Pixar today is perhaps the best-known and most successful name in computer-generated cartoon filmmaking. But it all started with the release of Luxo Jr. on August 17, 1986. The film, directed by John Lasseter, was only two minutes in length but has had a lasting impact on Pixar.

Lasseter set out to develop the film for that year’s Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques (SIGGRAPH), an annual conference focused on computer graphics. He had previously spent a great deal of time working on modeling his Luxo desk lamp. Lasseter worked alongside Ed Catmull – both had worked at Industrial Light and Magic – over the course of about four months to bring Luxo Jr. to life.

The plot of the short film focused on a small desk lamp, Luxo Jr., and a larger one, Luxo Sr., as they interact with a small inflatable yellow ball. While the smaller lamp is interested in playing with it in a childlike fashion, the taller one admonishes him for doing so. However, Jr., not one to be deterred, finds a much larger beach ball to play with.

Luxo Jr. impressed the crowd at SIGGRAPH thanks to its usage of shadow mapping, which is a significant focus of the animation thanks to the fact that the two characters are both lamps. The film was credited with legitimizing computer graphics as a way to create high-quality animation; animators had previously been somewhat averse to the idea of using computers to animate as it was a sharp break from the norm at the time.

The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Short film, becoming the first CGI film nominated for an Oscar. The titular character has since been seen as the mascot for Pixar Animation Studios, serving as the “I” in PIXAR before the start of their films. The small rubber ball seen in the film has also made appearances in numerous Pixar features, including Toy Story, Up, finding Nemo, Monsters Inc., Brave, and many others.

The film itself can be seen below.