This is not quite what you think. This is not about building an animation studio, but about using the techniques that Pixar leveraged into their great success to produce your own great success.

As a brand, Pixar–with 14 consecutive No. 1 box office hits and $7 billion in worldwide ticket sales–has come to stand for consistently wondrous excellence, thanks largely to the leadership of president Ed Catmull and chief creative officer John Lasseter, and an era of oversight by longtime owner Steve Jobs. And much has been written–most recently, Ed Catmull’s Creativity, Inc.–about how exactly the company goes about creating lightning in a bottle time and time again. Recently, Disney has adopted some of its tactics that helped push its hit film Frozen to a $1 billion box-office smash.

But the question remains: can that kind of success be replicated anywhere?

Thoughtful stuff, well worth the read.