Pixar Chief Chronicles Crisis as Disney Era Tests Studio

Seven years after its acquisition by Walt Disney Co., Pixar, the studio known for “Toy Story” and “Finding Nemo,” was facing three crises, according to a new book by its president, Ed Catmull.

The cost of making animated films was rising, the DVD market was shrinking and there was a feeling among management that a tenet of the Pixar culture, employees’ freedom to speak their minds, was faltering, Catmull says in “Creativity, Inc.,” released today by Random House.