Steve Jobs & Pixar: The Top Grossing Films [LIST & VIDEO]

Steve Jobs wasn't always an Apple employee.

In 1985, the young entrepreneur was forced out of the company he founded, due to reasons such as low sales and internal differences. The following year, Jobs bought The Graphics Group from George Lucas and Lucasfilm. The company was given a new name: Pixar.

Jobs would later return to Apple in 1997, while keeping his position at Pixar.

In 2005, Jobs spoke about his decade-long break from Apple.

The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life, he said during his 2005 commencement speech at Stanford University.

Since Jobs' acquisition, Pixar has produced 12 feature films, including Cars, Monsters, Inc., Toy Story and its sequels. The films have made a combined $6 billion at the box office worldwide.

In fact, Toy Story 3, released in 2010, is the highest grossing animated film of all time, with a worldwide gross of more than $1 billion.

On Wednesday night, Jobs died at the age of 56, surrounded by his family at his home in Palo Alto, Calif.

Steve Jobs was an extraordinary visionary, our very dear friend and the guiding light of the Pixar family. He saw the potential of what Pixar could be before the rest of us . . . Steve took a chance on us and believed in our crazy dream of making computer animated films . . . He will forever be a part of Pixar's DNA, Walt Disney and Pixar CCO John Lasseter and President Ed Catmull said in a statement.

Pixar's upcoming projects include Brave, featuring the voices of Emma Thompson and Julie Walters, and Monsters University, the sequel to the 2001 classic.

In honor of Steve Jobs, here is a list of Pixar's top five grossing films:

1) Toy Story 3
Released: June 18, 2010
Box Office: $1.063 billion
The third in the Toy Story series, Toy Story 3 won two Oscars at the 83rd annual Academy Awards, including one for Best Animated Feature. The film was also the third animated film to ever be nominated in the Best Picture category.

2) Finding Nemo
Released: May 23, 2003
Box Office: $868 million
Featuring the voices of Albert Brooks and Ellen DeGeneres, Finding Nemo warmed hearts with a tale of a clownfish who goes searching for his abducted young son. To date, Finding Nemo remains the fifth highest grossing animated film of all time, behind the 1994 Disney classic, The Lion King.

3) Up
Released: May 29, 2009
Box Office: $731 million
Up features one of the most heartbreaking opening scenes in recent movie history, as an old man bids adieu to his longtime love. The critically-acclaimed film received a perfect score from Roger Ebert, who said the characters are as believable as any characters can be. In August, a 2800 square feet replica of the Up house was unveiled in Utah.

4) The Incredibles
Released: Nov. 5, 2004
Box Office: $631 million
A family of superheroes and the voices of Samuel L. Jackson and Holly Hunter made The Incredibles an instant hit. In 2004, the film won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, beating that year's other animated heavyweights, Shrek 2 and Shark Tale.

5) Ratatouille
Released: June 29, 2007
Box Office: $624 million
Ratatouille proved that rats too, can dream big. Thanks to a star-studded voice cast, including Ian Holm, Janeane Garofalo, Peter O'Toole and Will Arnett, Ratatouille was later nominated for five Academy Awards.