<PAGE>   1

                                                    Registration No. ___________


                UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
                             Washington, D.C. 20549

                                    FORM S-8

                             REGISTRATION STATEMENT
                                      UNDER
                           THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933
                           --------------------------

                             THE VANTIVE CORPORATION
       ------------------------------------------------------------------
             (Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)


<TABLE>
<S>                                                    <C>
            Delaware                                                77-0266662
-------------------------------                        ------------------------------------
(State or other jurisdiction of                        (I.R.S. employer identification no.)
 incorporation or organization)
</TABLE>


                              2455 Augustine Drive
                              Santa Clara, CA 95054
               ---------------------------------------------------
               (Address of principal executive offices) (Zip code)



                             THE VANTIVE CORPORATION
                       1997 NONSTATUTORY STOCK OPTION PLAN
       ------------------------------------------------------------------
                            (Full title of the plan)


                                David Schellhase
                       Vice President and General Counsel
                             The Vantive Corporation
                              2455 Augustine Drive
                              Santa Clara, CA 95054
                     ---------------------------------------
                     (Name and address of agent for service)

Telephone number, including area code, of agent for service:  408/982-5700

This registration statement shall hereafter become effective in accordance with
Rule 462 promulgated under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.


                                       1

<PAGE>   2

<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                 CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                              Proposed maximum     Proposed maximum      Amount of
Title of securities         Amount to be      offering price           aggregate        registration
to be registered(1)          registered         per share(2)       offering price(2)        fee
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
<S>                          <C>                  <C>                 <C>                <C>   
1997 Nonstatutory 
Stock Option Plan

Common Stock                 1,200,000            $8.125              $9,750,000         $2,710.50
par value $0.001
</TABLE>


                                     PART II

               INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT


Item 3. Incorporation of Documents by Reference

     The Vantive Corporation (the "Company") hereby incorporates by reference in
this registration statement the following documents:

     (a)  The Company's latest annual report on Form 10-K filed pursuant to
Sections 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the
"Exchange Act"), containing audited financial statements for the Company's
latest fiscal year ended December 31, 1997, as filed with the Commission.

     (b)  All other reports filed pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the
Exchange Act since the end of the fiscal year covered by the registrant document
referred to in (a) above.

--------
(1)  The securities to be registered include options to acquire such Common
     Stock.

(2)  Estimated pursuant to Rule 457 solely for purposes of calculating the
     registration fee. The price for shares issuable under the 1997 Nonstatutory
     Stock Option Plan is based upon the average of the high and low prices of
     the Common Stock on December 3, 1998, as reported on the National
     Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations System.


                                       2

<PAGE>   3

     (c)  The description of the Company's Common Stock contained in the
Company's Registration Statement on Form 8-A filed under the Exchange Act,
including any amendment or report filed for the purpose of updating such
description.

     All documents subsequently filed by the Company pursuant to Sections 13(a),
13(c), 14 and 15(d) of the Exchange Act, prior to the filing of a post-effective
amendment to this registration statement which indicates that all securities
offered hereby have been sold or which deregisters all securities remaining
unsold, shall be deemed to be incorporated by reference in this registration
statement and to be a part hereof from the date of filing of such documents.

Item 4. Description of Securities

     The class of securities to be offered is registered under Section 12 of the
Exchange Act.

Item 5. Interests of Named Experts and Counsel

     The validity of the shares of Common Stock to be offered hereunder has been
passed upon for the Company by Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich LLP ("GCWF"). As of
December 4, 1998, certain attorneys of GCWF owned 9,057 shares of the Common
Stock of the Company.

Item 6. Indemnification of Directors and Officers

     Delaware law authorizes corporations to eliminate the personal liability of
directors to corporations and their stockholders for monetary damages for breach
or alleged breach of the directors' "duty of care." While the relevant statute
does not change the directors' duty of care, it enables corporations to limit
available relief to equitable remedies such as injunction or rescission. The
statute has no effect on directors' duty of loyalty, acts or omissions not in
good faith or involving intentional misconduct or knowing violations of law,
illegal payment of dividends and approval of any transaction from which a
director derives an improper personal benefit.

     The Company has adopted provisions in its Certificate of Incorporation
which eliminate the personal liability of its directors to the Company and its
stockholders for monetary damages for breach or alleged breach of their duty of
care. The Bylaws of the Company provide for indemnification of its directors,
officers, employees and agents to the full extent permitted by the General
Corporation Law of the State of Delaware, the Company's state of incorporation,
including those circumstances in which indemnification would otherwise be
discretionary under Delaware Law. Section 145 of the General Corporation Law of
the State of Delaware provides for indemnification in terms sufficiently broad
to indemnify such individuals, under certain circumstances, for liabilities
(including reimbursement of expenses incurred) arising under the Securities Act
of 1933, as amended.

Item 7. Exemption From Registration Claimed

     Inapplicable.


                                       3

<PAGE>   4

Item 8. Exhibits

     See Exhibit Index.

Item 9. Undertakings

     (a)  Rule 415 Offering

          The undersigned registrant hereby undertakes:

          (1)  To file, during any period in which offers or sales are being
made, a post-effective amendment to this registration statement:

               (i)  To include any prospectus required by Section 10(a)(3) of
the Securities Act of 1933;

               (ii) To reflect in the prospectus any facts or events arising
after the effective date of the registration statement (or the most recent
post-effective amendment thereof) which, individually or in the aggregate,
represent a fundamental change in the information set forth in the registration
statement;

               (iii) To include any material information with respect to the
plan of distribution not previously disclosed in the registration statement or
any material change to such information in the registration statement;

provided, however, that paragraphs (a)(1)(i) and (a)(l)(ii) do not apply if the
registration statement is on Form S-3 or Form S-8, and the information required
to be included in a post-effective amendment by those paragraphs is contained in
periodic reports filed by the registrant pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d)
of the Exchange Act that are incorporated by reference in the registration
statement.

          (2)  That, for the purpose of determining any liability under the
Securities Act of 1933, each such post-effective amendment shall be deemed to be
a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the
offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona
fide offering thereof.

          (3)  To remove from registration by means of a post-effective
amendment any of the securities being registered which remain unsold at the
termination of the offering.

     (b)  Filing incorporating subsequent Exchange Act documents by reference

     The undersigned registrant hereby undertakes that, for purposes of 
determining any liability under the Securities Act of 1933, each filing of the
registrant's annual report pursuant to Section 13(a) or Section 15(d) of the
Exchange Act (and, where applicable, each filing of an employee benefit plan's
annual report pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act) that is
incorporated by reference in the registration statement shall be deemed to be a
new 


                                       4

<PAGE>   5

registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the
offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona
fide offering thereof.

     (h)  Request for acceleration of effective date or filing of registration
          statement on Form S-8

     Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act
of 1933 may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling persons of the
registrant pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise, the registrant
has been advised that in the opinion of the Securities and Exchange Commission
such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Act and is,
therefore, unenforceable. In the event that a claim for indemnification against
such liabilities (other than the payment by the registrant of expenses incurred
or paid by a director, officer or controlling person of the registrant in the
successful defense of any action, suit or proceeding) is asserted by such
director, officer or controlling person in connection with the securities being
registered, the registrant will, unless in the opinion of its counsel the matter
has been settled by controlling precedent, submit to a court of appropriate
jurisdiction the question whether such indemnification by it is against public
policy as expressed in the Act and will be governed by the final adjudication of
such issue.


                                    SIGNATURE

     Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, the
registrant certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that it meets all
of the requirements for filing on Form S-8 and has duly caused this registration
statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly
authorized, in the City of Santa Clara, State of California, on December 4,
1998.

                                           The Vantive Corporation



                                           By: /s/ David Schellhase
                                              ----------------------------------
                                              David Schellhase
                                              Vice President and General Counsel


                                       5

<PAGE>   6

                        SIGNATURES AND POWER OF ATTORNEY

     The officers and directors of The Vantive Corporation, whose signatures
appear below, hereby constitute and appoint John R. Luongo, Leonard Le Blanc,
and David Schellhase, and each of them, their true and lawful attorneys and
agents, with full power of substitution, each with power to act alone, to sign
and execute on behalf of the undersigned any amendment or amendments to this
registration statement on Form S-8, and each of the undersigned does hereby
ratify and confirm all that each of said attorney and agent, or their or his
substitutes, shall do or cause to be done by virtue hereof. Pursuant to the
requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, this registration
statement has been signed by the following persons in the capacities indicated
on December 4, 1998.

<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
Signature                          Title
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
<S>                                <C>

/s/  John R. Luongo                President, Chief Executive Officer and Director
-------------------------------    (Principal Executive Officer)
John R. Luongo

/s/  Leonard Le Blanc              Chief Financial Officer (Principal Financial
-------------------------------    Officer)
Leonard Le Blanc

/s/  Michael M. Loo                Vice President, Finance (Principal Accounting
-------------------------------    Officer)
Michael M. Loo

/s/  William H. Davidow            Director
-------------------------------
William H. Davidow

/s/  Peter A. Roshko               Director
-------------------------------
Peter A. Roshko

/s/  Tom Thomas                    Director
-------------------------------
Tom Thomas

/s/  Raymond L. Ocampo, Jr.        Director
-------------------------------
Raymond L. Ocampo, Jr.

/s/  Patti Manuel                  Director
-------------------------------
Patti Manuel

/s/  John Luongo                   Director
-------------------------------
John Luongo
</TABLE>


                                       6

<PAGE>   7

                                  EXHIBIT INDEX

<TABLE>
<S>       <C>
4.1       Restated Certificate of Incorporation of the Company, as filed with the 
          Secretary of State of the State of Delaware on August 18, 1995, is incorporated 
          by reference to Exhibit 4.1 to the Company's Registration Statement on Form S-8
          filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on September 26, 1997 
          (No. 333-36551)

4.2       Bylaws of the Company are incorporated by reference to Exhibit 3.2 to the Company's
          Registration Statement on Form S-1 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission,
          declared effective on August 14, 1995 (No. 33-94244)

5         Opinion re legality

23.1      Consent of Counsel (included in Exhibit 5)

23.2      Consent of Arthur Andersen LLP

24        Power of Attorney (included in signature pages to this registration statement)
</TABLE>


                                       7
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{"company-data": {"conformed-name": "VANTIVE CORP", "cik": "0000947549", "assigned-sic": "7372", "irs-number": "770266662", "state-of-incorporation": "DE", "fiscal-year-end": "1231"}, "filing-values": {"form-type": "S-8", "act": "33", "file-number": "333-68449", "film-number": "98764582"}, "business-address": {"street1": "2455 AUGUSTINE DR", "city": "SANTA CLARA", "state": "CA", "zip": "95054", "phone": "4083674661"}, "mail-address": {"street1": "2455 AUGUSTINE DR", "city": "SANTA CLARA", "state": "CA", "zip": "95054"}}
1

                                                    Registration No. ___________

                UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
                             Washington, D.C. 20549

                                    FORM S-8

                             REGISTRATION STATEMENT
                                      UNDER
                           THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933
                           --------------------------

                             THE VANTIVE CORPORATION
       ------------------------------------------------------------------
             (Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
Delaware                                                77-0266662
-------------------------------                        ------------------------------------
(State or other jurisdiction of                        (I.R.S. employer identification no.)
 incorporation or organization)
2455 Augustine Drive
                              Santa Clara, CA 95054
               ---------------------------------------------------
               (Address of principal executive offices) (Zip code)

                             THE VANTIVE CORPORATION
                       1997 NONSTATUTORY STOCK OPTION PLAN
       ------------------------------------------------------------------
                            (Full title of the plan)

                                David Schellhase
                       Vice President and General Counsel
                             The Vantive Corporation
                              2455 Augustine Drive
                              Santa Clara, CA 95054
                     ---------------------------------------
                     (Name and address of agent for service)

Telephone number, including area code, of agent for service:  408/982-5700

This registration statement shall hereafter become effective in accordance with
Rule 462 promulgated under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.

                                       1
2
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                 CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                              Proposed maximum     Proposed maximum      Amount of
Title of securities         Amount to be      offering price           aggregate        registration
to be registered(1)          registered         per share(2)       offering price(2)        fee
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1997 Nonstatutory 
Stock Option Plan

Common Stock                 1,200,000            $8.125              $9,750,000         $2,710.50
par value $0.001
PART II

               INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT

Item 3. Incorporation of Documents by Reference

     The Vantive Corporation (the "Company") hereby incorporates by reference in
this registration statement the following documents:

     (a)  The Company's latest annual report on Form 10-K filed pursuant to
Sections 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the
"Exchange Act"), containing audited financial statements for the Company's
latest fiscal year ended December 31, 1997, as filed with the Commission.

     (b)  All other reports filed pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the
Exchange Act since the end of the fiscal year covered by the registrant document
referred to in (a) above.

--------
(1)  The securities to be registered include options to acquire such Common
     Stock.

(2)  Estimated pursuant to Rule 457 solely for purposes of calculating the
     registration fee. The price for shares issuable under the 1997 Nonstatutory
     Stock Option Plan is based upon the average of the high and low prices of
     the Common Stock on December 3, 1998, as reported on the National
     Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations System.

                                       2
3

     (c)  The description of the Company's Common Stock contained in the
Company's Registration Statement on Form 8-A filed under the Exchange Act,
including any amendment or report filed for the purpose of updating such
description.

     All documents subsequently filed by the Company pursuant to Sections 13(a),
13(c), 14 and 15(d) of the Exchange Act, prior to the filing of a post-effective
amendment to this registration statement which indicates that all securities
offered hereby have been sold or which deregisters all securities remaining
unsold, shall be deemed to be incorporated by reference in this registration
statement and to be a part hereof from the date of filing of such documents.

Item 4. Description of Securities

     The class of securities to be offered is registered under Section 12 of the
Exchange Act.

Item 5. Interests of Named Experts and Counsel

     The validity of the shares of Common Stock to be offered hereunder has been
passed upon for the Company by Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich LLP ("GCWF"). As of
December 4, 1998, certain attorneys of GCWF owned 9,057 shares of the Common
Stock of the Company.

Item 6. Indemnification of Directors and Officers

     Delaware law authorizes corporations to eliminate the personal liability of
directors to corporations and their stockholders for monetary damages for breach
or alleged breach of the directors' "duty of care." While the relevant statute
does not change the directors' duty of care, it enables corporations to limit
available relief to equitable remedies such as injunction or rescission. The
statute has no effect on directors' duty of loyalty, acts or omissions not in
good faith or involving intentional misconduct or knowing violations of law,
illegal payment of dividends and approval of any transaction from which a
director derives an improper personal benefit.

     The Company has adopted provisions in its Certificate of Incorporation
which eliminate the personal liability of its directors to the Company and its
stockholders for monetary damages for breach or alleged breach of their duty of
care. The Bylaws of the Company provide for indemnification of its directors,
officers, employees and agents to the full extent permitted by the General
Corporation Law of the State of Delaware, the Company's state of incorporation,
including those circumstances in which indemnification would otherwise be
discretionary under Delaware Law. Section 145 of the General Corporation Law of
the State of Delaware provides for indemnification in terms sufficiently broad
to indemnify such individuals, under certain circumstances, for liabilities
(including reimbursement of expenses incurred) arising under the Securities Act
of 1933, as amended.

Item 7. Exemption From Registration Claimed

     Inapplicable.

                                       3
4

Item 8. Exhibits

     See Exhibit Index.

Item 9. Undertakings

     (a)  Rule 415 Offering

          The undersigned registrant hereby undertakes:

          (1)  To file, during any period in which offers or sales are being
made, a post-effective amendment to this registration statement:

               (i)  To include any prospectus required by Section 10(a)(3) of
the Securities Act of 1933;

               (ii) To reflect in the prospectus any facts or events arising
after the effective date of the registration statement (or the most recent
post-effective amendment thereof) which, individually or in the aggregate,
represent a fundamental change in the information set forth in the registration
statement;

               (iii) To include any material information with respect to the
plan of distribution not previously disclosed in the registration statement or
any material change to such information in the registration statement;

provided, however, that paragraphs (a)(1)(i) and (a)(l)(ii) do not apply if the
registration statement is on Form S-3 or Form S-8, and the information required
to be included in a post-effective amendment by those paragraphs is contained in
periodic reports filed by the registrant pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d)
of the Exchange Act that are incorporated by reference in the registration
statement.

          (2)  That, for the purpose of determining any liability under the
Securities Act of 1933, each such post-effective amendment shall be deemed to be
a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the
offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona
fide offering thereof.

          (3)  To remove from registration by means of a post-effective
amendment any of the securities being registered which remain unsold at the
termination of the offering.

     (b)  Filing incorporating subsequent Exchange Act documents by reference

     The undersigned registrant hereby undertakes that, for purposes of 
determining any liability under the Securities Act of 1933, each filing of the
registrant's annual report pursuant to Section 13(a) or Section 15(d) of the
Exchange Act (and, where applicable, each filing of an employee benefit plan's
annual report pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act) that is
incorporated by reference in the registration statement shall be deemed to be a
new 

                                       4
5

registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the
offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona
fide offering thereof.

     (h)  Request for acceleration of effective date or filing of registration
          statement on Form S-8

     Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act
of 1933 may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling persons of the
registrant pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise, the registrant
has been advised that in the opinion of the Securities and Exchange Commission
such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Act and is,
therefore, unenforceable. In the event that a claim for indemnification against
such liabilities (other than the payment by the registrant of expenses incurred
or paid by a director, officer or controlling person of the registrant in the
successful defense of any action, suit or proceeding) is asserted by such
director, officer or controlling person in connection with the securities being
registered, the registrant will, unless in the opinion of its counsel the matter
has been settled by controlling precedent, submit to a court of appropriate
jurisdiction the question whether such indemnification by it is against public
policy as expressed in the Act and will be governed by the final adjudication of
such issue.

                                    SIGNATURE

     Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, the
registrant certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that it meets all
of the requirements for filing on Form S-8 and has duly caused this registration
statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly
authorized, in the City of Santa Clara, State of California, on December 4,
1998.

                                           The Vantive Corporation

                                           By: /s/ David Schellhase
                                              ----------------------------------
                                              David Schellhase
                                              Vice President and General Counsel

                                       5
6

                        SIGNATURES AND POWER OF ATTORNEY

     The officers and directors of The Vantive Corporation, whose signatures
appear below, hereby constitute and appoint John R. Luongo, Leonard Le Blanc,
and David Schellhase, and each of them, their true and lawful attorneys and
agents, with full power of substitution, each with power to act alone, to sign
and execute on behalf of the undersigned any amendment or amendments to this
registration statement on Form S-8, and each of the undersigned does hereby
ratify and confirm all that each of said attorney and agent, or their or his
substitutes, shall do or cause to be done by virtue hereof. Pursuant to the
requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, this registration
statement has been signed by the following persons in the capacities indicated
on December 4, 1998.
Signature                          Title
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/s/  John R. Luongo                President, Chief Executive Officer and Director
-------------------------------    (Principal Executive Officer)
John R. Luongo

/s/  Leonard Le Blanc              Chief Financial Officer (Principal Financial
-------------------------------    Officer)
Leonard Le Blanc

/s/  Michael M. Loo                Vice President, Finance (Principal Accounting
-------------------------------    Officer)
Michael M. Loo

/s/  William H. Davidow            Director
-------------------------------
William H. Davidow

/s/  Peter A. Roshko               Director
-------------------------------
Peter A. Roshko

/s/  Tom Thomas                    Director
-------------------------------
Tom Thomas

/s/  Raymond L. Ocampo, Jr.        Director
-------------------------------
Raymond L. Ocampo, Jr.

/s/  Patti Manuel                  Director
-------------------------------
Patti Manuel

/s/  John Luongo                   Director
-------------------------------
John Luongo
6
7

                                  EXHIBIT INDEX
4.1       Restated Certificate of Incorporation of the Company, as filed with the 
          Secretary of State of the State of Delaware on August 18, 1995, is incorporated 
          by reference to Exhibit 4.1 to the Company's Registration Statement on Form S-8
          filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on September 26, 1997 
          (No. 333-36551)

4.2       Bylaws of the Company are incorporated by reference to Exhibit 3.2 to the Company's
          Registration Statement on Form S-1 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission,
          declared effective on August 14, 1995 (No. 33-94244)

5         Opinion re legality

23.1      Consent of Counsel (included in Exhibit 5)

23.2      Consent of Arthur Andersen LLP

24        Power of Attorney (included in signature pages to this registration statement)
7