Toy Story 2 Was Accidentally Deleted but Saved by an Employee
You've likely heard the phrase "save early, save often," but for Pixar's animation team, those words gained new meaning in 1998. During a routine cleanup, someone typed a wrong command that erased nearly all of Toy Story 2's files from the main servers. When their backup systems failed, it seemed the beloved sequel was lost forever. But thanks to technical director Galyn Susman's home backup, there's more to this story of digital disaster and unlikely salvation.
The Devastating Command That Erased Toy Story 2
While Pixar's animators were conducting routine file cleanup on their Unix-based network, a devastating command accidentally erased most of Toy Story 2. The command "rm -r -f *", entered at the root level, triggered an unstoppable chain of deletions throughout the project's file system.
You can imagine the panic when Larry Cutler first noticed Woody's files vanishing before his eyes. The command consequences were immediate and severe – Woody's directory dropped from 40 files to just 4, and entire animation sequences disappeared.
When Oren Jacob, the associate technical director, was alerted, they rushed to stop the deletion by cutting power, but it was too late. The data recovery situation was dire – nearly 90% of the project had vanished, erasing two months of work and hundreds of man-hours. Making matters worse, they discovered their backup systems malfunctioned, leaving them with no immediate way to restore the lost files. Fortunately, technical director Galyn Susman had a home backup copy that would ultimately save the project.
When Backup Systems Failed Pixar
The devastating deletion of Toy Story 2 led to an even bigger problem – Pixar's backup system had failed them.
You'd think their data recovery would be straightforward, but the backup protocols hadn't worked properly for about a month, and the IT team didn't know it.
When they tried restoring the film, things looked good at first. The crew even came back to work, thinking they'd dodged a bullet.
But after a few days, they discovered the restored version was corrupt. About 90% of the movie's assets were compromised, and they couldn't trust any of their backups.
The situation became so dire that Pixar executives met to discuss potentially scrapping the entire project.
Thankfully, technical director Galyn Susman had her home computer with a complete copy of the film's assets.
The team had to manually check 30,000 assets, working round-the-clock shifts over a weekend.
This incident taught Pixar hard lessons about backup systems – they'd need multiple redundancies going forward.
The Work-From-Home Mom Who Had A Copy
One lucky break saved Toy Story 2 from complete disaster – supervising technical director Galyn Susman had been working from home.
As a new mom, she'd been balancing childcare with remote productivity by keeping backup files on her personal computer.
Her work-from-home arrangement wasn't common at Pixar in 1998, but it proved invaluable.
When the movie's files were accidentally erased from Pixar's servers, Susman had a complete copy from just two weeks earlier on her home computer.
She'd been regularly backing up the files so she could work remotely while caring for her newborn.
This simple work-life balance solution ended up saving the multimillion-dollar project.
Her backup allowed the team to recover most of their work and keep the film on schedule for its release date.
Eight team members carefully transported her computer to Pixar's offices with blankets and seatbelts to protect the precious cargo.
The recovery of her backup files prevented the loss of 90 percent of the film's work.
A Careful Journey to Save the Film
After discovering their only hope lay in Susman's home computer, Pixar technical leaders initiated a nail-biting rescue mission. The team worked intensely to recover the lost data during this critical time. The emergency response team knew they couldn't risk damaging their only remaining copy of the film. The situation was especially dire since the original backup system failed completely.
Here's how the careful data recovery mission unfolded:
- The team wrapped Susman's computer in protective blankets.
- They secured it with seatbelts in the back seat of the car.
- They drove cautiously back to Pixar headquarters.
When they arrived at the office, eight people were waiting with a plywood sheet to safely transport the precious cargo. They treated the computer "like a sedan carrying the Pharaoh."
Their careful handling paid off – they successfully verified 70,000 files from Susman's backup, though 30,000 files initially remained unverifiable. A two-week-old backup helped complete the recovery.
How One Person's Backup Changed Everything
While the team's careful transport proved essential, Galyn Susman's work-from-home setup became the unexpected hero of Pixar's crisis.
As a new mother working remotely with her baby Eli, she'd kept a complete copy of Toy Story 2 on her home computer, which was just two weeks old when disaster struck.
When traditional backup strategies failed at Pixar's studios, with the main system not working for a month, Susman's home backup became their last hope for data recovery.
Her copy had preserved 90% of the film's files that were lost in the accidental deletion.
The incident began when an employee entered a wrong delete command in the Linux system, causing the catastrophic loss of data.
Thanks to her remote work arrangement and diligent file management, Pixar didn't lose months of animation work.
The successful restoration from her home computer changed how studios think about protecting their digital assets.
Even after the successful recovery, Pixar executives decided to remake the film from scratch, deeming the original version not up to their standards.
The Complete Rebuild of a Nearly Lost Movie
Despite recovering most of Toy Story 2's files from Susman's backup, Pixar executives weren't satisfied with the film's quality. They made the bold decision to rebuild the movie from scratch, showcasing incredible creative resilience in the face of disaster.
The project recovery involved three massive undertakings:
- Discarding most of the original animation and starting fresh
- Creating new characters, including Buster the dog and the robots from the opening scene
- Rebuilding 30,000 assets and all camera work in just nine months
You'd be amazed to learn that teams worked around the clock in 8-hour shifts to complete the rebuild. Local businesses showed their support by providing free food and flowers to the dedicated team members.
They didn't just restore the film – they made it better. The entire crew pulled together to create new effects, complex explosions, and even detailed background characters for the airport scene.
