- Born
- Birth nameAndrew Ayers Stanton
- Height6′ (1.83 m)
- Andrew Stanton has been a major creative force at Pixar Animation Studios since 1990, when he became the second animator and ninth employee to join the company's elite group of computer animation pioneers. As Vice President, Creative he currently oversees all shorts and feature projects at the studio. Stanton wrote and directed the Academy Award®-winning Disney and Pixar feature film "WALL.E," for which he also received a Best Original Screenplay Oscar®-nomination. In 2016 Stanton directed Disney and Pixar's "Finding Dory," which, upon release, became the highest-grossing domestic animated feature of all time and in 2019 Stanton served as screenwriter and executive producer of "Toy Story 4."
Stanton made his directorial debut with the record-shattering "Finding Nemo," an original story of his that he also co-wrote. The film garnered Stanton two Academy Award® nominations (Best Original Screenplay and Best Animated Film), and "Finding Nemo" was awarded an Oscar® for Best Animated Feature Film of 2003, the first such honor Pixar Animation Studios received for a full-length feature film.
One of the four screenwriters to receive an Oscar® nomination in 1996 for his contribution to "Toy Story," Stanton went on to receive credit as a screenwriter on every subsequent Pixar film - "A Bug's Life," "Toy Story 2," "Monsters, Inc." and "Finding Nemo." Additionally, he served as co-director on "A Bug's Life," and was the executive producer of "Monsters, Inc.," and "Monsters University," and Academy Award®-winning films "Ratatouille" and "Brave."
In addition to his multi-award winning animation work, Stanton made his live-action writing and directorial debut with Disney's "John Carter," released in March 2012.
A native of Rockport, Massachusetts, Stanton earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Character Animation from California Institute of the Arts (Cal Arts), where he completed two student films. In the 1980s, he launched his professional career in Los Angeles animating for Bill Kroyer's Kroyer Films studio, and writing for Ralph Bakshi's production of "Mighty Mouse, The New Adventures" (1987).
- IMDb mini biography by: Pixar Official site
- SpouseJulie Stanton(August 2, 1991 - present) (2 children)
- ChildrenBen StantonAudrey Stanton
- RelativesNathan Stanton(Sibling)Kris Stanton(Niece or Nephew)
- Uses music by Thomas Newman
- Joined Pixar in 1990 as its second animator and ninth employee.
- He has written two films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: Toy Story (1995) and WALL·E (2008). He has also directed one film that is in the registry: WALL·E.
- Has a son named Ben and a daughter named Audrey with his wife, Julie Stanton.
- Lawrence of Arabia (1962) is his favorite movie. His other favorite movies include Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977), Blade Runner (1982) and Aliens (1986).
- Has directed two movies that won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature: Finding Nemo (2003) and WALL·E (2008).
- A lot of people think if they make a computer-animated film, it's going to be a hit. I'm afraid we're going to see a glut of really bad films in the next couple of years
- One thing that's a blessing at Pixar is that ever since Toy Story, we've made the films we wanted to make. When making Toy Story, we first started out by trying to please all these executives at Disney, and it failed. And in this last-ditch effort for fear of having the film shut down, we sort of locked ourselves in our room and just made what we would want to see. And that became the Toy Story that everybody knows. So we've decided ever since then to just listen to the audience member in ourselves, and not worry about the demographics. I'm a family man, I have kids, and I go to the movies. And I'm just going to make the kind of movie I want to see. And if it doesn't match perfectly for somebody else, so be it, but at least it's an artist being pure with their vision.
- I'm not naive about what's at stake. But I almost feel like it's an obligation to not further the status quo if you become somebody with influence and exposure. I don't want to paint the same painting again. I don't want to make the same sculpture again. Why shouldn't a big movie studio be able to make those small independent kinds of pictures? Why not change it up?
- I was writing WALL·E (2008) so long ago, how could I have known what's going on now? As it was getting finished, the environment talk started to freak me out. I don't have much of a political bent, and the last thing I want to do is preach. I just went with things that I felt were logical for a possible future and supported the point of my story, which was the premise that irrational love defeats life's programming, and that the most robotic beings I've met are us.
- We were always frustrated that people saw CG as a genre as opposed to just a medium that could tell any kind of story. We felt like we widened the palette with Toy Story (1995) but then people unconsciously put CG back in a different box: 'Well, it's got to be irreverent, it's got to have A-list actors, it's got to have talking animals.'
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content
