Pixar badly lost its edge by getting complacent.

Somewhere after cars, 3D animation competition started breaking past pixar’s moat that no one else could make a 3D movie look quite as good, and somewhere after Toy Story 3, it became clear that competition had broken past pixar’s moat that no one could tell equally compelling narrative stories. Since then, Disney’s in-house team, Dreamworks, and other major productions have soundly eaten their lunch.

Pixar needs to return to its bread and butter story-telling, trying to focus on being a toy-peddler has ruined them.