Pixar Storytelling: Rules for Effective Storytelling Based on Pixar’s Greatest Films

It’s not enough to know only what a character wants. As storytellers, we must also know (and convey) why they want it.

Pixar goes a step further by creating an inner world and existing flaw for these characters. Russel is lonely and feels estranged from and rejected by his father. Dory can’t remember anything for more than a minute or so, which causes her to live a lonely life. Let’s not forget that Pixar also makes both characters incredibly funny.

It’s the specificity and honesty of Wall-E’s life that makes him so appealing.

Pixar’s films usually offer something more in this struggle. In their movies, conflict tends to expose or change something emotional within the core of their characters.