Disney Pixar Lays off Employees, Including 'Lightyear' Director and Woman Who Saved 'Toy Story'

By Ashley Turner

The Walt Disney Company recently laid off several people at Pixar, including the director and producer of Lightyear. It was announced in late May that director Angus MacLane, a 26-year animator, had been cut from the studio in late May, which was part of the 7,000 layoffs Disney had planned for the year. He was part of the Senior Creative Team at Disney for animated films such as Coco, Incredibles 2, and Toy Story 4. Galyn Susman, who has been with the studio since the original Toy Story was released in 1995, was also laid off, according to Deadline. Her departure was one of three key Pixar personnel, including Michael Agulnek, VP of worldwide publicity at Pixar, and director MacLane, of Lightyear. A total of 75 jobs were cut on May 23, Reuters reported. 

The last time Pixar had to cut its workforce was in 2013 when The Good Dinosaur was delayed. At the time, 5% of Pixar's 1,200 employees, including director Bob Peterson, were laid off. MacLane and Susman worked on the creative team for Lightyear, a Toy Story spinoff film based on the astronaut that inspired the Buzz Lightyear toy. Chris Evans was recruited to voice the titular character. The movie made $226.7 million worldwide on a reported $200 million budget and disappointed at the box office. It was beset by several controversies, including that Tim Allen (who voices Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story) was not included in the film and that it depicted a same-sex couple, which caused some countries to prohibit its release.

Susman, a longtime Disney producer, is also credited with saving Toy Story 2 when she reportedly helped preserve what was left of the film at one time, according to TMZ. An alleged incident occurred once when a glitch in Disney's computers resulted in upwards of 90% of the movie being deleted. This happened around a year prior to the movie's imminent release. Despite the studio's efforts to save what they could, it looked as if they might have to start again from scratch. That is until Susman saved the day with a backup copy, which she, fortunately, had in her possession due to her work-from-home maternity leave. Disney still remade the movie, creating a different version from the one Galyn had saved, but her extra files likely saved Disney time, effort, and money when it came to remaking the movie. After Disney completes its layoffs in the U.S., Deadline says the media conglomerate will look to make more cuts internationally.

0comments
Start the Conversation

of