 Tin Toy gained Disney 's attention , and the new team at The Walt Disney Company — CEO Michael Eisner and chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg in the film division — began a quest to get Lasseter to come back . Lasseter , grateful for Jobs ' faith in him , felt compelled to stay with Pixar , telling co @-@ founder Ed Catmull , " I can go to Disney and be a director , or I can stay here and make history . " Katzenberg realized he could not lure Lasseter back to Disney and therefore set plans into motion to ink a production deal with Pixar to produce a film . Disney had always made all their movies in @-@ house , and refused to change this . But when Tim Burton , who used to work at Disney , wanted to buy back the rights to The Nightmare Before Christmas , Disney struck a deal allowing him to make it as a Disney movie outside the studio . This opened the door for Pixar to make their movies outside Disney . 
