History Creator / PixarRegulars

!!!Tropes Associated With John Lasseter

* AnimateInanimateObject: His [[WesternAnimation/ToyStory bread]] and [[WesternAnimation/{{Cars}} butter]].
* AssociatedComposer: Music/RandyNewman.
* AuthorAppeal
** {{Cool car}}s. He worked in his father's auto dealership as a teenager and developed an affinity for them as a result.
** Americana, as evidenced by the hero of ''Toy Story'' being a cowboy doll and most of the ''Cars'' characters being {{good old boy}}s. The score for ''A Bug's Life'' channels Music/AaronCopland, who's music famously evoked TheWildWest. ''Cars'' also celebrates the famed Route 66, which the man himself traveled down with his family in the early 2000s.
* BlackAndWhiteMorality: ''Cars'', ''Cars 2'', and ''A Bugs Life''.
* NiceGuy: Lasseter has a reputation for being a really nice, gentle, sweet, warm guy.
* SignatureStyle: Highly idealistic stories about inanimate objects come to life.
* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: Heavily idealistic, even for Pixar films.
* WhiteAndGrayMorality: ''Toy Story'' and ''Toy Story 2''. Sid is the villain of the first one, but he really is just a kid who is sadistic towards toys. Stinky Pete may be the villain of the sequel but he is only that because he is forced to taking extreme measures. He even is actually a father figure to Woody at first.

!!!Tropes Associated with Andrew Stanton's work

* AuthorAppeal
** Love between two or people and the extents people go for those they care about. ''Wall-E'' is about two robots who suddenly fall in love. ''Finding Nemo'' is about a fathers ocean search for his son, and ''Finding Dory'' is about a fish looking for her two parents.
** Ambiance. Most of the films he's directed tend to be very quiet, with soundtracks consisting of droning while noise like water or wind and simplistic NewAge-style music scores (usually by Thomas Newman).
* AssociatedComposer: Music/ThomasNewman.
* NoAntagonist: There is no antagonist whatsoever in ''Finding Dory''. Even Darla in ''Finding Nemo'' isn't really much of a villain so much as an ignorant, bratty child.
* RousseauWasRight
* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: Closer to the middle than most Pixar directors. His films ultimately have happy endings, but the audience has to [[EarnYourHappyEnding ensure a lot of drama before they get there]].
* WhiteAndGreyMorality: Darla is just a kid who doesn't know any better. The villain of ''Wall-E'' is just a robot doing his job.

!!! Tropes Associated With Pete Docter's Work

* AuthorAppeal
** Emotions and Relationships. ''Monsters Inc.'' is about the relationship between both Sully and Mike and, more emotionally, Sully and Boo. ''Up'' is about the love between Carl and Ellie and the relationship surrogate Grandfather-surrogate grandson relationship between Carl and Russell. WesternAnimation/''InsideOut'' is literally about Emotions working together.
** He also loved getting child actors to record silly, stream-of-consciousness dialogue in his films, going all the way back to his thesis film ''Next Door''.
** Born and raised in Bloomington, Minnesota, his nostalgia for the state occasionally pops up. His second student film ''Winter'' is based on his own experiences with the heavy snowfall there and the family in ''Inside Out'' have just moved from Minnesota to San Francisco.
* BlackAndWhiteMorality / WhiteAndGreyMorality: Mr. Waternoose may be the main antagonistic, above Randall, but he really just doesn't want his company to under disaster. The villain in Up is really just after his life goal, which is what people in his job does.
* NoAntagonist: ''InsideOut''
* SignatureStyle: Bright, primary colors.
* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: Heavily optimistic with encouraging messages, heartwarming moments, and characters who are both sympathetic and relatable.

For tropes associated with Brad Bird's work, go [[Creator/BradBird here]].

For tropes associated with Joe Ranft, go [[Creator/JoeRanft here]].

For tropes associated with Randy Newman's work, go [[Music/RandyNewman here]].

* BlackAndWhiteMorality: ''Cars'', ''Cars 2'', and ''A Bugs Life''
* NiceGuy: Lasseter is a really nice, gentle, sweet, warm guy who loves to hug his co-workers every day before work.

* WhiteAndGrayMorality: ToyStory and ToyStory2. Sid is the villain of the first one, but he really is just a kid who is sadistic towards toys. Stinky Pete may be the villain of the sequel but he is only that because he is forced to taking extreme measures. He even is actually a father figure to Woody at first.

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

* ''WesternAnimation/Coco'' (2017)

* Juan Ortodoncia (''WesternAnimation/Coco'')

!! Tropes Associated with Brad Bird's work
* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCyncisim: Even his work outside of Pixar is heavily on the idealistic end of the scale with endearing and relatable characters, a lot of feel-good, heartwarming moments, and a lot of powerful human emotion.

'''Creator/MichaelGiacchino'''

!Tropes Associated With John Lasseter

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

* AnimateInanimateObject: His [[WesternAnimation/ToyStory bread]] and [[WesternAnimation/ToyStory butter]].

* AnimateInanimateObjects: His [[WesternAnimation/ToyStory bread]] and [[WesternAnimation/ToyStory butter]].

* CentralTheme: Emotions and Relationships. MonstersInc is about the relationship between Sully and Mike as more emotionally, Sully and Boo. ''Up'' is about the love between Carl and Ellie and the relationship surrogate Grandfather-surrogate grandson relationship between Carl and Russell. WesternAnimation/''InsideOut'' is literally about Emotions working together.

Randy Newman 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 Creator/{{Disney}} executives). Since then, he's done the score for seven Creator/{{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''.

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 ''Series/{{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/WallE'', and the practice was [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in a credits sequence in ''Cars''.

* John (''WesternAnimation/WallE'')

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 ''Series/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.

* SignatureStyle: Lasseter usually makes feel-good animated films about giving life to inanimate objects including toys and cars who have complexities and emotions.
* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: Heavily idealistic.

The Regulars' lone east coaster (a native of Boston, MA), Andrew Stanton joined Pixar in 1990, after briefly working on the 1980s ''WesternAnimation/MightyMouse'' cartoon and screening a few shorts of ''Spike and Mike's Sick and Twisted Animation Festival.'' 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/WallE''. Like ''Finding Nemo'', ''WALL•E'' was a critical and financial success. Also like ''Nemo'', it ranks as one of Pixar's most... er... ''[[TearJerker emotional]]'' films, so tissues are highly recommended.

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

* CentralTheme: Love between two or people and the extents people go for those they care about. ''Wall-E'' is about two robots who suddenly fall in love. ''Finding Nemo'' is about a fathers ocean search for his son, and ''Finding Dory'' is about a fish looking for her two parents.
* NoAntagonist: There is no antagonist whatsoever in ''Finding Dory''. Even Darla in FindingNemo isn't really much of a villain.

* SignatureStyle: Linklater usually makes feel-good animated films about giving life to inanimate objects including toys and cars who have complexities and emotions.

* WhiteAndGrayMorality: ToyStory and ToyStory2. Sid is the villain of the first one, but he really is just a kid who is sadistic towards toys. Stinky Pete may be the villain of the sequel but he is only that because he is forced to taking extreme measures, and he is actually a father figure to Woody at first.

* Central Theme: Love between two or people and the extents people go for those they care about. ''Wall-E'' is about two robots who suddenly fall in love. ''Finding Nemo'' is about a fathers ocean search for his son, and ''Finding Dory'' is about a fish looking for her two parents.

* WhiteVsGrayMorality

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

He also served as executive producer for both ''Disney/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'' 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.

One of Lasseter's old friends at Cal Arts, where they were in the same character animation class in Room A113. A latecomer to Pixar, Bird already had some directing experience before coming on board. His most notable pre-Creator/{{Pixar}} works are the "Family Dog" episode of ''Series/AmazingStories'' and the 1999 Warner Bros film ''WesternAnimation/TheIronGiant''. He also worked on ''Literature/ThePlagueDogs'' (1982), a dark and gritty British animated film based on the sequel to ''WatershipDown''; co-wrote Creator/StevenSpielberg's ''Film/BatteriesNotIncluded''; and directed two episodes of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' (both centered around Krusty the Clown), as well as the music video for ''Do the Bartman''.

He was working on a live-action film titled ''1906'', jointly produced by Creator/{{Disney}}, Creator/{{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, as Bird has directed ''Film/MissionImpossibleGhostProtocol'' and ''Film/{{Tomorrowland}}''. He is now working on writing a sequel to ''The Incredibles''.

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 Creator/{{Pixar}} films. His first directing project was ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3''. He is also quite fond of {{Twitter}} and spent the first few days after ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3'''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.]]

* ''[[PixarShorts Jack-Jack Attack]]'' (2005)

Gary Rydstrom is probably most famous for his sound design work on films like ''Film/JurassicPark'', ''Film/{{Titanic 1997}}'', and ''Film/SavingPrivateRyan''. His first work for Creator/{{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 ''Franchise/ToyStory'' movie to ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'' and returned in 2012 with ''WesternAnimation/{{Brave}}''. He made his directorial debut with the theatrical short ''Lifted''. He was slated to direct Newt, but following its cancellation, he instead directed ''[[WesternAnimation/PixarShorts Hawaiian Vacation]]'' before moving back to Creator/SkywalkerSound the year of its release. Outside of Pixar, he has directed the English dubs of three Creator/StudioGhibli films: ''Anime/TalesFromEarthsea'' and ''[[Anime/{{Arrietty}} The Borrower Arrietty]]'' (North American Dub), and ''Anime/TheWindRises''. Most recently, he directed ''WesternAnimation/StrangeMagic'' at Lucasfilm.

* ''[[PixarShorts Lifted]]'' (2006)

* ''[[PixarShorts One Man Band]]'' (2006)

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

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

* ''[[PixarShorts One Man Band]]'' (2005)
* ''[[PixarShorts Lifted]]'' (2006)

* ''[[PixarShorts Partly Cloudy]]'' (2009)

Producer of ''WesternAnimation/ABugsLife'', ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}'', ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3'', 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.

One of Lasseter's old friends at Cal Arts, where they were in the same character animation class in Room A113. A latecomer to Pixar, Bird already had some directing experience before coming on board. His most notable pre-{{Pixar}} works are the "Family Dog" episode of ''Series/AmazingStories'' and the 1999 Warner Bros film ''WesternAnimation/TheIronGiant''. He also worked on ''Literature/ThePlagueDogs'' (1982), a dark and gritty British animated film based on the sequel to ''WatershipDown''; co-wrote Creator/StevenSpielberg's ''Film/BatteriesNotIncluded''; and directed two episodes of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' (both centered around Krusty the Clown), as well as the music video for ''Do the Bartman''.

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 ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3''. He is also quite fond of {{Twitter}} and spent the first few days after ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3'''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.]]

Gary Rydstrom is probably most famous for his sound design work on films like ''Film/JurassicPark'', ''Film/{{Titanic 1997}}'', and ''Film/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 ''Franchise/ToyStory'' movie to ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'' and returned in 2012 with ''WesternAnimation/{{Brave}}''. He made his directorial debut with the theatrical short ''Lifted''. He was slated to direct Newt, but following its cancellation, he instead directed ''[[WesternAnimation/PixarShorts Hawaiian Vacation]]'' before moving back to Creator/SkywalkerSound the year of its release. Outside of Pixar, he has directed the English dubs of three Creator/StudioGhibli films: ''Anime/TalesFromEarthsea'' and ''[[Anime/{{Arrietty}} The Borrower Arrietty]]'' (North American Dub), and ''Anime/TheWindRises''. Most recently, he directed ''WesternAnimation/StrangeMagic'' at Lucasfilm.

Joe Ranft worked on scripts and storyboards for many animated films, both {{Pixar}} and non-Pixar. After doing story work on ''WesternAnimation/TheBraveLittleToaster'', Ranft worked on several Creator/{{Disney}} films, from ''Disney/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}}''.

Randy Newman 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 Creator/{{Disney}} executives). Since then, he's done the score for seven {{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''.

{{Pixar}} features and shorts he's written and performed music for:

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/WallE''.

If you look in the credits of several {{Pixar}} {{film}}s, you might start to notice a pattern: namely, how some of the same crew or cast members keep appearing. Listed here are some of the recurring directors, writers, and other notable people behind some of the best [[strike:[=CGI=]]] {{film}}s ever made.

John's eye for quality is no doubt the reason why, when Creator/{{Disney}} merged with Creator/{{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 ''Disney/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 ''Disney/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 also served as executive producer for both ''Disney/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.

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 Creator/{{Disney}} executives). Since then, he's done the score for seven {{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''.

RandyNewman also composed the music for the Lasseter-produced ''PrincessAndTheFrog'', the 49th film in the Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon.

John Lasseter has been with Pixar since the early days at Lucasfilm. Originally a Creator/{{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 ''WesternAnimation/TheBraveLittleToaster'' (which was distributed by Disney but made by independent company Hyperion). At Lucasfilm, he created its first four [[WesternAnimation/PixarShorts 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. Not wanting to cause the studio further embarrassment, John snapped into action by postponing the TroubledProduction ''WesternAnimation/TheGoodDinosaur'' by a year to ensure that the next film in their roster, ''WesternAnimation/InsideOut'', would be on par with their other classics.

* ''[[WesternAnimation/PixarShorts Luxo, Jr.]]'' (1986)

* ''[[WesternAnimation/{{Cars}} Cars 2]]'' (2011)

* ''[[WesternAnimation/{{Cars}} Cars 2]]'' (2011)

* Mack (the ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}'' films)

* ''TheIronGiant'' (1999)

One of Lasseter's old friends at Cal Arts, where they were in the same character animation class in Room A113. A latecomer to Pixar, Bird already had some directing experience before coming on board. His most notable pre-{{Pixar}} works are the "Family Dog" episode of ''Series/AmazingStories'' and the 1999 Warner Bros film ''TheIronGiant''. He also worked on ''Literature/ThePlagueDogs'' (1982), a dark and gritty British animated film based on the sequel to ''WatershipDown''; co-wrote Creator/StevenSpielberg's ''Film/BatteriesNotIncluded''; and directed two episodes of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' (both centered around Krusty the Clown), as well as the music video for ''Do the Bartman''.