Mattel refused to allow Barbie to appear in the first Toy Story movie because they were entirely convinced the obscure computer-animated film by an unknown studio called Pixar would be a catastrophic financial failure.

A closer look

Mattel refused to allow Barbie to appear in the first Toy Story movie because they were entirely convinced the obscure computer-animated film by an unknown studio called Pixar would be a catastrophic financial failure. They also did not want Barbie to have a defined personality, preferring her to remain a blank slate for little girls, which is corporate speak for wanting to sell maximum plastic without committing to actual character development. After the movie revolutionized animation and made an absolutely obscene amount of money, Mattel aggressively scrambled to shove Barbie into the sequel, proving once again that artistic integrity is entirely negotiable when a massive royalty check is involved