To Pixar and Beyond: My Unlikely Journey with Steve Jobs to Make Entertainment History

「嗨，請問是羅倫斯嗎？我是史帝夫．賈伯斯，」線路另一頭的聲音說，「幾年前我在雜誌上看過你的照片，當時我想有一天會跟你合作……」 這一通電話，改寫了賈伯斯和作者的生命故事，也改變了動畫電影的新走向。 一九九四年十一月，作者李維接到賈伯斯的一通電話，受邀到當時沒沒無聞的PIXAR擔任首任財務長，參觀了PIXAR創新技術的電腦動畫《玩具總動員》部分原始片段後，李維決定加入這個由傳奇人物賈伯斯所擁有、又才華洋溢的PIXAR團隊。 然而，上任不久後他才發覺事情不對勁： －－賈伯斯投資在PIXAR五千萬美金了，急著要李維推動IPO找到資金 －－PIXAR唯一的獲利機會，是他們完全不熟悉的電影娛樂事業 －－迪士尼合約把PIXAR綁得死死的，幾乎不可能從電腦動畫電影賺到錢 －－員工極為不滿賈伯斯沒給他們股票認購權 －－在還錄影帶的路上，李維意外摔斷了腿…… 身為律師的李維，多年服務創投公司的經驗告訴他，「棋子現在在什麼位置，你已經改變不了，重要的是你的下一步。」一年後，一九九五年十一月，PIXAR的《玩具總動員》成為當年最賣座電影、PIXAR的IPO股價比預期高出很，讓賈伯斯成為十億美元富翁。 李維第一手描述這段和賈伯斯一起搶救PIXAR的奇蹟旅程，這段過程不但造就了兩人深厚的友誼，也為賈伯斯往後重回蘋果的商業決策打下了基礎。One day in November 1994, Lawrence Levy received a phone call out of the blue from Steve Jobs, whom he 'd never met, offering him a job running Pixar, a little-known company that had already lost Jobs $50 million. With Pixar 's prospects looking bleak, it was with some trepidation that Levy accepted the position. After a few weeks he discovered that the situation was even worse than he 'd imagined.Pixar 's advertising division just about broke even, its graphics software had few customers, its short films didn 't make any money and, on top of all that, Jobs was pushing to take the company public. Everything was riding on the studio 's first feature film, codenamed Toy Story, and even then it would have to be one of the most successful animated features of all time -Full of wisdom on bringing business and creativity together, and recounting the touching story of Levy 's enduring friendship with Jobs, To Pixar and Beyond is a fascinating insider 's account of one of Hollywood 's greatest success stories.