Most people are familiar with how Lego got it’s name—the combination of the Danish words “leg” and “godt,” which translate to “play well”—but there’s so much more you should know about the once little (and now huge) toy company that could.

To celebrate its 80th birthday, Lego has released an engaging 17-minute animated short that recounts the company’s beginnings as a carpentry business in Billund, Denmark to the global toy brand it’s become today.

“The Lego Story,” created by Danish CG studio Lani Pixels, chronicles how the company has managed to survive factories being burned to the ground, economic downturns, and personal losses, as well as touching on lighthearted anecdotes of why the tubing in a Lego brick was created and the birth of Legoland—all narrated by someone as close to the story as one can get: Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, grandson of Lego founder Ole Kirk Christiansen and former CEO.

Sources