Abstract: We investigate the effects of above band gap ultrafast laser pulses on the lattice dynamics and structural properties of the prototypical perovskite, BaTiO3, using electronic structure methods and atomistic simulations. We use a constrained density functional method to study the local changes induced by ultrafast laser excitation. Our work shows a reduction in the ionicity due to electrons being returned by O anions to Ti cations. We calculate the dependences of phonon frequencies and equilibrium structures on excited carrier density and find that moderate levels of photo-excitation reduces the polarization, coherently excites and softens optical phonons of A1 symmetry, and lowers the local barriers to ferroelectric domain reversal. We use our first principles calculations to fit atomistic potentials and study structural changes on significantly longer time-scales. Our results suggest that pump-probe spectroscopy could be used to induce a purely-displacive transition to higher symmetry phase at low temperature and to study the decay of coherent optical phonons. Our findings may also provide guidance to the design of optically controlled devices.