The Pixar Career Story Template
Distill your career into a seven-line Pixar-style story that intrigues interviewers and clarifies your direction
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~days to results
- Steps
- 3
- Confidence
- 90%
Moesta adapts Pixar's story spine to help you tell your career story in seven statements. It forces you to distill your core skills, the pivot that changed you, and the journey toward where you want to go — into something concise enough to intrigue an interviewer and let them feel your trajectory, while also giving you a clear vision of where you're headed.
Origin
Adapted by Bob Moesta from Pixar's story structure (popularized by former Pixar story artist Emma Coats), applied to career narratives in 'Job Moves.'
Core principles
- 01Most people are terrible at talking about themselves; a template gives them the language
- 02A good career story has a hero's-journey shape — conflict, a realization, and change
- 03Your weaknesses often reveal your superpowers, which belong in the story
- 04The point is to intrigue and let people feel the journey, not to recite word-for-word
How to run it
- 1
Fill in the seven-line spine
Complete: Once upon a time ___. Every day ___. Then one day ___. Because of that ___. Because of that ___. Until finally ___. And ever since that day ___.
Pro tip Map each line to a purpose: opening = your core skills, 'one day' = the reason you changed, the rest = the journey toward where you want to go.
- 2
Anchor it in a real pivot and superpower
Build the 'one day' turn around a genuine realization — often how a weakness became a strength. Moesta's: a dyslexic, ADHD kid who struggled to read discovered his superpower was asking questions.
Pro tip Distill your whole story to a one-line purpose (Moesta's: 'I help make the abstract concrete') so you can check any role against it.
Watch out Don't fabricate a dramatic pivot; the discovery you make going through the quest and energy work can itself be the turning point.
- 3
Tell it naturally, not robotically
Use the template as scaffolding but deliver it conversationally so it sounds like a genuine story of your life rather than a filled-in form.
Pro tip Practicing it in the 10-15 informational interviews makes the delivery feel natural by the time it counts.
Watch out Reciting it word-for-word sounds ridiculous; internalize the beats and speak them.
In the wild
'Once upon a time there was a kid who was dyslexic and ADHD but loved to take things apart and fix things. Every day he was curious but struggled in school. One day he realized his superpower was asking questions. Because of that he could go to new places to learn by asking questions. Because of that he built a method. Until finally he could work on 3,500+ products. And ever since, every day he's curious and asks questions to build new products.'
→ Lenny noted that told without knowing the template, it sounded completely natural and compelling.
Common mistakes
Listing history instead of telling a journey
Reciting where you worked doesn't let an interviewer feel your trajectory or what you want next.
Thinking you need a dramatic pivot
People freeze believing they lack a big turning point, when the self-discovery from doing this work is a valid pivot.
Is it for you?
Best for
Anyone preparing for job interviews or needing a concise, compelling personal narrative
Not ideal for
Contexts requiring a detailed factual work history rather than a distilled narrative
From the transcript
“This actually comes from Pixar right the way Pixar actually does its films”
“the template is Once Upon a Time blank every day blank then one day blank because of that blank because of that blank until finally…”
“the very short hand of my my story is I help make the abstract concrete and as long as I'm doing that in my life…”
From the episode
How to find work you love
Bob Moesta (Jobs-to-be-Done co-creator, author of "Job Moves