Last November I was able to drive down to Pixar Studios in Emeryville for a charity event auction and screening of Toy Story 3. It was my birthday present to myself. Probably the best gift ever! Had a blast. Here's a few pictures from that day. These were taken on my version 1 iPhone I had at the time so sorry for the poor quality. Cameras were forbidden on the 2nd floor where the REALLY cool stuff was. Actually…I did sneak a few pics and got caught 🙂 Darn Pixar security are on top of it! Can't wait to go this year!

Ahh…the gates of [s]heaven[/s] Pixar. This is the only thing you can see as a regular on the streets. Richard Clayton Kensington is at the guard house.(Yes, they have a real guy named Richard in Security Ops). This entrance was closed due to construction so we had to go around to a secret entrance in the back.

Cute signs posted for the event to show us where to park

Entrance to Pixar Studio Employee Store. Only had to wait an hour and I got there early! Mostly filled with Toy Story 3 stuff at the time since that movie just released.

One of many art auction items. El Materdor! I didn't bid on this one but it was nice.

Mater P.I. poster signed by the cast of this Toon short. These were only given to members of the cast. I DID bit on this one. Only one other bidder who stopped when I said $300…going once…going twice…out of nowhere some guy said $400 and that was the end for me. 🙁 $250 was supposed to be my limit. I later found out most of these items were sold in the thousands. I guess it is for charity.

One hour wait at the employee store, but only 5 minutes to get Lee Unkrich's autograph/photo. Super awesome guy who took the time to flip through my "Art Of Cars" book to point out what he worked on. He felt bad because he didn't do much work on Cars.

Inside the Pixar movie theatre. They introduced members of the Toy Story 3 team before the film and Lee also told a few stories and pointed out an error in the film some guy had recently tweeted to him. Best movie experience ever!

Life-sized Luigi & Guido greets you at the front door.

Real-sized GUIDO! Guido is a technical guy at Pixar who is also the real voice of Guido in the movies 🙂 He was doing Q&A with everyone that wanted to listen. If you ever look at the credits you'll also notice that two guys named Fransesco and another guy named Luigi work at Luxo Cafe. Wonder where they got name inspiration from? LOL

Pixar Bling. I'd say they've won a few…

Cars 1 didn't win an Oscar, but they did win this Golden Globe.

The only picture the security guys let me keep on the 2nd floor. What movie was behind door number 1??? Cars 2 of course. I saw a guy in his office working on a scene through the relection of the glass a little while later.

Luxo Jr. and Ball. I had to wait nearly 10 minutes to get this picture. Two young lovebirds kept making out in front of it. It's huge.