Interview with John Lasseter The man behind Pixar and Disney animation

Can John Lasseter Save Disney? We talk to the Pixar boss behind Toy Story, Toy Story 2, Cars and now producer of Disney

He’s the driving force behind many of Pixar’s biggest and best films; rewriting (or should we saw redrawing) the landscape for western animation since Toy Story back in 1995.

Then, in 2006, just as Lasseter was finishing his fourth movie Cars, Disney bought Pixar Animation Studios and made Lasseter the Chief Creative Officer of both company’s animation studios, and his executive producer status was expanded to oversee all of Disney’s computer animated movies including this week’s Bolt.

Voiced by John Travolta, Bolt is a superdog who, along with his beloved owner Penny, uses his super-speed, super-strength and sonic bark to save the planet on an almost weekly basis. But there’s a twist – Bolt is living out his very own canine Truman Show – as the producers never told him its all just a television show. Crucially, he does not realise Penny is an actress playing a role. With the help of a sceptical cat named Mittens, and Rhino, a portly hamster, Bolt sets off on a journey to rescue Penny when he believes she is kidnapped and ultimately find the truth about his life.

Paul Byrne recently met with Lasseter to discuss Bolt, his upcoming animation slate and taking the good ship Disney out of troubled waters…