Adrian Molina | |
|---|---|
 Molina at the 2017 Annecy International Animated Film Festival | |
| Born | Yuba City, California, U.S. |
| Alma mater | California Institute of the Arts |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 2006–present |
| Employer | Pixar Animation Studios (2007–present) |
| Spouse | Ryan Dooley (m. 2011) |
Adrian Molina is an American animator, storyboard artist, screenwriter and director. He is best known for his works at Pixar, including co-writing and co-directing Coco (2017) and Elio (2025).
Molina was born in Yuba City, California to a Mexican family, and raised in Grass Valley. He graduated from Bear River High School in 2003, to subsequently attend and graduate from the California Institute of the Arts in 2007. [1]
Molina joined Pixar in 2007. He started as a 2D animator on Ratatouille . He later moved on to be a storyboard artist, working on Toy Story 3 and Monsters University . [1] Molina also illustrated the Little Golden Book for Toy Story 3. [2] After getting an additional screenplay material credit for both Monsters University and The Good Dinosaur , Molina started his first assignment as a screenwriter, for Coco , and later went on to co-direct the film. He also wrote several lyrics for the film. [1] [3] [4]
In 2022, he served as an associate executive producer on the Academy Award-nominated Turning Red .
Following the success of Coco and the D23 Expo announcement in September 2022, Molina was announced to direct the 2025 film Elio . [5] [6] [7] However in August 2024, it was announced that Molina had left the project, with Madeline Sharafian and Domee Shi taking over the storywriting and directorial duties instead. [8] Nevertheless, he retained his director credit on the film due to his heavy amount of work that he made. [9] Reports in June 2025 suggested Molina left after studio demands for edits to remove LGBT-related content from the film. [10]
In March 2025, during the Disney Shareholder Meeting, CEO Bob Iger announced that the sequel to Coco was in early development, with Molina returning from the original film. [11]
Molina is gay. He has been married to Ryan Dooley since 2011. [12]
| Year | Title | Director | Screenwriter | Executive Producer | Story Artist | Other | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | CuddleBee Hugs 'n' Such | Co-Director | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Short film from Cal Arts, co-directed with Alex Hirsch |
| 2007 | Ratatouille | No | No | No | No | Yes | Animator: End Titles |
| 2010 | Toy Story 3 | No | No | No | Yes | No | |
| 2013 | Monsters University | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Additional Screenplay Material Opening Title Designer and director |
| 2015 | The Good Dinosaur | No | No | No | No | Yes | Additional Screenplay Material |
| 2017 | Coco | Co-Director | Yes | No | No | Yes | Additional Voices, songwriter |
| 2021 | Luca | No | No | No | No | Yes | Additional Story Contributor |
| 2022 | Turning Red | No | No | Associate | No | Yes | |
| 2025 | Elio | Yes | Story | No | No | Yes | |
| TBA | Coco 2 | Yes | TBA | No | No | Yes |
| Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Film | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Annie Awards | February 3, 2018 | Directing in an Animated Feature Production | Coco | Won | [13] |
| Music in an Animated Feature Production | Coco | Won | |||
| Writing in an Animated Feature Production | Coco | Won | |||
| Humanitas Prize | February 16, 2018 | Feature – Family | Coco | Nominated | [14] |
| Imagen Awards | August 25, 2018 | Best Director | Coco | Won | [15] |
Docter said that Molina is still at Pixar and, what's more, he 'was taken on to a priority project that we're not ready to talk about yet, but it's very exciting and he's excited about it as well,' even though he's no longer involved with 'Elio.'.
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