Pixar's first film - in 1972!
 

Okay, technically it's not a Pixar film, but it was created by Pixar's founder, Ed Catmull, almost 40 years ago:

http://gizmodo.com/5836976/the-first...-made-by-pixar

A lot of the technology we now take for granted (polygon modeling, shading, etc.) was being invented back then.

Re: Pixar's first film - in 1972!
 

For anyone interested in learning more about Pixar and how they started, as well as what technologies they have developed and used, I would highly highly recommend watching The Pixar Story, a documentary about the company. This 3D hand model is also shown in the documentary.

I watched it a while ago on Netflix but it should still be up there for instant streaming or at your library if you can't find it.