"It's kind of fun to do the impossible."

The history of the Disney company could be a lesson in smart business, but could just as easily not have been.

It was originally called the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, founded by brothers Walt and Roy Disney in 1923. Or should I say Roy and Walt Disney? Roy was the older brother after all.

Poor old Roy.

Between the 1920s and 1930s Disney was a marginal but reasonably successful company. They specialised in animation and made the transition to sound with the development of the Mickey Mouse shorts. Walt himself was the original voice of Mickey Mouse.

As we know, in conjunction with RKO Pictures they made the world's first animated feature film, Snow White, in 1937. Before its release, critics called the film "Disney's Folly." Both Roy and Walt's wife Lillian tried to talk Walt out of it.

But the film was very successful. Walt received an honorary Academy award and was presented with one full-sized Oscar statuette, and seven miniature ones.

Walt and Roy used some of the profits to purchase a new house for their ageing parents, Elias and Flora Disney. Flora was thrilled with her beautiful new home, but told Walt and Roy that there was a problem with the gas furnace. The brothers immediately sent repairmen to the house, but the problem was never properly fixed. A few weeks later, Flora died of gas asphyxiation. Walt later said he would feel responsible for her death for the rest of his life.

In 1941 they were very close to bankruptcy after the disaster that was Fantasia. Critics thought the film was a masterpiece. Audiences "didn't get it." Although Fantasia is now quite rightly considered one of Disney's most important animated films, it was nearly responsible, along with Pinocchio, for ruining the company.

To make some extra money Walt and Roy resorted to making American propaganda films in World War II.

They also made a snap decision to licence their characters (such as Mickey Mouse) so they could sell merchandise.

RKO collapsed after the war, and the Disney company continued to struggle.

The 1950s and 1960s is perhaps now thought of as the golden age of Disney animation. Unless you are a tacky nineties Disney enthusiast and think The Lion King is the culmination of animated Disney greatness, your favourite Disney films were probably made in the 1950s and sixties. Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Sleeping Beauty, The Sword in the Stone and The Jungle Book to name a few.

(Of course, that is not counting the development of computer-animation in the nineties and Disney's partnership with Pixar, which gave us the pleasures of Toy Story 1, 2 & 3, Finding Nemo, WALL-E and Up, among others).

But the 1950s was actually a pivotal period for the company because of their earlier decision to licence their cartoon characters. In 1955 Disneyland California was opened, and this and subsequent other theme parks have carried the company's surprisingly unsuccessful film division ever since.

Walt died of lung cancer in 1966. Many people believe he was cryogenically frozen and stored on-site at Disneyland. Many people also consider The Jungle Book (1967) to be the last "true" Disney animation. Roy retired in 1968, but remained involved with the company. In 1971 Roy planned to open the Disney Christmas parade, but he died of an aneurysm that morning.

Retrospectively, we can see that the success of the company was based on their perseverance, their advantageous use of fairytales with no copyright, their willingness to adapt new technology, and sheer luck. In terms of business. In terms of everything else, Disney did more for children's entertainment than anyone had before, or anyone has since.

Roy's son, Roy Jr., said that Walt and Roy would have loved Toy Story. It was "their kind of movie."