Also, I can't help wondering if Pixar has done as well in the international market as in the domestic American market.What have the Pixar pictures made to date? $3b? Take out Disney's share of half. That's $1.5b. Add 50% for the staff and infrastructure and that's $2.25b. Even if one wants to be generous and include potential license fees for the characters (which Disney owned already) and/or RenderMan, I'd still peg that at £3-to-3.5b, or $4b MAX.
I know that Cars did significantly less outside of the U.S. than in the U.S.
(only about 150 million global I think)
I think A Bug's Life and Monsters Inc were a definete step in the right direction, both of them had that classic Disney feel, not a "Pixar" feel that some of the other films had.
As far as timelessness, A Bug's Life probably came the closest to really achieving that goal.