Which Lucasfilm computer animation group later became Pixar?

The Lucasfilm computer animation group that later became Pixar was the Graphics Group.

Lucasfilm established the Graphics Group in 1979 as part of its Computer Division. It brought together computer-graphics researchers including Edwin Catmull and Alvy Ray Smith, whose work helped advance digital rendering, animation, and visual effects. The team developed important technologies and contributed to effects work for films such as Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Young Sherlock Holmes.

Financial pressure at Lucasfilm after the early 1980s led to the group’s separation from the company. In 1986, Steve Jobs purchased a controlling interest in the newly independent business, which was renamed Pixar. Catmull became president and Smith became executive vice president.

A common mix-up is to call the original unit Pixar from the beginning. Pixar was the later independent company; Graphics Group was its Lucasfilm-era identity. The studio eventually shifted from hardware toward animation and produced Toy Story, released in 1995 as the first major computer-animated feature success.