 They met with Katzenberg at a conference table in the Team Disney building at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank . Catmull and Smith considered it would be difficult to keep Katzenberg interested in working with the company over time . They considered it even more difficult to sell Lasseter and the junior animators on the idea of working with Disney , who had a bad reputation for how they treated their animators , and Katzenberg , who had built a reputation as a micromanaging tyrant . Katzenberg asserted this himself in the meeting : " Everybody thinks I 'm a tyrant . I am a tyrant . But I 'm usually right . " He threw out the idea of a half @-@ hour special and eyed Lasseter as the key talent in the room : " John , since you won 't come work for me , I 'm going to make it work this way . " He invited the six visitors to mingle with the animators — " ask them anything at all " — and the men did so , finding they all backed up Katzenberg 's statements . Lasseter felt he would be able to work with Disney and the two companies began negotiations . Pixar at this time was on the verge of bankruptcy and needed a deal with Disney . Katzenberg insisted that Disney be given the rights to Pixar 's proprietary technology for making 3 @-@ D animation , but Jobs refused . In another case , Jobs demanded Pixar would have part ownership of the film and its characters , sharing control of both video rights and sequels , but Katzenberg refused . Disney and Pixar reached accord on contract terms in an agreement dated May 3 , 1991 , and signed on in early July . Eventually the deal specified that Disney would own the picture and its characters outright , have creative control , and pay Pixar about 12 @.@ 5 % of the ticket revenues . It had the option ( but not the obligation ) to do Pixar 's next two films and the right to make ( with or without Pixar ) sequels using the characters in the film . Disney could also kill the film at any time with only a small penalty . These early negotiations would become a point of contention between Jobs and Eisner for many years . 
