The Science Behind Pixar opens at the Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science on Saturday, October 10, 2026, and runs through April 11, 2027.
The exhibition, created by the Museum of Science, Boston with Pixar Animation Studios, features more than 50 hands-on experiences across eight sections of Pixar's production pipeline.
Films represented include Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Monsters, Inc., The Incredibles, WALL•E and A Bug's Life, with human-size character recreations available for photos.
Admission to the exhibition is included with general museum admission.
Frost Science is opening its doors to Pixar's production pipeline this fall, arriving on the heels of Toy Story 5 with an exhibition built for guests who want to know how the animation actually gets made.
The Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science will debut The Science Behind Pixar on Saturday, October 10, 2026, an interactive exhibition created by the Museum of Science, Boston in collaboration with Pixar Animation Studios. Rather than treating Pixar's films as a backdrop, the exhibition organizes itself around the studio's actual technical process, breaking the production pipeline into eight sections: Modeling, Rigging, Surfaces, Sets & Cameras, Animation, Simulation, Lighting and Rendering.
More than 50 hands-on elements let visitors step into the roles Pixar's own artists and computer scientists hold day to day. In Sets & Cameras, guests discover how camera placement and angle created the bug's-eye view used in A Bug's Life. In Modeling, visitors build a digital sculpture from an artist's sketch. Lighting poses the same problem Pixar's team faced when constructing the underwater sequences in Finding Nemo, while Rigging demonstrates how digital models are given the virtual skeletons that let animators pose them, and Surfaces covers the techniques that give characters and environments their color and texture.
The timing follows the release of Toy Story 5, giving Miami audiences a chance to go behind the franchise that launched computer animation as a feature-film medium. The exhibition draws its material from across the Pixar catalog, including Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Monsters, Inc., The Incredibles and WALL•E, and visitors can take photos with human-size recreations of characters including Buzz Lightyear, Dory, Mike and Sulley, Edna Mode and WALL•E.
"The Science Behind Pixar is an interactive exhibition that offers people a hands-on opportunity to understand how we make our films. At Pixar, we use science, technology, engineering, art and math, along with a significant dash of creativity and fun, and this exhibit is truly a great demonstration of how all those ingredients come together in our filmmaking process."Jim Morris, president of Pixar Animation Studios
Frost Science leadership frames the exhibition as an extension of its core mission rather than a licensed novelty.
"At Frost Science, we are passionate about helping people discover that science is everywhere, including in the stories and characters they know and love. The Science Behind Pixar perfectly embodies our mission by demonstrating how creativity, technology, engineering, mathematics, and imagination come together to create extraordinary experiences. We are excited to bring this exhibition to South Florida and inspire future innovators, storytellers, artists, and problem-solvers of all ages."Dr. Doug Roberts, President and CEO of Frost Science
The Science Behind Pixar runs from October 10, 2026, through April 11, 2027, with admission included in the cost of general museum admission, meaning there is no separate ticket to plan around. The exhibition is supported by Google, members of the Science Museum Exhibit Collaborative, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and the National Science Foundation.
For families and Pixar devotees alike, the exhibition offers something rarer than a photo backdrop: an actual walk through the mathematics and engineering decisions behind the films, translated into activities built for guests who have never touched a line of code. Tickets and additional details are available at frostscience.org/pixar.
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