Luxo Jr. - Legacy

Legacy

In 1986, Luxo Jr. received an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Short Film. It was the first CGI film nominated for an Academy Award. Spinoffs of the short called "Surprise", "Light & Heavy", "Up and Down", and "Front and Back" have appeared on Sesame Street, which are now available on the Pixar Short Films Collection – Volume 1 though the original narrative track is not included.

Luxo Jr., without the cord, now serves as the mascot for Pixar Animation Studios, appearing in its production logo before and after every feature film (except for Toy Story, where he only appears after the film). He hops in from the right, stops next to the "I" in "PIXAR", and jumps on it until he has completely squashed it down, as he did to the rubber ball in the short. He then looks around and angles his "head" toward the camera; at this point, all the light typically fades to black except for his head, which goes out with a click after a moment. Occasionally, the head fades in time with the light, but this is exceptional.

Three variations of this sequence were created for the films Cars, WALL-E, and Cars 2 in three ways. For Cars, the message "Celebrating 20 Years" appeared as the background faded out, with Luxo Jr.'s head used as the zero. Pixar was founded in 1986; this film, released in 2006, marked their 20th anniversary. In a teaser trailer for WALL-E, his bulb burns out after he has squashed the "I" down. WALL-E rolls in from the right, changes the bulb to an energy-efficient fluorescent bulb, and pats Luxo Jr. on the head before going back the way he came. However, he trips over the "R" in PIXAR as he goes, so he stops and positions his body to take its place, after which Luxo Jr. looks at the camera. WALL-E slightly peeks out, and the lights go out normally. This is also shown after the end credits of the film, also concluding with a "BnL" jingle and logo. On the Logo Reveal for Cars 2, when Luxo Jr. looks up, he shoots a laser out of his light, and then disappears.

A new variant of the sequence, optimized for 3-D projection, was first played with the 3D version of Up. The same animation as the regular logo plays as normal. However, the camera pans to the right while zooming out from the "P" in the PIXAR letters; therefore Luxo Jr is seen approaching from the centre when he's first seen.

Another Cars variation was created for the 2011 film Cars 2, with the message "Celebrating 25 Years" appearing as the background faded out. The C appeared in the same position as Luxo Jr.'s head, which subsequently faded away to leave only the text, again celebrating Pixar's anniversary.