The overall design of the company's headquarters was due to Jobs working with Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, designer of the iconic Apple Store on Fifth Avenue. As explained in a feature by Office Snapshots, Jobs wanted a campus that "had to look good 100 years from now. That was his main criteria," according to Pixar Facilities Director Tom Carlisle. "He didn't want a standard office-park building – one with corrugated-metal siding or ribbon windows." The main atrium, noted by Pixar Times to have the outline of Monsters Inc. character Sulley in the posted photo, was designed by Jobs to promote collaboration between its employees by forcing them to interact with each other. Containing a reception, mailboxes, cafe, fitness center, and a large theater, it was believed by Jobs that "if a building doesn't encourage [collaboration], you'll lose a lot of innovation and the magic that's sparked by serendipity." The theory of increasing eye contact and allowing for opportunities to appear was a great stroke of genius according to Pixar CEO John Lasseter. "Steve's theory worked from day one. I've never seen a building that promoted collaboration and creativity as well as this one." Jobs bought the Computer Graphics Division of Lucasfilm in 1986 for $5 million, and renamed it Pixar. After creating the Pixar Image Computer, the company then went on to create a number of computer-animated commercials and shorts before producing the feature film Toy Story. This was followed by a number of high-profile animated features, which led to Disney buying Pixar for around $7.4 billion in stock in 2006.

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