How Pixar Updated the Animation of Their ‘Toy Story 4’ Characters to Appear So Detailed and Realistic

Insider producer Meredith Geaghan-Breiner took a gigantic deep dive into the process employed by Pixar that led to the latest updated iterations of Toy Story characters being more detailed and realistic than ever before.

Geaghan-Breiner explored and explained the entire production process behind Toy Story 4, which includes how the characters were designed, modeled and built, how details such as fur and feathers were achieved, which parts relied on CGI while others were hand-animated and how they brought together voice recordings with the animation.

The fourth installment in the beloved “Toy Story” franchise achieves a level of detail and realism unseen in any Disney/Pixar project yet. See how it all came to life at the legendary Pixar studios, step by step: beginning with the story and artwork stage, onto 3D computer modeling, shading and surfacing, layout, voice acting, character animation, simulation, lighting, effects, scoring, sound mixing, and the final render.