| 1887 | The start of it all | A man named H.W. Goodwin invented a celluloid film which could hold images. It was made of gum cotton and gum camphor. |
| 1892 | An early moving-picture production | A man in France named Emil Reynaud opened a theatre using an invention called the Praxinoscope. It used turning mirrors to reflect images and produce a 10 to 15 minute "moving picture." |
| 1893 | Thomas Edison's Kinetoscope | Using the celluloid film developed by H.W. Goodwin, Edison was able to produce moving film pictures on the wall. The film moved over a series of wheels to produce the pictures. |
| 1899 | Sound is captured | Using a magnetic recording device, sound was recorded for the first time. Animation enthusiasts would latch onto the technology. |
| 1900 | The Enchanted Drawing | A man named James Stuart Blackton used animation techniques to produce a short film. It documented the drawing process of characters, without ever showing the artist; this made it seem that the drawings simply appeared. |
| 1908 | The first official animated film | A Frenchman name Emile Cohl produced a film called "Fantasmagorie." It was a hit, and is known today as the first true animated film. |
| 1914 | Gertie the Dinosaur | This short animation film became popular quickly. It was created by Windsor McCay. |
| 1915 | A patent on the process | A man named John Bray developed and patented a streamlined process for creating animated films. He tried, unsuccessfully, to force other companies to use his designs. |
| 1920 | Felix the Cat | A man named Otto Messmer, who had been working in animation for a few years, created a character named Felix the Cat. Felix was very successful and even ended up including dolls and watches. |
| 1922 | Laugh-O-Grams | Twenty-year-old Walt Disney began his first animation film studio called Laugh-O-Grams. It failed after only a short time. |
| 1928 | Steamboat Willie | Walt Disney didn't give up on making animated films. In 1928 he released a short film called Steamboat Willie featuring Mickey Mouse and using sound for the first time, and it was an instant hit. |
| 1930 | Warner Bros. Studio is born | Looney Tunes was supposed to be a spin off on the Silly Symphonies produced by Disney. It soon took on a life of its own and became very popular. |
| 1930 | Other popular charters | Throughout the 1930's, several now-iconic characters were created. This included Betty Boop, Popeye the Sailor, and Daffy Duck. |
| 1932 | New technologies | Walt Disney developed the use of 3-strip Technicolor animation. In 1935, Len Lye created a method of painting directly on film strips; he used it in his animated film "Color Box." |
| 1937 | The first full-length film | Walt Disney produced the first ever full-length animated film. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was a major hit. |
| 1940 | Iconic characters grow | The next decade brought several new popular characters to life. This included Woody Woodpecker, Mighty Mouse, and Tom and Jerry. |
| 1972 | Computer generated movies | At the University of Utah, and man named Ed Catmull developed a method of creating computer generated movies. It used scripting language. |
| 1993 | 3-D and beyond | Apple computer company produced a method for creating 3-D films, and in 1995 Toy Story was released as the first full-length 3-D film. The animation industry would never be the same. |
