In an incident recounted by the Wall Street Journal, a rogue Unix command, specifically `/bin/rm -r -f *`, nearly deleted 90% of Pixar's "Toy Story 2" in 1998. This single line of code, intended for freeing up personal directory storage, was accidentally executed in the master drive, causing character assets and sequences to vanish within seconds. Technical director Oren Jacob witnessed the files disappearing in real-time, underscoring the severity of the data loss for the film, which was under immense pressure to become a theatrical release after the success of the first "Toy Story" film.
The studio's own backup systems, which should have provided a safety net, were found to be malfunctioning, further compounding the crisis. Pixar co-founder Ed Catmull stated that at the time, the company "didn't have the resources...to absorb that kind of delay and survive." This near-catastrophe presented an "existential" problem for Pixar, threatening to miss the film's theatrical release window.
The rescue effort hinged on Supervising Technical Director Galyn Susman, who, while on maternity leave, had a work-from-home setup. She possessed the only full, albeit slightly outdated, copy of the film on a computer in her house, as she weekly downloaded the latest version to continue working. Susman, Jacob, and a small team frantically retrieved the machine, driving it carefully back to the studio. They spent a weekend inspecting 30,000 files, utilizing the home backup to restore the movie's files.
The incident underscored the financial stakes of Pixar's early catalog, which is now valued at billions. After the recovery, Pixar instituted enterprise-grade backup architectures and mandated multiple site replication, a strategy that later influenced Disney's broader digital asset management. This event became a textbook example of how a single line of code can jeopardize billions, prompting firms to prioritize data resilience across creative pipelines. Interestingly, after the recovery, Pixar deliberately overhauled much of the film creatively, resulting in the successful "Toy Story 2" that Susman still considers the best in the franchise.
