Time & Perspective Quote by John Lasseter

Pixar’s brand is polished wonder, but Lasseter is pulling back the curtain to reveal a messier truth: excellence is engineered through prolonged failure. Calling each film “the worst movie ever put on film” is comic exaggeration with a purpose. It punctures the myth of effortless genius and replaces it with something both scarier and more empowering: the idea that the “bad version” isn’t an accident, it’s a required draft.

The line “But we know” functions like a private oath, a studio’s internal folklore. It signals institutional memory: they’ve been here before, the panic is familiar, and so is the exit. That’s the real subtext - not that Pixar is immune to doubt, but that doubt has been normalized into the schedule. The phrase “trust our process” is doing heavy cultural work, reframing creativity as a system rather than a lightning strike. It’s also a quiet flex, the kind only a hit factory can afford: we can endure the ugly middle because we have time, talent, and an organization built to iterate.

The most revealing beat is the warning against getting scared and declaring the film “isn’t working.” Lasseter isn’t denying that it isn’t working; he’s insisting that “isn’t working” is a stage, not a verdict. In an industry that rewards certainty and punishes risk, the quote argues for a disciplined relationship with uncertainty - one where panic is expected, but not obeyed.