Yesterday Is Forever

Book excerpt: Since its first feature film in 1995, Pixar Animation Studios has often been treated, rightly, as a powerful, influential, and forward-thinking animation company. However, many of its films are incredibly besotted with a nostalgic longing for the past, one that may not have truly existed outside of the mind's eye. From the Toy Story trilogy to the first Cars film, many of Pixar's films (the good and the bad) are about chasing what used to be instead of embracing the future. What's more, Pixar's influence has spread far beyond its technological prowess, as other animation studios such as Disney have more wholeheartedly embraced nostalgia for the past in recent years. In this book, published on the 20th anniversary of the original Toy Story's release, Josh Spiegel examines some of the films from Pixar and Disney over the past 20 years that have embodied one of the most important lines of dialogue in Disney history, courtesy of theme-park narration: "Here, tomorrow is today. And yesterday is forever."