We may never see Disney and Pixar teamed up to develop, create, and distribute great films. Even Bob Iger says so now. And that’s getting all the news coverage. What is left out is that Pixar and Disney might still come to some sort of partnership regarding aspects other than distribution. Disney’s staff has been key in fine tuning the story, making subtle character changes, and other shifts important to Pixar’s profitability since Toy Story. The Emryville Animators can probably make do of it on their own now, but why? Continue the creative and licensing partnerships with Disney and continue to reap those benefits while making more money on the distribution end. Disney gets to keep using the characters in their themeparks and on the Disney TV networks, and Pixar makes serious dough with products that just keep getting better and better. All that’s standing in the way of this now is a couple of egos, and one of those is out the door in June of ’05.
