<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


                               GENERAL MAGIC, INC.
             ------------------------------------------------------
             (Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

            DELAWARE                                   77-0250147
---------------------------------           ------------------------------------
  (State or other jurisdiction              (I.R.S. employer identification no.)
of incorporation or organization)

                              420 North Mary Avenue
                               Sunnyvale, CA 94086
               ---------------------------------------------------
               (Address of principal executive offices) (Zip code)

                               GENERAL MAGIC, INC.
                        INDIVIDUAL RESTRICTED STOCK GRANT
                                   AGREEMENT
                  --------------------------------------------
                            (Full title of the plan)

                                 Steven Markman
                     President, Chief Executive Officer, and
                       Chairman of the Board of Directors
                               General Magic, Inc.
                              420 North Mary Avenue
                               Sunnyvale, CA 94086
                     ---------------------------------------  
                     (Name and address of agent for service)

Telephone number, including area code, of agent for service: (408) 774-4000.

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
     Title of          Amount to be      offering price        aggregate          Amount of
 Securities to be       registered          per share       offering price(1) registration fee
    registered
-----------------      ------------     ----------------   ----------------   ----------------
<S>                    <C>              <C>                <C>                <C>    
Common Stock              280,000           $1.40625           $393,750           $116.16
Par Value $0.001
</TABLE>





-------- 
(1) Estimated pursuant to Rule 457 solely for purposes of calculating the
registration fee. The price is based upon the average of the high and low price
per share of the Common Stock on February 3, 1998, as reported on the National
Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations System.


                                       2
<PAGE>   3
                                     PART II

               INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT


Item 3. Incorporation of Documents by Reference

        General Magic, Inc. (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
fiscal year ended December 31, 1996, as filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission (File No. 0-25374).

        (b) All other reports filed pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "Exchange Act") since the end
of the fiscal year covered by the registrant document referred to in (a) above.

        (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

        Inapplicable.

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 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 



                                       3
<PAGE>   4
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.

Item 7. Exemption From Registration Claimed

        Inapplicable.

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 




                                       4
<PAGE>   5
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 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.




                                       5
<PAGE>   6
                                    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 Sunnyvale, State of California, on
February 5, 1998.

                                        General Magic, Inc.


                                        By: /s/ STEVEN MARKMAN
                                            ------------------------------------
                                            Steven Markman,
                                            President, Chief Executive Officer,
                                            and Chairman of the Board of
                                            Directors



                                       6
<PAGE>   7
                        SIGNATURES AND POWER OF ATTORNEY

        The officers and directors of General Magic, Inc. whose signatures
appear below, hereby constitute and appoint Steven Markman and James P.
McCormick, 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 February 5, 1998.

SIGNATURE                           TITLE


/s/ STEVEN MARKMAN                  President, Chief Executive Officer, Chairman
----------------------------------  of the Board, and Director
Steven Markman                      (Principal Executive Officer)


/s/ JAMES P. MCCORMICK              Chief Financial Officer
----------------------------------  (Principal Financial and Accounting Officer)
James P. McCormick

/s/ Michael E. Kalogris             Director
----------------------------------  
Michael E. Kalogris

                                    Director
----------------------------------  
Carl F. Pascarella

                                    Director
----------------------------------  
Roel Pieper

/s/ DENNIS F. STRIGL
----------------------------------  Director
Dennis F. Strigl


/s/ SUSAN G. SWENSON
----------------------------------  Director
Susan G. Swenson




                                       7
<PAGE>   8



                                  EXHIBIT INDEX
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
<C>     <S>                                                                     
4.1     Certificate of Incorporation of the Company is incorporated by reference
        to Exhibit 3.2 to the Company's Registration Statement on Form S-1 filed
        with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 9, 1995 (File
        No. 33-87164)

4.2     Agreement and Plan of Merger between General Magic, Inc., a California
        Corporation, and the Company is incorporated by reference to Exhibit 2.1
        to the Company's Registration Statement on Form S-1 filed with the
        Securities and Exchange Commission on February 9, 1995 (File No.
        33-87164)

4.3     Certificate of Amendment of Certificate of Incorporation of the Company
        is incorporated by reference to Exhibit 3.3 to the Company's
        Registration Statement on Form S-1 filed with the Securities and
        Exchange Commission on February 9, 1995 (File No. 33-87164)

4.4     Certificate of Correction of the Certificate of Amendment of the Company
        is incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.3 of the Company's
        Registration Statement on Form S-8 filed with the Securities and
        Exchange Commission on September 25, 1996 (File No.
        333-12667)

4.5     Certificate of Retirement and Elimination of Classes of Common Stock and
        Series of Preferred Stock of the Company is incorporated by reference to
        Exhibit 4.5 of the Company's Registration Statement on Form S-8 filed
        with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 11, 1997

4.6     Second Amended and Restated Bylaws of the Company

5       Opinion re legality

23.1    Consent of Counsel (included in Exhibit 5)

23.2    Consent of KPMG Peat Marwick LLP

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



                                       8
[{"type": "S-8", "sequence": "1", "description": "FORM S-8", "secsgml_size_bytes": 15586}]
{"company-data": {"conformed-name": "GENERAL MAGIC INC", "cik": "0000933524", "assigned-sic": "7372", "irs-number": "770250147", "state-of-incorporation": "DE", "fiscal-year-end": "1231"}, "filing-values": {"form-type": "S-8", "act": "33", "file-number": "333-45751", "film-number": "98524099"}, "business-address": {"street1": "420 N MARY AVE", "city": "SUNNYVALE", "state": "CA", "zip": "94086", "phone": "4087744000"}, "mail-address": {"street1": "420 N MARY AVENUE", "city": "SUNNYVALE", "state": "CA", "zip": "94086"}}
1
                                                 Registration No.

                UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
                             Washington, D.C. 20549
                                 
                                    FORM S-8
                             
                             REGISTRATION STATEMENT
                                      UNDER
                           THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

                               GENERAL MAGIC, INC.
             ------------------------------------------------------
             (Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

            DELAWARE                                   77-0250147
---------------------------------           ------------------------------------
  (State or other jurisdiction              (I.R.S. employer identification no.)
of incorporation or organization)

                              420 North Mary Avenue
                               Sunnyvale, CA 94086
               ---------------------------------------------------
               (Address of principal executive offices) (Zip code)

                               GENERAL MAGIC, INC.
                        INDIVIDUAL RESTRICTED STOCK GRANT
                                   AGREEMENT
                  --------------------------------------------
                            (Full title of the plan)

                                 Steven Markman
                     President, Chief Executive Officer, and
                       Chairman of the Board of Directors
                               General Magic, Inc.
                              420 North Mary Avenue
                               Sunnyvale, CA 94086
                     ---------------------------------------  
                     (Name and address of agent for service)

Telephone number, including area code, of agent for service: (408) 774-4000.

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
     Title of          Amount to be      offering price        aggregate          Amount of
 Securities to be       registered          per share       offering price(1) registration fee
    registered
-----------------      ------------     ----------------   ----------------   ----------------
Common Stock              280,000           $1.40625           $393,750           $116.16
Par Value $0.001
-------- 
(1) Estimated pursuant to Rule 457 solely for purposes of calculating the
registration fee. The price is based upon the average of the high and low price
per share of the Common Stock on February 3, 1998, as reported on the National
Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations System.

                                       2
3
                                     PART II

               INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT

Item 3. Incorporation of Documents by Reference

        General Magic, Inc. (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
fiscal year ended December 31, 1996, as filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission (File No. 0-25374).

        (b) All other reports filed pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "Exchange Act") since the end
of the fiscal year covered by the registrant document referred to in (a) above.

        (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

        Inapplicable.

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 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 

                                       3
4
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.

Item 7. Exemption From Registration Claimed

        Inapplicable.

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 

                                       4
5
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 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.

                                       5
6
                                    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 Sunnyvale, State of California, on
February 5, 1998.

                                        General Magic, Inc.

                                        By: /s/ STEVEN MARKMAN
                                            ------------------------------------
                                            Steven Markman,
                                            President, Chief Executive Officer,
                                            and Chairman of the Board of
                                            Directors

                                       6
7
                        SIGNATURES AND POWER OF ATTORNEY

        The officers and directors of General Magic, Inc. whose signatures
appear below, hereby constitute and appoint Steven Markman and James P.
McCormick, 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 February 5, 1998.

SIGNATURE                           TITLE

/s/ STEVEN MARKMAN                  President, Chief Executive Officer, Chairman
----------------------------------  of the Board, and Director
Steven Markman                      (Principal Executive Officer)

/s/ JAMES P. MCCORMICK              Chief Financial Officer
----------------------------------  (Principal Financial and Accounting Officer)
James P. McCormick

/s/ Michael E. Kalogris             Director
----------------------------------  
Michael E. Kalogris

                                    Director
----------------------------------  
Carl F. Pascarella

                                    Director
----------------------------------  
Roel Pieper

/s/ DENNIS F. STRIGL
----------------------------------  Director
Dennis F. Strigl

/s/ SUSAN G. SWENSON
----------------------------------  Director
Susan G. Swenson

                                       7
8

                                  EXHIBIT INDEX
4.1     Certificate of Incorporation of the Company is incorporated by reference
        to Exhibit 3.2 to the Company's Registration Statement on Form S-1 filed
        with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 9, 1995 (File
        No. 33-87164)

4.2     Agreement and Plan of Merger between General Magic, Inc., a California
        Corporation, and the Company is incorporated by reference to Exhibit 2.1
        to the Company's Registration Statement on Form S-1 filed with the
        Securities and Exchange Commission on February 9, 1995 (File No.
        33-87164)

4.3     Certificate of Amendment of Certificate of Incorporation of the Company
        is incorporated by reference to Exhibit 3.3 to the Company's
        Registration Statement on Form S-1 filed with the Securities and
        Exchange Commission on February 9, 1995 (File No. 33-87164)

4.4     Certificate of Correction of the Certificate of Amendment of the Company
        is incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.3 of the Company's
        Registration Statement on Form S-8 filed with the Securities and
        Exchange Commission on September 25, 1996 (File No.
        333-12667)

4.5     Certificate of Retirement and Elimination of Classes of Common Stock and
        Series of Preferred Stock of the Company is incorporated by reference to
        Exhibit 4.5 of the Company's Registration Statement on Form S-8 filed
        with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 11, 1997

4.6     Second Amended and Restated Bylaws of the Company

5       Opinion re legality

23.1    Consent of Counsel (included in Exhibit 5)

23.2    Consent of KPMG Peat Marwick LLP

24      Power of Attorney (included in signature pages to this registration
        statement)
8