John Lasseter

John Lasseter (born January 12, 1957, Hollywood, California, U.S.) is an American animator widely credited with engineering the success of Pixar Animation Studios through a synthesis of cutting-edge computer animation and classic storytelling. He is best known for his work on films such as Toy Story (1995), the first fully computer-animated feature, and its sequels (1999, 2010).

Lasseter—who was encouraged by his mother, an art teacher—won a drawing contest at the age of five. In high school, after reading about the making of Walt Disney Company’s animated film Sleeping Beauty (1938), he was inspired to pursue a career as an animator. He attended the California Institute of the Arts, which had just begun offering animation courses taught by veteran Disney artists. After graduation (1979) he took a job at Disney’s animation studio, where he worked on The Fox and the Hound (1981) and Mickey’s Christmas Carol (1983). His enthusiasm for nascent computer animation technology put Lasseter at odds with some of his superiors, however, and he was fired in 1983.

By the following year Lasseter had been hired to work in the computer graphics division of Lucasfilm Ltd., the film company owned by director George Lucas. His first assignment was to direct an animated short film, The Adventures of André and Wally B. (1984), which was one of the first movies to feature computer-generated characters. In 1986 the division was acquired by Apple Computer, Inc., cofounder Steve Jobs and became an independent company called Pixar that focused primarily on developing and selling animation software. Disney became its biggest client. Pixar also produced television commercials and short films, with Lasseter serving as director. Tin Toy (1988) earned Lasseter an Academy Award for best short animated film.

In 1991 Pixar began to produce movies for Disney. Lasseter directed the initial effort, Toy Story, which featured a throng of talking toys. It became the highest-grossing film of 1995 and earned him a second Academy Award, this time for special achievement. Lasseter went on to direct other successful Pixar films for Disney—namely, A Bug’s Life (1998), a comical adventure featuring animated insects, and Toy Story 2 (1999), a sequel featuring further adventures of the toys from the 1995 hit. He codirected Cars (2006), which followed an array of anthropomorphic vehicles. During that time Lasseter also produced such Pixar films as Monsters, Inc. (2001), about the clash between the monster and human worlds, and Finding Nemo (2003), about a clownfish’s oceanic search for his son.

Lasseter returned to the company that had fired him when Disney purchased Pixar in 2006. He was named chief creative officer of both Pixar’s and Disney’s animation operations, and in that capacity he produced numerous features, including Up (2009), an aerial picaresque featuring a senior citizen as its hero; the third installment in the Toy Story franchise (2010); and Inside Out (2015), which deals with the complicated emotions of a young girl. In addition, he codirected Cars 2 (2011).

In November 2017, amid allegations of sexual misconduct, Lasseter announced that he was taking a six-month leave of absence because of “missteps.” In June 2018, however, it was reported that he would be leaving Disney at the end of the year. In January 2019 Lasseter became head of Skydance Media’s animation division.