What It's Like to Visit the Pixar Animation Studios in California

Blogging has given me some incredibles opportunities over the past five years but visiting the Pixar Animation Studios earlier this month as part of the Incredibles 2 Event is definitely near the top of that list of blogging career highlights. Right up there with walking the Thor: Ragnarok red carpet last fall and touring the Southern Living test kitchen a few years ago!

We had the chance to not only tour the studios but to visit the Pixar archives building and try our hand out at creating our favorite “super” as well with a little instruction from the Pixar team! And of course I wore the brand new Incredibles shirts I created right before the trip!

A Photo Tour of Pixar Animation Studios

It’s hard to describe the feeling of walking onto the Pixar campus, so I’m not even going to try. Instead, I’m hoping some of my favorite photos I took from our visit will help do the job for me.

From the parking lot entrance to the on-campus basketball court, creativity and attention to detail are evident in every square inch.

Incredibles Artwork & Pixar Tour

One of the coolest things for me about the Pixar experience was taking a tour of the Pixar building. As our guide walked us through the second floor of the building, he explained how one side of the second floor gallery is dedicated to artwork from Pixar’s upcoming film, in this case Incredibles 2. The other side is dedicated to either a recent release (Coco) or it will switch out to showcase artwork and projects from the talented Pixar team members.

I love love love that Pixar is so supportive of their employees and as we interviewed various team members, I could tell that this would be an amazing place to work. I’m sure the support and encouragement is a big part of that!

Here are just a few photos from the Incredibles 2 gallery. I tried my best to give you an idea of the look and feel of the gallery without providing any spoilers from Incredibles 2! Because unlike my friend Patty, I don’t like spoilers and don’t want to ruin anything for you!

Photo by Marc Flores

Photo by Marc Flores

Photo by Marc Flores

Photo by Marc Flores

Photo by Marc Flores

Pixar Studios Store

We ended our tour with a stop in the Pixar store of course! Mini luxo balls, shirts, and the iconic white Pixar mug all made it into my shopping bag to take home as souvenirs. I’m pretty sure I could’ve bought all the things.

Pixar Archives Tour

After our tour of the main building, we were taken to the top secret Pixar archives building for a tour. I didn’t expect to be so fascinated by the archives but how could you not? This is the place where the original drawings, artwork, sketches, and molds are stored once movies go into production. It’s a place filled with years and years of creative genius. And it was amazing.

Photo by Marc Flores

Photo by Marc Flores

Photo by Marc Flores

Creating A Super

As we toured the campus and listened to different Pixar team members speak, I couldn’t help thinking, holy cow – these people all have so much talent. I can’t even imagine being able to do those things.

Then they took us to a “create a super” class. We learned about how Pixar team members started brainstorming new superheroes for Incredibles 2 by just putting together random shapes and colors as inspiration. Some of those models were even turned into the supers we’ll see in Incredibles 2 when it comes out in June!

Then they let us bloggers at it. While our supers may not end up on the big screen, I was pretty proud of us for coming up with creative supers like coffee mom, party mom, and preggo mom. Looks like we’re all pretty talented too!

Photo by Marc Flores

About Incredibles 2

Everyone’s favorite family of superheroes is back in “Incredibles 2” – but this time Helen (voice of Holly Hunter) is in the spotlight, leaving Bob (voice of Craig T. Nelson) at home with Violet (voice of Sarah Vowell) and Dash (voice of Huck Milner) to navigate the day-to-day heroics of “normal” life. It’s a tough transition for everyone, made tougher by the fact that the family is still unaware of baby Jack-Jack’s emerging superpowers.

When a new villain hatches a brilliant and dangerous plot, the family and Frozone (voice of Samuel L. Jackson) must find a way to work together again—which is easier said than done, even when they’re all Incredible.

Check out the Incredibles 2 poster and the brand new trailer below! And check back over the next few weeks as I share all things Incredibles 2!