The verb tenses in Hebrew are not the same as ours, so it is sometimes very difficult to translate and interpret with the same thought as the author intended.
The verb tense here is Qal, which is called the imperfect, but could be translated as a "present perfect" as Gen 1 should be (but isn't). From what I can tell, it would be best to interpret this from the context that God wanted to give Adam company, so he forms animals after Adam was created. I don't think the "had formed" in the NIV is the correct translation. My preference is " And The Lord God forms every beast". It could be, "and the Lord God formed every beast". I don't think "the Lord God had formed every beast" is very good.
One problem is the Masorites put the vowel points in and influenced what tense to translate in. This verb could be a completely different tense than Qal. In fact it might even be future from what I can tell. It is confusing because the root may be tsrar "crr instead of ycr".
From context I would think your idea is correct.