History Creator / PixarRegulars

John Lasseter has been with Pixar since the early days at Lucasfilm. Originally a {{Disney}} animator, Lasseter was inspired by ''Film/{{Tron}}'' to try to make a computer-animated feature film, but was fired while trying to adapt Thomas M. Disch's novella ''TheBraveLittleToaster'' (which was distributed by Disney but made by independent company Hyperion). At Lucasfilm, he created its first four short films, including his most famous short, ''Luxo, Jr.'' He also directed Pixar's first feature film, ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'', for which he got a Special Achievement Award at the Oscars. After ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory2'', he stuck to executive producing Pixar's films for a while, though he still provided creative input into the companies' films. He returned to directing with the film ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}'', which, despite performing weaker and not being as well received as the other Pixar films, still got more good reviews than most other animated films that year and made a [[IncrediblyLamePun truckload]] of money, particularly through merchandising. His latest directorial effort, ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}} 2'', proved an artistic debacle that shattered the near spotless artistic reputation of the company such as leading to Pixar being shut out of contention for that year's Best Animated Feature Oscar for the first time in the award's history.

* ''[[PixarShorts The Adventures of Andre and Wally B.]]'' (1984)
* ''[[PixarShorts Luxo, Jr.]]'' (1986)
* ''[[PixarShorts Red's Dream]]'' (1987)
* ''[[PixarShorts Tin Toy]]'' (1988)
* ''[[PixarShorts Knick Knack]]'' (1989)

* ''[[PixarShorts Mater and the Ghostlight]]'' (2006)
* ''[[PixarShorts Tokyo Mater]]'' (2008)

He also served as executive producer for both ''PrincessAndTheFrog'' and the recent ''Disney/WinnieThePooh'' movie. ''Disney/WinnieThePooh'', incidentally, currently has a [[RottenTomatoes Tomatometer]] rating of 90% so don't think he's lost his touch yet.

* ''[[PixarShorts Mike's New Car]]'' (director, 2002)

Gary Rydstrom is probably most famous for his sound design work on films like ''Franchise/JurassicPark'', ''Film/{{Titanic}}'', and ''SavingPrivateRyan''. His first work for {{Pixar}}, in fact, was the sound design for the first five PixarShorts directed by John Lasseter. He then became the go-to guy for sound design and mixing from the first ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'' movie to ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo''. He made his directorial debut with the theatrical short ''Lifted''. Outside of Pixar, he has directed the English dubs of two StudioGhibli films: TalesFromEarthsea and TheBorrowerArrietty (North American Dub).

He was also cast as Ani-yaku (Assistant Manger) in Disney's English dub of ''SpiritedAway''.

* The Underminer (''TheIncredibles'')

He voices Eeyore in the [[DisneyAnimatedCanon Disney canon]] film ''Disney/WinnieThePooh'' in 2011.

John's eye for quality is no doubt the reason why, when {{Disney}} merged with {{Pixar}} back in 2006, he was not only made Chief Creative Officer of both Pixar ''and'' Disney Feature Animation, but also Principal Creative Advisor for Disney's Imagineering department, meaning he even has creative say in theme park rides. [[ExecutiveMeddling While his decisions at Disney]] did cause a bit of behind-the-scenes drama (his insistence on changes for ''Disney/{{Bolt}}'' led director Chris Sanders (of ''LiloAndStitch'') to leave the company), general consensus is that he's doing the studio a ''huge'' favor. After becoming Chief Creative Officer, he cancelled all of the Disney sequels in production and greenlighted ''ThePrincessAndTheFrog''. Lasseter has since opted for [=DisneyToon=] Studios to produce more original properties and spinoffs, such as the ''[[Franchise/DisneyFairies Tinker Bell]]'' films and the spinoff from ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}'', titled ''WesternAnimation/{{Planes}}''. Somewhat ironically, the hope for Disney to continue creating traditionally animated feature films largely lies with him; despite playing a large part in computer animation becoming more dominant, he's expressed interest in bringing 2D animation back.

He was to make his directoral debut in ''The Good Dinosaur'' but problems with the story pushed back it's release date by two years, as John Lasseter didn't want to have any more critical flops after [[{{Cars}} their]] [[{{Brave}} last]] [[MonstersUniversity three]].

He will make his feature directorial debut with the upcoming ''The Good Dinosaur''.

Joe Ranft worked on scripts and storyboards for many animated films, both {{Pixar}} and non-Pixar. After doing story work on ''TheBraveLittleToaster'', Ranft worked on several {{Disney}} films, from ''OliverAndCompany'' to ''Disney/BeautyAndTheBeast'' to ''Disney/TheLionKing''. He joined {{Pixar}} in 1992, and did story work on ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'' (the most famous scene he storyboarded being the "Army Men" scene in that film). Ranft went on to write and storyboard other animated films, including most of Pixar's, and also voiced a few characters in several films, including Heimlich the caterpillar in ''WesternAnimation/ABugsLife'', Wheezy the penguin in ''Toy Story 2'', and Jacques the shrimp in ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo''. He was later made co-director of ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}''.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{WALL-E}}'' (2008)

As of this writing, Pete Docter has directed two feature-length films, his most recent being the 2009 release ''WesternAnimation/{{Up}}''. Docter has worked on the scripts for the ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'' films and ''WesternAnimation/{{WALL-E}}'', but he is most famous for directing ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc.''. He was also picked by John Lasseter to take care of the English dub of ''Anime/HowlsMovingCastle'' while Lasseter was busy working on ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}''. He is currently hard at work directing ''Inside Out'', which will be releases in the summer of 2015.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{WALL-E}}'' (screenwriter, 2008)

Like his cousin, Randy, Thomas Newman already had experience as a composer before he was hired by {{Pixar}}. He was first hired to write the score for ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'', which he got an Oscar nod for. Perhaps not so coincidentally, his second work for Pixar was another Andrew Stanton film, ''WesternAnimation/{{WALL-E}}''.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{WALL-E}}'' (2008)

Of course, this page would not be complete without Pixar's "lucky charm", John Ratzenberger, who has done a voice for ''every single feature film'' Pixar has made. Many may know him as Cliff from ''{{Cheers}}'', and it was this role that resulted in him being cast for ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory''. Since then, he's always had a role, however minor, in every feature produced at the studio, to the point where Andrew Stanton just decided to [[TheDanza name Ratzenberger's role after him]] in ''WesternAnimation/{{WALL-E}}'', and the practice was [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in a credits sequence in ''Cars''.

* John (''WesternAnimation/{{WALL-E}}'')

Andrew Stanton joined Pixar in 1990, after briefly working on the 1980s ''MightyMouse'' cartoon. He worked as a writer for the ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'' films, ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc.'', and ''WesternAnimation/ABugsLife'' (which he also co-directed) before directing ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo''. For the next few years, he worked on his next film as a director, ''WesternAnimation/{{WALL-E}}''. Like ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'', ''WesternAnimation/{{WALL-E}}'' was a critical and financial success. Also like ''[[WesternAnimation/FindingNemo Nemo]]'', it ranks as one of Pixar's most... er... ''[[TearJerker emotional]]'' films, so tissues are highly recommended.

Like other Pixar crew members, Andrew Stanton has provided voice work for many Pixar productions. He most notably voiced Crush the turtle in ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'' and [[EvilOverlord Zurg]] in ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory2.''

His first live-action project was the LiveActionAdaptation of ''JohnCarterOfMars'' for {{Disney}}. Expect this to have destroyed his ProtectionFromEditors. He is currently signed on to direct the ''Finding Nemo'' sequel ''WesternAnimation/FindingDory'', which will be released in 2016.

John's eye for quality is no doubt the reason why, when {{Disney}} merged with {{Pixar}} back in 2006, he was not only made Chief Creative Officer of both Pixar ''and'' Disney Feature Animation, but also Principal Creative Advisor for Disney's Imagineering department, meaning he even has creative say in theme park rides. While his decisions at Disney did cause a bit of behind-the-scenes drama (his insistence on changes for ''Disney/{{Bolt}}'' led director Chris Sanders (of ''LiloAndStitch'') to leave the company), general consensus is that he's doing the studio a ''huge'' favor. After becoming Chief Creative Officer, he cancelled all of the Disney sequels in production and greenlighted ''ThePrincessAndTheFrog''. Lasseter has since opted for [=DisneyToon=] Studios to produce more original properties and spinoffs, such as the ''[[Franchise/DisneyFairies Tinker Bell]]'' films and the upcoming spinoff from ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}'', titled ''WesternAnimation/{{Planes}}''. Somewhat ironically, the hope for Disney to continue creating traditionally animated feature films largely lies with him; despite playing a large part in computer animation becoming more dominant, he's expressed interest in bringing 2D animation back.

His first live-action project was the LiveActionAdaptation of ''JohnCarterOfMars'' for {{Disney}}. Expect this to have destroyed his ProtectionFromEditors.

As of this writing, Pete Docter has directed two feature-length films, his most recent being the 2009 release ''WesternAnimation/{{Up}}''. Docter has worked on the scripts for the ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'' films and ''WesternAnimation/{{WALL-E}}'', but he is most famous for directing ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc.''. He was also picked by John Lasseter to take care of the English dub of ''Anime/HowlsMovingCastle'' while Lasseter was busy working on ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}''.

After the financial failure of ''Giant'', Bird moved on to {{Pixar}}, where he pitched a little idea he had for a feature film about superheroes. ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'' became a huge hit, and [[BradBird Brad]] was later asked to take over the then-in-production film ''WesternAnimation/{{Ratatouille}}'' after the original director, Jan Pinkava, was unable to bring it to a satisfying conclusion. While ''Ratatouille'' wasn't as big a financial success, it still did very well at the box office and with the critics.

As well as directing, BradBird sometimes does a little voice work for his films. You may remember him as the voice of the [[LargeHam scene-stealing Edna Mode]] in ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles''.

John's eye for quality is no doubt the reason why, when {{Disney}} merged with {{Pixar}} back in 2006, he was not only made Chief Creative Officer of both Pixar ''and'' Disney Feature Animation, but also Principal Creative Advisor for Disney's Imagineering department, meaning he even has creative say in theme park rides. While his decisions at Disney did cause a bit of behind-the-scenes drama (his insistence on changes for ''Disney/{{Bolt}}'' led director Chris Sanders (of ''LiloAndStitch'') to leave the company), general consensus is that he's doing the studio a ''huge'' favor. After becoming Chief Creative Officer, he cancelled all of the Disney sequels in production and greenlighted ''ThePrincessAndTheFrog''. Lasseter has since opted for [=DisneyToon=] Studios to produce more original properties and spinoffs, such as the ''[[DisneyFairies Tinker Bell]]'' films and the upcoming spinoff from ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}'', titled ''WesternAnimation/{{Planes}}''. Somewhat ironically, the hope for Disney to continue creating traditionally animated feature films largely lies with him; despite playing a large part in computer animation becoming more dominant, he's expressed interest in bringing 2D animation back.

'''BradBird'''

'''RandyNewman'''

RandyNewman was, of course, already a well-established, singer, songwriter, and composer by the time he was hired to work on the score for ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'' (despite the skepticism of {{Disney}} executives). Since then, he's done the score for five {{Pixar}} {{film}}s, and he can thank the studio - or, more specifically, ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc.'' - for finally getting him an Oscar in 2002 (for Best Song) after being nominated ''fifteen times''. He's also responsible for probably the most [[TearJerker tear-jerking]] song in the Pixar {{canon}}: "When She Loved Me ([[AffirmativeActionGirl Jessie's]] Song)" from ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory2''.

'''Steve Jobs''' (1955-2011)

After he was fired from [[AppleMacintosh Apple]] and founded [=NeXT=], Steve Jobs bought Pixar off of [[GeorgeLucas Lucasfilm]] in 1986 for $10 million, largely on the strength of John Lasseter's belief in the future of computer animation. Jobs continued to pour money into Pixar even as it failed to profit as a medical imaging software company, and allowed it to find its footing producing computer-animated commercials. Jobs' tenacity was ultimately vindicated by the subsequent success of Pixar, and he was the largest shareholder in both Disney and Pixar, with 7% of the shares.

John Lasseter calls him "the true unsung hero of animation", so Bud Luckey may not be as new a name as many would think. You seen that "10 Tiny Turtles" hand-drawn sequence featured in the earlier episodes of ''SesameStreet''? That's his animation. Now, his low, elderly, but comforting voice allows him to be a returning voice actor and employee of Pixar. He was a character designer there from the beginning, on WesternAnimation/ToyStory, where he originated Woody's look. They eventually gave him the opportunity to produce the short "Boundin'", which he composed, wrote, sung, voiced, designed, storyboarded, and directed all himself, and is inspired by his Montana upbringing and the myths that came with it. He also illustrated over 100 children's books.

* Voice of Rick Dicker in ''TheIncredibles'' and the short "Jack Jack Attack"

He is also a good friend of famed {{anime}} director HayaoMiyazaki, and has overseen the English dubbing of some of his films.

John Lasseter has been with Pixar since the early days at Lucasfilm. Originally a {{Disney}} animator, Lasseter was inspired by ''Film/{{Tron}}'' to try to make a computer-animated feature film, but was fired while trying to adapt Thomas M. Disch's novella ''TheBraveLittleToaster'' (which was distributed by Disney but made by independent company Hyperion). At Lucasfilm, he created its first four short films, including his most famous short, ''Luxo, Jr.'' He also directed Pixar's first feature film, ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'', for which he got a Special Achievement Award at the Oscars. After ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory2'', he stuck to executive producing Pixar's films for a while, though he still provided creative input into the companies' films. He returned to directing with the film ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}'', which, despite performing weaker and not being as well received as the other Pixar films, still got more good reviews than most other animated films that year and made a [[IncrediblyLamePun truckload]] of money, particularly through merchandising. His latest directorial effort, WesternAnimation/{{Cars}} 2, has been given a rather tepid reception by critics, however.

* ''JamesAndTheGiantPeach'' (story, 1996)

He also served as executive producer for both ''PrincessAndTheFrog'' and the recent ''WinnieThePooh'' movie. ''WinnieThePooh'', incidentally, currently has a [[RottenTomatoes Tomatometer]] rating of 90% so don't think he's lost his touch yet.

He voices Eeyore in the [[DisneyAnimatedCanon Disney canon]] film ''WinnieThePooh'' in 2011.

As of this writing, Pete Docter has directed two feature-length films, his most recent being the 2009 release ''Film/{{Up}}''. Docter has worked on the scripts for the ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'' films and ''WesternAnimation/{{WALL-E}}'', but he is most famous for directing ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc.''. He was also picked by John Lasseter to take care of the English dub of ''Anime/HowlsMovingCastle'' while Lasseter was busy working on ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}''.

* ''Film/{{Up}}'' (director, 2009)

Bob Peterson has mainly worked on storyboards and scripts for Pixar. Originally an animator on ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'', he moved on to do story work on ''WesternAnimation/ABugsLife'' and ''Toy Story 2''. He then became a co-writer on the script for ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'', and worked on the story for ''WesternAnimation/{{Ratatouille}}''. He was the co-director of the film ''Film/{{Up}}'', and provided the voices of Roz in ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc.'', Mr. Ray in ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'' and Dug in ''Film/{{Up}}''.

* ''Film/{{Up}}'' (co-director, 2009)

Michael Giacchino was a fairly unknown composer for video games and TV shows when Brad Bird asked him to do the score for ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles''. The jazzy, James Bond-esque score won him two Grammy nominations, and his later score for ''WesternAnimation/{{Ratatouille}}'' got him his first Oscar nomination. ''Film/{{Up}}'' won Best Original Score. Even as he gets more work in feature film scores, he's still writing music for Pixar films and shorts.

* ''Film/{{Up}}'' (2009)

* Tom, the Foreman of the construction work around Carl's house (''Film/{{Up}}'')

* ''MonstersUniversity'' (2013)

John Lasseter has been with Pixar since the early days at Lucasfilm. Originally a {{Disney}} animator, Lasseter was inspired by ''Film/{{Tron}}'' to try to make a computer-animated feature film, but was fired while trying to adapt Thomas M. Disch's novella ''TheBraveLittleToaster'' (which was distributed by Disney but made by independent company Hyperion). At Lucasfilm, he created its first four short films, including his most famous short, ''Luxo, Jr.'' He also directed Pixar's first feature film, ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'', for which he got a Special Achievement Award at the Oscars. After ''ToyStory2'', he stuck to executive producing Pixar's films for a while, though he still provided creative input into the companies' films. He returned to directing with the film ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}'', which, despite performing weaker and not being as well received as the other Pixar films, still got more good reviews than most other animated films that year and made a [[IncrediblyLamePun truckload]] of money, particularly through merchandising. His latest directorial effort, WesternAnimation/{{Cars}} 2, has been given a rather tepid reception by critics, however.

* ''ToyStory2'' (1999)

Like other Pixar crew members, Andrew Stanton has provided voice work for many Pixar productions. He most notably voiced Crush the turtle in ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'' and [[EvilOverlord Zurg]] in ''ToyStory2.''

* ''ToyStory2'' (screenwriter, 1999)

* ''ToyStory2'' (screenwriter, 1999)

Lee Unkrich has co-directed and edited films since he joined the team in 1994. Originally an editor on ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'' and ''WesternAnimation/ABugsLife'', he's co-directed three other {{Pixar}} films. His first directing project was ''ToyStory3''. He is also quite fond of {{Twitter}} and spent the first few days after ''[[WesternAnimation/ToyStory Toy Story 3]]''[[WesternAnimation/ToyStory 's]] release reading through fans' tweets and reviews that were sent to him, in many cases [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming replying to them individually thanking them for the support]]. You can follow him [[http://www.twitter.com/leeunkrich here.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory 2'' (co-director, 1999)

* ''ToyStory2'' (story, 1999)

* ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory 2'' (story, 1999)

RandyNewman was, of course, already a well-established, singer, songwriter, and composer by the time he was hired to work on the score for ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'' (despite the skepticism of {{Disney}} executives). Since then, he's done the score for five {{Pixar}} {{film}}s, and he can thank the studio - or, more specifically, ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc.'' - for finally getting him an Oscar in 2002 (for Best Song) after being nominated ''fifteen times''. He's also responsible for probably the most [[TearJerker tear-jerking]] song in the Pixar {{canon}}: "When She Loved Me ([[AffirmativeActionGirl Jessie's]] Song)" from ''ToyStory2''.

* ''ToyStory2'' (1999)

* ''ToyStory3'' (2010)

Producer of ''WesternAnimation/ABugsLife'', ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}'', ''[[WesternAnimation/ToyStory Toy Story 3]]'', and several PixarShorts, Darla has also received special thanks for her involvement with almost every other Pixar project, starting from ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'' onward. Currently holds the Guinness World Record for having the highest average gross per movie for a producer ($221 million per movie) though given the company she works for that's hardly surprising. The character of [[WesternAnimation/FindingNemo Darla]] was named after her by Stanton as revenge for all the practical jokes she's played on him.

* Voice of Chuckles the clown doll in ''ToyStory3''

He voices Eeyore in the [[DisneyAnimatedCanon Disney canon]] film ''WinnieThePooh'' in 2011.

* ''TheLionKing'' (story supervisor, 1994)
* ''ThePrinceOfEgypt'' (director, 1998)

Currently, he is working on a live-action film titled ''1906'', jointly produced by {{Disney}}, {{Pixar}}, and (you read that right) Disney's old rival WarnerBros, which centers around the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco. This project may be on hold, however, due to his directing ''Film/MissionImpossible – Ghost Protocol''.

* ''[[Film/MissionImpossible Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol]]'' (2011)

* ''BeautyAndTheBeast'' (story, 1991)

* ''[[PixarShorts Mater and the Ghostlight]]'' (2006) (co-director)

Oh, and [[EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys he really likes monkeys]]. And ''TheShining'', imagine that.

John Lasseter has been with Pixar since the early days at Lucasfilm. Originally a {{Disney}} animator, Lasseter was inspired by ''Film/{{Tron}}'' to try to make a computer-animated feature film, but was fired while trying to adapt Thomas M. Disch's novella ''TheBraveLittleToaster'' (which was distributed by Disney but made by independent company Hyperion). At Lucasfilm, he created its first four short films, including his most famous short, ''Luxo, Jr.'' He also directed Pixar's first feature film, ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'', for which he got a Special Achievement Award at the Oscars. After ''ToyStory2'', he stuck to executive producing Pixar's films for a while, though he still provided creative input into the companies' films. He returned to directing with the film ''{{Cars}}'', which, despite performing weaker and not being as well received as the other Pixar films, still got more good reviews than most other animated films that year and made a [[IncrediblyLamePun truckload]] of money, particularly through merchandising. His latest directorial effort, WesternAnimation/{{Cars}} 2, has been given a rather tepid reception by critics, however.

As of this writing, Pete Docter has directed two feature-length films, his most recent being the 2009 release ''Film/{{Up}}''. Docter has worked on the scripts for the ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'' films and ''WesternAnimation/{{WALL-E}}'', but he is most famous for directing ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc.''. He was also picked by John Lasseter to take care of the English dub of ''Anime/HowlsMovingCastle'' while Lasseter was busy working on ''{{Cars}}''.

Joe Ranft worked on scripts and storyboards for many animated films, both {{Pixar}} and non-Pixar. After doing story work on ''TheBraveLittleToaster'', Ranft worked on several {{Disney}} films, from ''OliverAndCompany'' to ''Disney/BeautyAndTheBeast'' to ''Disney/TheLionKing''. He joined {{Pixar}} in 1992, and did story work on ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'' (the most famous scene he storyboarded being the "Army Men" scene in that film). Ranft went on to write and storyboard other animated films, including most of Pixar's, and also voiced a few characters in several films, including Heimlich the caterpillar in ''WesternAnimation/ABugsLife'', Wheezy the penguin in ''Toy Story 2'', and Jacques the shrimp in ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo''. He was later made co-director of ''{{Cars}}''.

He will make his feature directorial debut with the upcoming unnamed Pixar movie about dinosaurs.