Author Guide · Business and Creativity
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In 1972, as a graduate student at the University of Utah, Ed Catmull made a one-minute film of a computer model of his own left hand; in 2011 it was added to the US National Film Registry. Born in West Virginia in 1945, he went on to run the computer graphics lab at the New York Institute of Technology, then Lucasfilm’s computer division, which Steve Jobs bought in 1986 and which became Pixar. Catmull was its president until he retired in 2019, and from 2006 also ran Walt Disney Animation Studios. In 2014 he published one book, written with the journalist Amy Wallace, about how Pixar was run. This guide covers his one key book, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 1 key books · 2014–2014 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Ed Catmull has written one book: Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration (2014), with Amy Wallace, published by Random House. An expanded edition followed in 2023, with a new introduction, two new chapters and four new postscripts. Start there; it is part history of Pixar, part account of the meetings and habits the studio used to fix films that start out bad.
Where to Start with Ed Catmull
If you want the story of Pixar
→ Creativity, Inc. (2014) — from Utah and Lucasfilm to Toy Story and the sale to Disney.
If you want a book on managing creative work
→ Creativity, Inc. (2014) — Parts 2 to 4, and the closing “Starting Points”.
If you want Steve Jobs as Pixar knew him
→ Creativity, Inc. (2014) — the afterword, “The Steve We Knew”.
1 Ed Catmull Book, in Order
Creativity, Inc.
Written with Amy Wallace and published by Random House in April 2014, the book is in four parts: how Pixar came to exist, how it protects new ideas, how it keeps its culture going, and what happened when Catmull and John Lasseter took over Walt Disney Animation Studios after Disney bought Pixar in 2006. Along the way it explains the Braintrust, the group of directors and storytellers who give each film in production blunt notes, and tells how Toy Story 2 was nearly lost to a computer error and saved by a backup an employee kept at home. It ends with an afterword on Steve Jobs and a list of “Starting Points” for managing a creative culture. It was a New York Times bestseller and was shortlisted for the 2014 Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year; an expanded edition appeared in June 2023.
In What Order to Read Ed Catmull
There is only one book, so the only choice is the edition. The 2014 original and the 2023 expanded edition tell the same story; the expanded edition adds a new introduction, two new chapters, four postscripts to existing chapters and updates throughout, covering the nine years after the first publication. If you are buying a copy now, it is the one in print.
Read it from the start. Part 1 is the history of Pixar, and the management ideas in the later parts refer back to specific films and crises described there.
A reading path
1. Creativity, Inc., Part 1: the history of Pixar
2. Parts 2 to 4: candour, failure, the Braintrust and Disney
3. The afterword on Steve Jobs and the closing “Starting Points”
Everything Else Ed Catmull Published
Beyond the 1 key books: 1 more, grouped by kind.
Open a group with the + to see every book in it.
Other editions
1
1 book · 2023
- 2023Creativity, Inc. (The Expanded Edition)a new introduction, two new chapters and four new postscripts
The years · 1945–2019
Quick facts about Ed Catmull
- Known for
- Catmull is known for co-founding Pixar and leading it for over three decades, after research at the University of Utah and Lucasfilm that helped make computer-animated film possible.
- 1945
- Born in Parkersburg, West Virginia
- 1972
- Makes A Computer Animated Hand in Utah
- 1986
- Co-founds Pixar
- 1995
- Pixar releases Toy Story
- 2014
- Creativity, Inc.
- 2019
- Retires from Pixar and Disney Animation
- Born
- 31 March 1945, Parkersburg, West Virginia; grew up in Salt Lake City
- Education
- University of Utah: BS in physics and computer science (1969), PhD in computer science (1974)
- Before Pixar
- Director of the New York Institute of Technology Computer Graphics Lab (1974–1979); vice president at Lucasfilm (1979–1986)
- Pixar and Disney
- Co-founder and president of Pixar from 1986; also president of Walt Disney Animation Studios from 2006; retired 2019
- Research
- Texture mapping, Z-buffering, Catmull–Clark subdivision surfaces, and work that led to RenderMan
- Honours
- Academy awards for technical work (1993, 1996, 2001); Gordon E. Sawyer Award (2008); ACM Turing Award (2019, with Pat Hanrahan)
- Family
- Married to Susan Anderson; three children
The red mark is 2014: Creativity, Inc., his only book.
How Ed Catmull Writes: Management Told Through Pixar’s Films
Creativity, Inc. starts as a memoir and turns into an argument. Part 1 is chronological, from computer graphics research in Utah through Lucasfilm to Toy Story; the remaining three parts are organised by problem rather than by date, with chapters called “Honesty and Candor”, “Fear and Failure” and “The Hungry Beast and the Ugly Baby”. The book closes with a list of principles, “Starting Points”, rather than a conclusion.
Each idea is attached to a specific episode. Candour is explained through the Braintrust, which grew out of the working relationship of John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter, Lee Unkrich and Joe Ranft on Toy Story; Catmull writes that “early on, all of our movies suck” and that the studio’s job is to take them “from suck to not-suck.” Other chapters use the near-loss of Toy Story 2, the years it took to settle the story of Up, and the sale to Disney in 2006, where Steve Jobs appears in tears of relief.
He writes as a scientist looking at a system: his doctorate was on displaying curved surfaces by computer, and the book treats a studio as something to be observed, tested and corrected. Much of it is about Pixar’s own mistakes rather than its successes. Reviewing it in The Christian Science Monitor, Janet Saidi found it strongest when he brings that scientific background to the creative process, and warned that it is about hard work and process, not the films’ colour.
Frequently asked questions about Ed Catmull’s book
How many books has Ed Catmull written?
One: Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration (2014), written with Amy Wallace. An expanded edition was published in June 2023 with a new introduction, two new chapters and four new postscripts.
What are Ed Catmull’s books in order?
There is only one, Creativity, Inc. (2014), followed by its expanded edition in 2023.
Where should I start with Ed Catmull?
With Creativity, Inc., his only book. If you are buying a copy now, the 2023 expanded edition contains everything in the original plus his reflections on the nine years since.
What is Ed Catmull’s most famous book?
Creativity, Inc. (2014), the only book he has written. It was a New York Times bestseller and was shortlisted for the 2014 Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year, which went to Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century.
Should I read the original or the expanded edition of Creativity, Inc.?
The expanded edition (2023) keeps the original text and adds a new introduction, two new chapters, four postscripts to existing chapters and updates throughout. The original (2014) is shorter and ends in the year it was written, before Catmull’s retirement in 2019.
What is the Pixar Braintrust?
A group of Pixar directors, writers and heads of story who meet every few months to look at each film in production and give its director candid notes. It grew out of the Toy Story team of John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter, Lee Unkrich and Joe Ranft. Catmull writes that his main job in those meetings is to protect their candour.
What does Creativity, Inc. say about Steve Jobs?
The book ends with an afterword, “The Steve We Knew”, about Jobs, who bought Lucasfilm’s computer division in 1986 and owned Pixar until Disney bought it in 2006. The chapter on that sale describes Jobs crying with relief.
What was Ed Catmull’s role in the animation wage-fixing case?
Emails and a deposition released in 2014, in a class action over no-poaching agreements between technology and animation companies, showed Catmull as a central figure in arrangements not to recruit each other’s staff between Pixar, Lucasfilm and other studios. He defended his actions in the deposition. In 2017 Disney, Pixar, Lucasfilm and Two Pic MC agreed to pay 100 million dollars to settle the animation workers’ claims; DreamWorks Animation, Sony and Blue Sky settled separately.
Did Ed Catmull win the Turing Award?
Yes. He shared the 2019 ACM Turing Award, announced in March 2020, with Pat Hanrahan for their work on 3D computer graphics. His research includes texture mapping, Z-buffering and Catmull–Clark subdivision surfaces.
What did Ed Catmull do before Pixar?
After his doctorate at the University of Utah in 1974 he ran the Computer Graphics Lab at the New York Institute of Technology, then from 1979 was vice president of Lucasfilm’s computer division, whose graphics group became Pixar in 1986.
Footnotes
- Edwin Catmull — Wikipedia
- Edwin Catmull — ACM A.M. Turing Award
- Creativity, Inc. (The Expanded Edition) — Penguin Random House
- Inside the Pixar Braintrust — Fast Company, 2014
- Shortlist announced for FT/McKinsey Business Book of the Year — Publishers Weekly, 2014
- Disney, Pixar and Lucasfilm to pay $100 million in wage lawsuit — Cartoon Brew, 2017
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“Candor could not be more crucial to our creative process. Why? Because early on, all of our movies suck.”
— Ed Catmull, Creativity, Inc. (2014)
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