Don’t you just love that happy little lamp at the beginning of every Pixar movie. I do. It’s this mark of great movies. And you know you’re going to love it.

It’s because Pixar doesn’t just make movies—they make you feel something. Every great Pixar film follows a simple but powerful storytelling structure:

“Once upon a time… Every day… Until one day… Because of that… Because of that… Until finally…”

It’s the formula that made Toy Story, Finding Nemo, and Inside Out unforgettable. But what if I told you that Innovation Leaders can use the same storytelling approach to sell innovation?

Because let’s face it: executives don’t fund new ideas because they’re interesting. They fund them because they see a compelling transformation unfold and they can smell a market opportunity when it has the right narrative to back it up.

Relatable Problem: So let’s say you have a high-stakes innovation pitch coming up, but you’re struggling to make leadership feel the urgency and excitement. 

I call it a “conversation of consequence.”

Pro Tip: Apply the Pixar Formula to structure your next big innovation pitch:

  1. Once upon a time… – Describe the status quo. What’s the current way of doing things?
  2. Every day… – Show the pain of staying in this status quo. What’s broken? What’s frustrating?
  3. Until one day… – Introduce the turning point—why is change necessary now?
  4. Because of that… – Describe the first step toward innovation. What shifts?
  5. Because of that… – Show the ripple effect. How does everything improve?
  6. Until finally… – Paint a picture of the new, better world your innovation creates.

Example:

Let’s say the innovation team at a major insurance firm [you know who you are insurance people!] needed to sell the adoption of AI-powered claims processing. Instead of starting with a slide full of data, they told this story:

“As long as we can remember [I like it better than “once upon a time”], every customer who filed an insurance claim had to wait 10 days for approval. Every day, frustrated policyholders called in, wondering why it took so long. Until one day, AI automation entered the picture—cutting processing time to 24 hours. Because of that, customer satisfaction shot up. Because of that, we saw a 30% reduction in churn. Until finally, AI claims processing became a competitive advantage, making us the fastest insurer in the market.”

Did his executives approve the initiative? Absolutely. Because now, they felt the transformation—not just heard about it.

Try using the Pixar Formula in your next pitch, and watch how much more compelling your innovation story becomes. You won’t be the Woody left behind in the toy box, you’ll make your customer the new hero of the story.