
Unfortunately for Pixar, Disney told the team that this would not count as one of the five films they’d contracted for distribution, despite its new big-scale appearance. Pixar asked Disney to consider changing the film over to a theatrical release, and when Disney looked at the initial reels, they were impressed enough with the quality to give the change a greenlight.

The idea of intentionally aiming low wasn’t something that Pixar had ever done, and the “B team,” despite their budgetary requirements, didn’t want to settle for less. But the culture at Pixar wasn’t one where creative teams were set up to accept mediocrity. The studio, which was also producing A Bug’s Life, ended up creating two teams: an A team for the big screen productions still in the works and a B team for the direct-to-video.


Unfortunately, aiming for a cheaply-done, low quality project was not a strategy Pixar had ever utilized before. Disney originally planned to turn the sequel over to Disneytoon Studios, but Pixar was sure they’d do a better job.
