Toy Story 2 remains one of Pixar's crowning achievements and arguably its finest sequel. Yet, this beloved film came perilously close to never reaching theaters.
Among Disney's direct-to-video sequels like Pocahontas 2, Aladdin 3, and Rox and Rouky 2, Toy Story 2 stands out, surpassing the original in humor, animation, and storytelling. Set for a 1999 theatrical release, Pixar faced a potential catastrophe that could have derailed everything.
In 1999, four years after the blockbuster debut of Toy Story, Disney commissioned the sequel. With production wrapping up and final tweaks underway, disaster struck: an inexplicable error message appeared, and every file vanished from the servers.
Oren Jacob, former technical director at Pixar, shared the harrowing tale with The Next Web. Months of painstaking work evaporated in an instant, leaving the studio in chaos and the release in jeopardy—until a fortuitous backup emerged.
The film made its deadline thanks to remote work—rare in 1999. Galyn Susman, a Pixar producer on maternity leave, had been working from home to care for her newborn. She retained 90% of the film's assets on her personal computer, enabling the team to reconstruct and release Toy Story 2 on schedule.
Remarkably, Susman remains at Pixar today, having recently produced the short film Buzz Lightyear.
