About This Stamp
Disney•Pixar's unique characters remind us of our fears and foibles, challenges and victories, and make us laugh while doing so. In 2012, their familiar faces lifted our spirits once again on stamps that remind us it's always a good time to “Mail a Smile.”
The Mail a Smile stamps feature beloved characters from five Disney•Pixar movies: A Bug's Life (1998), Toy Story 2 (1999), Monsters, Inc. (2001), Finding Nemo (2003), and The Incredibles (2004).
This stamp pane is a follow-up to Send a Hello, a 2011 issuance featuring Disney•Pixar characters that grew out of the Art of Disney series issued from 2004 through 2008.
Since 1995, Pixar Animation Studios has won 29 Academy Awards. Responsible for almost every major breakthrough in computer animation, the company continues to reset the bar in technology with every film.
The Mail a Smile stamps were issued as Forever® stamps in self-adhesive sheets of 20. Forever stamps are always equal in value to the current First-Class Mail one-ounce rate. At the time of issuance, the Mail a Smile stamps were sold at a price of 45 cents each, or $9.00 per sheet.
Disney/Pixar Materials: © Disney•Pixar
Stamp Art Director
William Gicker
William Gicker served as Director of Stamp Services for the U.S. Postal Service from 2020 until his retirement in 2023. In that position he oversaw stamp development, stamp products and exhibitions, stamp manufacturing, stamp fulfillment, and the Postmaster General’s Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee (CSAC).
Gicker began working for the U.S. Postal Service in 1998. Initially assistant editor of USA Philatelic, the quarterly stamp catalog produced by Stamp Services, he soon became editor where he oversaw the catalog’s award-winning program until 2013.
Named creative director of stamps in 2001, Gicker became manager and creative director of Stamp Development in 2015. Working closely with Postal Service art directors and CSAC, he managed the creative development and quality control of more than 800 stamp issuances and 1,700 individual stamp designs.
He has served as art director for some of the most popular stamps issued by the Postal Service: the five-year Art of Disney series; Star Wars; Holy Family; Harry Potter; and Hot Wheels. As both art director and designer, Gicker lists among his many stamps, Holiday Baubles; the first international rate Global stamp in 2013; and the Gifts of Friendship joint issuance with Japan. He was also art director for the first stamp to celebrate Diwali, eight more Global Forever® stamps, and several Christmas Madonna and Child issuances, the most recent in 2024.
A native of Pennsylvania, Gicker graduated from West Chester University with a bachelor of arts degree in English Literature. He and his family live in Washington, DC.