To make sure you never miss out on your favourite NEW stories, we're happy to send you some reminders

Click 'OK' then 'Allow' to enable notifications

Not now
OK
Advert
Advert
Advert

Fans shocked after woman who saved Toy Story 2 has been laid off by Pixar

Joe Harker

Published 
| Last updated 

Fans shocked after woman who saved Toy Story 2 has been laid off by Pixar

Featured Image Credit: LANDMARK MEDIA / Alamy Stock Photo / Disney

Fans have been saddened at the departure of a Pixar producer who is credited with saving Toy Story 2 after much of the movie was accidentally deleted.

After the success of the 1995 animated move Toy Story put Pixar on the map as an animation studio to watch it seemed pretty inevitable that a sequel would follow.

At first it was going to be a direct-to-video affair as Disney was having some success in that field but when they saw some early footage they decided it should play in cinemas first.

Advert

Rather predictably a sequel did come four years later in the form of the arguably even more excellent Toy Story 2, but the film itself was almost wiped out in 1998.

Pixar co-founder Ed Catmull wrote in his book Creativity Inc. that disaster struck the production of Toy Story 2 when an unnamed employee was doing a routine spot of server cleaning when they accidentally put in a command to delete the root file for the movie.

Pixar has laid off 75 employees, including the woman who saved Toy Story 2 after it had been accidentally deleted. Credit: Disney/Pixar
Pixar has laid off 75 employees, including the woman who saved Toy Story 2 after it had been accidentally deleted. Credit: Disney/Pixar

While Pixar shut down the servers in an attempt to save Toy Story 2 it wasn't quick enough and they lost about 90 percent of the work they'd managed to do.

Advert

Character models, assets and nine-tenths of the effort they'd put into making Toy Story 2 a reality had accidentally vanished, but luckily one woman was able to step in and save the day.

Technical director Galyn Susman had given birth about six months before the catastrophic deletion and had been working from home with a copy of Toy Story 2's database.

Disaster was averted as she and another Pixar employee went to her house, wrapped her computer in blankets and brought it in to restore what had been lost.

The nightmare was over and Galyn had saved the movie with her backup copy, though Toy Story 2 later ended up being redone from the ground up later on anyway after the idea for what the film should be was revised.

Advert

Susman would go on to work on the likes of Ratatouille, Toy Story 4 and Lightyear but now she's been laid off from Pixar as part of a wave of cost cutting.

After 90 percent of Toy Story 2 was accidentally deleted Galyn Susman was able to save it with a backup she had at home. Credit: Gary Mitchell, GMP Media / Alamy Stock Photo
After 90 percent of Toy Story 2 was accidentally deleted Galyn Susman was able to save it with a backup she had at home. Credit: Gary Mitchell, GMP Media / Alamy Stock Photo

On 23 May 75 members of Pixar staff lost their jobs, including a number of senior figures like Galyn, as part of Disney's overall plan to cut 7,000 jobs and save $5.5 billion in costs.

However, fans of Toy Story 2 were saddened to hear that the woman who had helped save one of Pixar's greatest movies had just been let go.

Advert

One fan said 'she should have a job at Pixar for life if she wants' while another said it was a stark reminder that 'everyone's job is at risk'.

Someone else said they hoped she'd be getting 'a great severance package' on her way out of Pixar after working there since 1995 and playing a major role in saving Toy Story 2.

Others said it was 'pretty impressive' to have worked for the same place for over two decades, and that having worked at the top of the business for so long she could probably 'retire after a very long and well paid career' at Pixar.

Topics: Film & TV, Toy Story, Pixar, Disney, Technology, Film and TV

Joe Harker
More like this
Advert
Advert
Advert

Chosen for YouChosen for You

News

Family who turned down $50m from developers who built suburb around their home will continue to decline offers

28 minutes ago

Most Read StoriesMost Read

NCIS star David McCallum has sadly passed away at 90

16 hours ago