Steven Jobs and Pixar

In 1979, Pixar, one of today's reigning animation studios, started as part of the Computer Division of Lucasfilm. John Lasseter and Ed Catmull were (and are) their star animation technology wizards.

Steve Jobs leaves Apple

In 1985, Apple co-founder Steven Jobs was ousted from the company after a boardroom struggle with then CEO John Sculley. In 1986, Jobs bought Lucasfilm's computer animation group from film producer-director George Lucas for $10 million. He renamed it "Pixar" and helped build a team around John Lasseter and Ed Catmull.

Steve Jobs returns to Apple

In 1989, Pixar won its first Oscar, a Best Animated Short Film Oscar for "Tin Toy." In 1996, John Lasseter won a Special Achievement Oscar for "Toy Story," Pixar's smashing success full-length computer-animated feature. That same year, Steven Jobs was brought back into the financially ailing Apple, when they purchased Jobs' NeXt proprietary computer operating system.

In 1997, Jobs became "the interim CEO" of Apple and made peace with his longtime business rival, Bill Gates.

Pixar grows

Of course, Pixar went on to produce a string of successful full-length animated features including, "Finding Nemo," "A Bug's Life," "The Incredibles," "Monsters, Inc.," "Ratatouille," "Cars," "Wall-E," as well as "Toy Story 2."

In 2006, Pixar was sold to Disney in an all-stock transaction valued at over $7 billion.