeared before it for this upcoming movie about a cowboy doll and a spaceman figure who bickered with each other a lot. The key selling point was that it was the very first all CGI movie, but it was different in other ways. It wasn’t based on a fairy tale. The characters didn’t conform to the Hero Princess Villain Comic Relief archetypes that had become standard by that time. The movie didn’t stop itself for spontaneous musical numbers (unless you count the Randy Newman-backed montages).
Though Toy Story was Disney’s major release for Thanksgiving 1995, it wasn’t supposed to be their biggest hit that year. And it definitely wasn’t supposed to change everything.
Disney (and their copycats from rival studios) would not allow an animated film to break from the established formula. But that rule only seemed to apply to traditional animation. When it came to CG, their back was turned, and they tended to just let the writers do whatever. The results were a new wave of animated films that broke norms, took risks and were contemporary for the 21st century.
People took notice. They started trusting 3D movies to entertain them more and voted with their wallets. Suits, being as suity as ever, identified the medium as the problem and shut down 2D-animated films forever, instead of just making one with the same hip sensibility as the 3D stuff (Emperor’s New Groove being the outlier here).
Thirty years later, what occurred in the fateful year of 1995 still affects us today. 3D films have become the new unquestionable norm in the way 2D films were, though some folks are trying to fight for new ideas. And Toy Story is still here, though several of its voice actors have died and its creator was fired from the company a while ago for being a bit “lotso huggin.” Whether the world needs it or not, a fifth movie is in development, but it won’t be nearly ready in time for the Big 3-0.
Instead, Disney and Pixar are honoring their little mid-90s revolution with a special birthday video and retrospective. There will be a few new bits of anniversary merchandise in 2025, but not nearly as much as there’ll be in 2026. Their 31st birthday will probably be the REAL party, but this year they’re keeping things quiet.
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