Knick Knack

Knick Knack
Poster for Knick Knack
Directed by	John Lasseter
Written by	John Lasseter
Music by	Bobby McFerrin
Production company	Pixar
Distributed by	Pixar
Release date	1989 (SIGGRAPH) May 30, 2003 (With Finding Nemo) October 20, 2006 (With The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D)
Running time	4 minutes

Knick Knack is a 1989 American computer-animated short film produced by Pixar and directed by John Lasseter. The short is about a snow globe snowman who wants to join the other travel souvenirs in a summer themed party. However, the glass dome that surrounds him prevents him from doing so, thus leading to his many attempts to break out of his snow globe. Knick Knack is Pixar's fourth short and the final short produced during the company's tenure as a hardware company.

The short stands out from Lasseter's other early short films at Pixar in its reliance on pure comedy to drive the story. It was inspired by Tom and Jerry, Looney Tunes, and the work of animators Chuck Jones and Tex Avery. Lasseter collected snow globes and also enjoyed souvenirs from distant places and those elements made their way into the short as well. Singer Bobby McFerrin improvised the a cappella vocal jazz soundtrack to the film while watching a rough cut which was eventually left unchanged in its final edition.

Knick Knack premiered at the 1989 SIGGRAPH convention in Boston and was presented in 3D. The short has enjoyed positive reviews since its debut, and has been screened as a part of numerous film festivals.

On a bookshelf filled with summer vacation-themed souvenirs, a snowman named Knick (who is the cousin of Frosty the Snowman, according to the audio commentary), who resides in a snow globe, wants to reach a "Sunny Miami" knick knack that shows a girl lounging in a blue bikini. Knick tries several unsuccessful methods to exit the globe: ramming it with the igloo backdrop, using a hammer and his carrot nose to chisel through, attacking it with a jackhammer, using a cutting torch and detonating TNT explosives. As the globe eventually falls over the shelf's edge, Knick notices an emergency exit in the base and frees himself just before he and the globe fall into a fishbowl. Here Knick sees a pretty mermaid souvenir from "Sunny Atlantis" and runs toward her, but before he can reach her, the globe settles to the bottom and traps him for the second time, leaving Knick frustrated.