[2] Written and directed by John Lasseter, the two-minute short film revolves around one larger and one smaller desk lamp.

Lasseter aimed to finish the short film for the 1986 SIGGRAPH, an annual computer graphics conference attended by thousands of industry professionals.

The soundtrack music is an uncredited edit of three compositions on Brian Bennett's album Counterpoint In Rhythm: "Finesse", "Quicksilver", and "Chateau Latour".

In 2014, Luxo Jr. was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.

[2][8] In a dark room, a large illuminated balanced-arm desk lamp named Luxo Sr. sees a small yellow ball with a blue stripe and a red star on the front roll-up to him.

In 1984, the group produced an animated short film titled The Adventures of André & Wally B., which premiered at the annual SIGGRAPH conference to great fanfare.

The group, which numbered 40 individuals,[9] was spun out as a corporation in February 1986 with investment by Steve Jobs shortly after he left Apple Computer.

[9] A factor contributing to Lucas' sale was an increase in cash flow difficulties following his 1983 divorce, which coincided with the sudden dropoff in revenues from Star Wars licenses following the release of Return of the Jedi.

[9] Pixar's small animation department—consisting of Lasseter, plus the part-time supporting efforts of several graphics scientists—was never meant to generate any revenue as far as Jobs was concerned.

[10] Catmull and Smith justified its existence on the basis that more films that were shown at SIGGRAPH like The Adventures of André and Wally B. would promote the company's computers.

[11] Lasseter's student film at CalArts, The Lady and the Lamp, applied Walt Disney's observation that giving lifelike qualities to inanimate objects held comic potential.

[13] He had felt an inspiration strike when fellow employee Tom Porter brought his infant son Spencer to work one day and Lasseter, playing with the child, became fascinated with his proportions.

Among the films shown at SIGGRAPH in 1985, Lasseter particularly admired a piece of character animation called Tony de Peltrie, which came from a group at the University of Montreal; it featured a strikingly expressive human character, an aging piano player who entertained while inwardly reflecting on better days, which inspired the film.

[10] Apart from the film's hoped-for promotional value, Catmull and Smith rationalized the project as a test of "self-shadowing" in the rendering software- that is, the ability of objects to shed light and shadows on themselves.

Poor Gary Rydstrom, his wonderful sound work was never heard at that screening because the crowd was just literally screaming their heads off.

Luxo Jr., alongside Flags and Waves and Beach Chair, debuted at SIGGRAPH in the Dallas Convention Center Arena, where the audience of six thousand immediately recognized the short film as a breakthrough.

It won the Golden Nica[16] in the "Computer Animation/Film/ VFX” category of the Ars Electronica Festival in Linz[17][circular reference] in 1987.

"[18] It also saw release on home video as part of Tiny Toy Stories in 1996 and Pixar Short Films Collection, Volume 1 in 2007.