After already becoming the highest grossing animated film of all time and passing the impressive $400 million dollar mark domestically a few weeks ago, Disney/Pixar’s “Toy Story 3″ has now achieved yet another distinction. Today, Disney reports, “Toy Story 3″ will become the third Disney film to gross $1 billion, joining 2006’s “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” and this year’s remake of “Alice in Wonderland.”

But like an aging actress who turns to Botox and plastic surgery in her twilight years, Disney-MGM has not aged gracefully. They inexplicably placed a gigantic Sorcerer's hat at the center of the park, right in front of the period-proper replica of Grauman's Chinese Theatre. (The hat would eventually replace the Earful Tower as the park's icon.) Because when you think of Hollywood, you think of a giant sorcerer's hat!

In 1979 George Lucas decided to create the Graphics Group as part of the computer division within Lucasfilm. In 1986, Steve Jobs paid Lucas $5 million and renamed the newly independent company Pixar. Twenty-five years have passed. Pixar has had an amazing track record. It has produced 11 hit films in a row that have earned over $5.7 billion over the past 15 years.

By now you've heard the tales of tears shed during Toy Story 3. Typically, the media seems to be missing the point in their throwaway analysis of the hows and whys of these teardrops. What the film achieved, and what Pixar seems to achieve with every film, is that wondrous emotional connection with its audience.

It’s not often that Pixar has two big premieres in one week.

We might get two back-to-back Blu-ray releases once or twice a year, and that’s great, but this weekend seems pretty unique. Not only does a brand new short premiere, but the Pixar: 20 25 Years of Animation exhibit also returns to the US.