Pixar

Pixar is a computer animation studio, founded in 1986, known for its work on such features as Toy Story and The Incredibles, and many Oscar winning or nominated shorts. In 1991, the studio, through John Lasseter, produced a series of shorts for Sesame Street featuring Luxo Jr.

The studio has also had several other Muppet connections. Pixar employees have included such Muppet/Sesame alumni as Bud Luckey, who serves as a director and story artist, and puppeteers Karen Prell and Mike Quinn, both of whom worked as computer animators on the features Toy Story 2 and A Bug's Life, amongst other projects. The Muppets have frequently been cited by Lasseter and Andrew Stanton as an influence, perhaps most apparent in Monsters Inc, in which Frank Oz provided a character voice. In Finding Nemo, Dory (voiced by Elen DeGeneres) briefly refers to Nemo as Elmo, and in audio commentary on the DVD release, Stanton explains that Austin Pendleton was cast as one of the fish on the basis of the crew's fond memories of Max from The Muppet Movie.