If you’re Pete Docter, you’ve had a hand in just about every film Pixar has made for the last two-plus decades. The chief creative officer at Pixar Animation Studios and Oscar-winning director of “Up,” “Inside Out,” “Soul” and “Monsters, Inc.” was the tenth employee and third animator to begin working there.
Docter discussed all of this in an extended Visionaries conversation on Monday at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival where he reflected on his origins with the studio, where they’re at now and what the key is to making good films.
After jokingly asking why everyone was there when they could be out watching movies, Docter recounted how, growing up in Minnesota, he was part of a musical family — though was more someone who took to drawing, himself.