John Lasseter

John Alan Lasseter (born January 12, 1957) is an Academy Award-winning American animator and the chief creative officer at Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios. He is also currently the Principal Creative Advisor for Walt Disney Imagineering.

Early years
Lasseter's father was a parts manager at a Chevrolet dealership, while his mother was an art teacher at Bell Gardens Senior High School. John grew up in Whitter, California. His mother being an art teacher contributed to his growing preoccupation with animation. As a child, Lasseter would race home from school to watch Chuck Jones cartoons on television. His mother further encouraged him to take up a career in animation, and in 1975 he enrolled as the second student in a new animation course at the California Institute of the Arts. Lasseter was taught by three members of Disney's Nine Old Men – Eric Larson, Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston – his classmates included Brad Bird and Tim Burton.

Disney
On graduation, Lasseter joined The Walt Disney Company, as a Jungle Cruise skipper at Disneyland in Anaheim. Lasseter later obtained a job as an animator at Walt Disney Feature Animation, but felt something was missing; after 101 Dalmatians, which in his opinion was the film where Disney had reached its highest plateau, the studio had sort of died and was just repeating itself without adding any new ideas or innovations.