Jonathan Herron:

At the time, The Little Mermaid was THE standard in motion picture animation.

That's when a little known production start-up known as Pixar pitched Tom Hanks.

"You don't want me to sing, do you?"

Pixar assured him that Toy Story would be different.

They quietly wrote out their own secret rules of story-telling:

As Toy Story went into production, Disney bosses freaked out.

Disney contacted a well-known, established songwriter for his take.

Without knowing about Pixar's secret rules, he said Toy Story needed:

Pixar broke all the rules.

And in the process, the built a better story.

Jonathan Herron