Disney

Have you ever heard of this young, upstart production crew called The Walt Disney Company? We think they're really going to hit it big someday.

We're joking of course, but that's an accurate description of Disney's status in 1940, when Pinocchio was released. Although the company had been producing films since 1923, it had only made its first feature-length animated film in 1934 with Snow White. With production beginning in 1938, Pinocchio would be a hugely ambitious second effort for the team.

As with most of the early films made by the company, producer Walt Disney was heavily involved in the creative process. The production went through many ups and downs, and the team changed course more than once, but the film is marked by an intensely collaborative spirit and a desire by its makers to create the best product they possibly could.

And as we know—from Disneyland to Disneyland Paris to Tokyo Disneyland—Disney is now the production company to end all production companies.

Our pet theory is that ol' Walt was looking sadly at his little production house and wished on a star that it would someday be really, really, real…