Josh Cooley | |
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Born | [1] Berkeley, California, U.S. | May 23, 1979
Occupations |
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Years active | 2003–present |
Employer | Pixar Animation Studios (2003–2020) |
Awards | Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Toy Story 4 (2019) |
Joshua Cooley (born May 23, 1979) is an American filmmaker, storyboard artist, and voice actor. He is best known for directing the animated films Toy Story 4 (2019) and the upcoming Transformers One (2024), the former of which won for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. He also co-wrote the screenplay for the film Inside Out (2015), which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
Cooley was recruited by Joe Ranft at Pixar, where he started his career as an intern, [2] [3] mostly working as a storyboard artist on films including The Incredibles (2004), the first two films of the Cars franchise (2006-2011), Ratatouille (2007), and Up (2009). [4] In 2009, Cooley wrote and directed a short film George & A.J. for Pixar and Walt Disney Pictures. [4]
In 2015, Cooley worked as a screenwriter and storyboard supervisor on the film Inside Out , which was released to critical acclaim. Cooley received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay for his work on the film, alongside Pete Docter (the film's director), Ronnie Del Carmen (co-director), and Meg LeFauve. [5] The same year, he wrote and directed another short film titled Riley's First Date? . [6] [5]
Following the success of Inside Out, Cooley was tapped by John Lasseter and screenwriter Andrew Stanton to co-direct Toy Story 4 . Lasseter ended up setting aside his directorial duties in 2016, [7] making Cooley the sole director. Toy Story 4 was Cooley's directorial debut. Upon release, the film received critical acclaim, and Cooley took home his first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. [8] Cooley left Pixar in March 2020. [9]
Cooley is set to direct an animated Transformers film, titled Transformers One , for Paramount Pictures. [10] The film, which will be "separate and apart from" the Michael Bay-directed franchise and the stand-alone Bumblebee , will focus on Optimus Prime and Megatron's relationship. [10]
On May 19, 2020, it was reported that Cooley will write and direct a live-action adaptation of the children's book Malamander by Thomas Taylor for Sony Pictures, [9] marking his first live-action film. In addition, on July 10, 2020, it was announced that Cooley would be the writer and director of the film Little Monsters, starring Universal Monsters characters, for Universal Pictures. [11]
Year | Title | Director | Writer | Supervisor | Artist | Other | Voice | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2004 | The Incredibles | No | No | No | Story | No | Uncredited [4] | |
2006 | Cars | No | No | No | Story | No | Additional | |
2007 | Ratatouille | No | No | No | Story | No | ||
2009 | Up | No | No | No | Story | Yes | Omega | |
2011 | Cars 2 | No | No | Story | No | No | Additional | |
2015 | Inside Out | No | Screenplay | Story | No | Yes | Jangles | |
2019 | Toy Story 4 | Yes | Original Story | No | No | Yes | Additional Screenplay Material Pixar Senior Creative Team | |
2020 | We Bare Bears: The Movie | No | No | No | No | Yes | Painting Elephant | Additional Voices |
Soul | No | No | No | No | Yes | Additional Dialogue Contributions Pixar Senior Creative Team | ||
2024 | Transformers One | Yes | No | No | No | No | [10] | |
TBA | Malamander | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | [9] | |
Little Monsters | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | [11] | ||
Tower of Terror | No | Yes | No | No | No | [12] |
Year | Title | Director | Writer | Artist | Editor | Other | Voice | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2005 | Mindwalk | No | No | No | Film | No | ||
2009 | Calendar Confloption | No | No | Story | No | No | [13] | |
George and A.J. | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | |||
2010 | Cars Toons: Mater's Tall Tales | No | No | No | No | Yes | Additional Voices | Episodes 8-9 |
2011 | Toy Story Toons: Small Fry | No | No | No | Story | Yes | Cashier / Lizard Wizard | |
2013 | Cars Toons: Tales from Radiator Springs | No | No | No | No | Yes | Bug / Additional Voices | Episodes 1-3 |
Toy Story of Terror! | No | No | No | No | Yes | Officer Phillips | TV special | |
2015 | Riley's First Date? | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Dad's Sadness | |
2021 | 22 vs. Earth | No | Yes | No | No | No | Disney+ Original Short Film |
Year | Title | Role |
---|---|---|
2009 | Tracy | Cameraman #2, Extras, Camera Operator, Artist |
2015 | The Good Dinosaur | Special Thanks |
2017 | Coco | Pixar Senior Creative Team |
2018 | Incredibles 2 | |
2019-20 | Forky Asks a Question | Special Thanks |
2020 | Lamp Life [14] | |
Onward | Special Thanks, Pixar Senior Creative Team |
Toy Story is a 1995 American animated comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. The first installment in the franchise of the same name, it was the first entirely computer-animated feature film, as well as the first feature film from Pixar. It was directed by John Lasseter and produced by Bonnie Arnold and Ralph Guggenheim, from a screenplay written by Joss Whedon, Andrew Stanton, Joel Cohen, and Alec Sokolow and a story by Lasseter, Stanton, Pete Docter, and Joe Ranft. The film features music by Randy Newman, and was executive-produced by Steve Jobs and Edwin Catmull. The film features the voices of Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Annie Potts, John Ratzenberger, Don Rickles, Wallace Shawn and Jim Varney.
Pixar Animation Studios is an American animation studio based in Emeryville, California, known for its critically and commercially successful computer-animated feature films. Since 2006, Pixar has been a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, a division of Disney Entertainment, a segment of the Walt Disney Company.
Toy Story 2 is a 1999 American animated adventure comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. It is the sequel to Toy Story (1995) and the second installment in the Toy Story franchise, the film was directed by John Lasseter, co-directed by Ash Brannon and Lee Unkrich, and produced by Helene Plotkin and Karen Robert Jackson, from a screenplay written by Andrew Stanton, Rita Hsiao, Doug Chamberlin, and Chris Webb, and a story conceived by Lasseter, Stanton, Brannon, and Pete Docter. Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Don Rickles, Jim Varney, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Annie Potts, R. Lee Ermey, John Morris, Laurie Metcalf and Jeff Pidgeon reprise their roles from the first Toy Story film. In the film, Woody is stolen by a toy collector, prompting Buzz Lightyear and his friends to rescue him, but Woody is then tempted by the idea of immortality in a museum.
A Bug's Life is a 1998 American animated comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. It is Pixar's second feature-length film, following Toy Story (1995). The film was directed by John Lasseter, co-directed by Andrew Stanton, and produced by Darla K. Anderson and Kevin Reher, from a screenplay written by Stanton, Donald McEnery, and Bob Shaw, and a story conceived by Lasseter, Stanton, and Joe Ranft. It stars the voices of Dave Foley, Kevin Spacey, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Hayden Panettiere. In the film, a misfit ant named Flik, looks for "tough warriors" to save his ant colony from a protection racket run by a gang of grasshoppers. However, the "warriors" he brings back were a troupe of Circus Bugs. The film's plot was initially inspired by Aesop's fable The Ant and the Grasshopper.
Tin Toy is a 1988 American animated short film produced by Pixar and directed by John Lasseter. The short film, which runs for five minutes, stars Tinny, a tin one-man band toy, trying to escape from Billy, a human baby. The third short film produced by the company's small animation division, it was a risky investment: due to the low revenue produced by Pixar's main product, the Pixar Image Computer, the company was under financial constraints.
Toy Story 3 is a 2010 American animated comedy-drama film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. It is the third installment in the Toy Story series and the sequel to Toy Story 2 (1999). It was directed by Lee Unkrich, the editor of the first two films and the co-director of Toy Story 2, produced by Darla K. Anderson, and written by Michael Arndt, while Unkrich wrote the story along with John Lasseter and Andrew Stanton, respectively, director and co-writer of the first two films. The film's ensemble voice cast includes Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Don Rickles, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Estelle Harris, Jeff Pidgeon, Jodi Benson, John Morris, Laurie Metcalf and R. Lee Ermey. In Toy Story 3, Andy Davis (Morris), now 17 years old, is going to college. Woody (Hanks), Buzz Lightyear (Allen), and the other toys are accidentally donated to Sunnyside Daycare, a daycare center, by Andy's mother (Metcalf), and the toys must decide where their loyalties lie.
John Alan Lasseter is an American film director, producer, and animator. He has served as the Head of Animation at Skydance Animation since 2019. Previously, he acted as the chief creative officer of Pixar Animation Studios, Walt Disney Animation Studios, and Disneytoon Studios, as well as the Principal Creative Advisor for Walt Disney Imagineering.
Peter Hans Docter is an American filmmaker and animator. He was credited as the director for the Pixar animated feature films Monsters, Inc. (2001), Up (2009), Inside Out (2015), and Soul (2020), and has served as the company's chief creative officer (CCO) since 2018. From his nine Academy Award nominations, he is a record-three time recipient of Best Animated Feature for Up, Inside Out and Soul. Docter has also won six Annie Awards from nine nominations, a BAFTA Children's Film Award and a Hochi Film Award. He describes himself as a "geeky kid from Minnesota who likes to draw cartoons".
Andrew Ayers Stanton is an American filmmaker and voice actor based at Pixar, which he joined in 1990. His film work includes co-writing and co-directing Pixar's A Bug's Life (1998), directing Finding Nemo (2003) and its sequel Finding Dory (2016), WALL-E (2008), and the live-action film, Disney's John Carter (2012), and co-writing all four and directing the upcoming fifth in Toy Story films (1995–2026) and Monsters, Inc. (2001).
Joseph Henry Ranft was an American animator, screenwriter, and voice actor. He worked for Pixar Animation Studios and Disney at Walt Disney Animation Studios and Disney Television Animation. His younger brother Jerome Ranft is a sculptor who also worked on several Pixar films.
Ronaldo del Carmen is a Filipino writer, director, storyboard artist, illustrator, and voice actor. He co-directed and co-wrote the story for the Pixar film Inside Out (2015), for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
Doug Sweetland is an American animator and filmmaker. He wrote and directed the Pixar short film Presto (2008), which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.
Toy Story is an American media franchise owned by The Walt Disney Company. It centers on toys that, unknown to humans, are secretly living, sentient creatures. It began in 1995 with the release of the animated feature film of the same name, which focuses on a diverse group of toys featuring a classic cowboy doll named Sheriff Woody and a modern spaceman action figure named Buzz Lightyear.
Cars is an animated film series and Disney media franchise set in a world populated by anthropomorphic vehicles created by John Lasseter, Joe Ranft and Jorgen Klubien. The franchise began with the 2006 film, Cars, produced by Pixar and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The film was followed by Cars 2 in 2011. A third film, Cars 3, was released in 2017. The now-defunct Disneytoon Studios produced the two spin-off films Planes (2013) and Planes: Fire & Rescue (2014).
Inside Out is a 2015 American animated coming-of-age film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. Produced by Jonas Rivera, it was directed by Pete Docter from a screenplay he co-wrote with Meg LeFauve and Josh Cooley. The film stars the voices of Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith, Richard Kind, Bill Hader, Lewis Black, Mindy Kaling, Kaitlyn Dias, Diane Lane, and Kyle MacLachlan. Inside Out follows the inner workings of the mind of Riley, a young girl who adapts to her family's relocation as five personified emotions administer her thoughts and actions.
Daniel Chong is an American animator, storyboard artist, writer, director, and producer. He is best known as the creator of Cartoon Network's We Bare Bears (2015–2019). He also directed, wrote and executive produced We Bare Bears: The Movie (2020).
Toy Story 4 is a 2019 American animated comedy-drama film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. It is the fourth installment in Pixar's Toy Story series and the sequel to Toy Story 3 (2010). It was directed by Josh Cooley from a screenplay by Andrew Stanton and Stephany Folsom; the three also conceived the story alongside John Lasseter, Rashida Jones, Will McCormack, Valerie LaPointe, and Martin Hynes. Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Annie Potts, Don Rickles, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Jeff Pidgeon, Laurie Metcalf, John Morris, Joan Cusack, Estelle Harris, Blake Clark, Bonnie Hunt, Jeff Garlin, Kristen Schaal, Timothy Dalton and Lori Alan reprise their character roles from the first three films and Carl Weathers reprised his role from Toy Story of Terror! with Madeleine McGraw replacing Emily Hahn as Bonnie and they are joined by Tony Hale, Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele, Christina Hendricks, Keanu Reeves, and Ally Maki, who voice new characters introduced in this film. Set after the third film, Toy Story 4 follows Woody (Hanks) and Buzz Lightyear (Allen) as the pair and the other toys go on a road trip with Bonnie (McGraw), who creates Forky (Hale), a spork made with recycled materials from her school. Meanwhile, Woody is reunited with Bo Peep (Potts), and must decide where his loyalties lie.
Inside Out is an American media franchise created by Pete Docter and Ronnie del Carmen. It takes place inside the mind of a girl named Riley, where multiple personified emotions administer her thoughts and actions. The franchise is produced by Pixar Animation Studios and distributed by its parent company Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It began with the 2015 film of the same name, and will be followed by Inside Out 2 (2024). The franchise also includes a short film, several video games, and two theme park attractions.