Film — Steve Jobs

01

Toy Story

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John Lasseter (director); Pixar Animation Studios·1995

Jobs treated Toy Story as both a technological proving ground and a timeless narrative, obsessively iterating its visuals while insisting its enduring value lay in the story of friendship rather than the novelty of computer graphics. He repeatedly screened work-in-progress cuts for friends like Larry Ellison to show incremental improvements in rendering and shadows, revealing how he engaged with the film as a product to be perfected frame by frame rather than a finished artwork to admire at a distance. In a 1996 interview he predicted people would still be watching Toy Story in sixty years because of its emotional core, a remark that shows he saw it as a kind of cinematic manifesto for his belief that technology must serve human stories.

A newly released 1996 video interview has Jobs saying people will watch Toy Story in sixty years not for the graphics but for 'the story about friendship.' Multiple accounts from Larry Ellison describe Jobs making him watch '73 different versions' of Toy Story to demonstrate how each iteration's rendering improvements changed the look of shadows and surfaces.

02

Toy Story 3

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Lee Unkrich (director); Pixar Animation Studios·2010

Late in his life Jobs chose Toy Story 3 as one of just three films to load onto his iPad 2 for a solo trip to his beloved Kona Village resort, suggesting he returned to this sequel not as a businessman checking a company product but as a viewer with a personal attachment to the story. Having it alongside two live-action thrillers suggests he treated it as emotionally serious cinema rather than mere family entertainment, fitting given the film's themes of aging and letting go.

An anecdote recounted by a visitor at Jobs's house describes him showing the contents of his iPad 2 before flying alone to Kona Village, stocked with exactly three movies: Chinatown, The Bourne Ultimatum, and Toy Story 3. A curated summary repeats the same trio and identifies Toy Story 3 specifically as part of his handpicked travel viewing.

03

Chinatown

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Roman Polanski (director)·1974

Jobs's decision to carry Chinatown on his iPad for a quiet solo trip indicates a taste for formally precise, morally ambiguous cinema in contrast to the clean narratives of mainstream Hollywood. Within the tiny three-film selection he prepared, it occupies the slot of the classic, meticulously crafted film, implying he valued it as a kind of benchmark much like he treated certain design objects as standards of excellence.

The same iPad anecdote names Chinatown as part of the deliberately chosen three-film set Jobs loaded before leaving alone for Kona Village, alongside The Bourne Ultimatum and Toy Story 3.

04

The Bourne Ultimatum

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Paul Greengrass (director)·2007

By selecting The Bourne Ultimatum as one of only three films on his iPad before a retreat to Kona Village, Jobs signaled an appreciation for tightly edited, contemporary action thrillers built on paranoia about surveillance and institutional power. Placing it alongside Chinatown and Toy Story 3 shows he did not compartmentalize 'serious' and 'genre' cinema.

The iPad anecdote explicitly lists The Bourne Ultimatum alongside Chinatown and Toy Story 3 as the only three movies Jobs prepared for his solo trip to Kona Village.

05

Atlas Shrugged: Part I

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Paul Johansson (director)·2011

Jobs reportedly attended the busy opening night of this adaptation near the end of his life, a choice that fits with Steve Wozniak's recollection that Ayn Rand's novel was 'one of his guides in life.' The report suggests Jobs was drawn to the film for its ideological content rather than its cinematic reputation, which was widely considered weak.

A blog post on Jobs's relationship to Atlas Shrugged reports he attended the opening night of Atlas Shrugged: Part I at his local theater, and quotes Steve Wozniak from a Bloomberg interview saying the novel was one of Jobs's life guides. This account is secondary and not corroborated by a primary interview or biography passage.

06

Seven Samurai

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Akira Kurosawa (director)·1954

Seven Samurai tops a widely circulated 'Steve's Favourite Movies' list, suggesting compilers associated Jobs with long-form narratives about leadership, sacrifice, and small teams facing overwhelming odds. No primary quotation from Jobs about this film has been found; the attribution rests entirely on secondary taste lists.

An IMDb list titled 'Steve's Favourite Movies' presents Seven Samurai as its first entry. A separate curated list of films attributed to Jobs repeats the same title, but neither source cites a primary interview or biographical statement from Jobs himself.

07

Blade Runner

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Ridley Scott (director)·1982

Blade Runner is frequently listed among films attributed to Jobs's taste, implying a perceived affinity for dystopian science fiction about technology and identity. As with Seven Samurai, this rests on compiled secondary lists rather than any direct statement or documented viewing by Jobs.

An IMDb list explicitly labeled 'Steve's Favourite Movies' includes Blade Runner near the top alongside other canonical films. A curated compilation of films attributed to Jobs repeats the same title, but no primary source records his own comments on the film.