Pete Docter to Take Over Pixar

[Sotiris]

Q: Pixar revitalized the trend of putting a short in front of a film. But that’s something that kind of universally has gone away from the box office experience. Are there any plans to get back into shorts at this time?

Pete Docter: Nothing I can talk about today. I mean, there’s been a lot of talk back and forth, because obviously there are super fun to do and the shorts have been a great test for us of new technology and new talent. They are expensive and people don’t pay extra to see a short film in front, we’re hoping we can get back to that at some point. But nothing, no concrete plans yet.

Source: https://thedisinsider.com/2025/06/16/pe ... nd-more-1/

[Kyle]

Kind of ridiculous if he's saying they are largely not doing them because they cant monetize them. Whats so hard about attatching them to theatrical relaeses, then selling them separately, and putting them on disney plus, the same way you do any other content?

Also, I don't see them as expensive compared to full length features. You have youtubers putting out pretty good stuff for free, so why couldn't pixar do it with a small budget?

[Sotiris]

Pete Docter: We have, I think, eight films right now in varying parts of production.

Q: Those eight films, are any of those a directorial feature for you?

Pete Docter: No, not right now.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYY6MgLiBds

[Sotiris]

Pixar Chief Creative Officer Pete Docter finished strumming his miniature ukulele and folded his 6-foot-5 frame onto a couch to explain that the reason the studio behind “Toy Story” is struggling to find its next hit franchise might be him. “I got into animation because it’s easier to draw people than talk to them,” he said, seated in his office beside sculptures of characters from his directorial successes “Monsters, Inc.,” “Up” and “Inside Out.” In his early years managing Pixar’s cadre of ambitious filmmakers, the 57-year-old admitted, “I probably overindexed on, ‘Do whatever you want.’ ”

Now Pixar is pumping out hit sequels like 2024’s “Inside Out 2,” but it hasn’t had an original success since 2017’s “Coco.” Current and former employees say one of the biggest reasons is that the conflict-averse Docter encouraged new directors to make autobiographical movies that too many audience members struggled to connect with. After a series of disappointments culminating in last year’s bomb “Elio,” Docter is pushing Pixar to re-embrace the universally relatable concepts like talking toys and monsters in the closet that once made it a juggernaut. “As time’s gone on, I realized my job is to make sure the films appeal to everybody,” the 36-year company veteran said.

Pixar in the past picked original movies based only on the quality of the idea. Now, part of the approval process is gauging sequel potential. When the films are complete, directors are asked to come up with stories for possible follow-ups. The studio that long prided itself on making two original movies for every sequel is now making two sequels for every original. Pixar president Jim Morris, who runs the business side of the studio, said the reason for the switch is simple: “Just so that we’re profitable enough, frankly, to persist.”

Until 2018, Pixar movies were all filtered through the taste of one man: John Lasseter. The “Toy Story” director had the loudest voice and final say among a group of directors known as the braintrust who provided feedback on every project at the company that created computer animation. Docter was the least assertive member of the braintrust, according to people who worked with him, and seemed happiest focusing on the emotional core of his own movies. Pixarians used words like “supportive,” “humble” and a “filmmaker’s filmmaker” to describe their new leader. They said he gave less direct feedback than Lasseter and seemed to never want to be the bad guy.

In late 2023, Docter gathered Pixar’s staff in their steel and glass atrium to deliver an uncharacteristically blunt message. He said they’d erred in making so many autobiographical movies and needed more broadly commercial hooks. Pixarians remembered it as his “come to Jesus” speech.

Around that time, Pixar’s leadership showed an in-progress film called “Be Fri,” short for “best friends,” to Iger and other Disney executives. Soon after, Docter canceled the project, which was based on its director’s adolescent experience with a platonic breakup. Pixar has successfully reworked many troubled movies like “Brave,” so employees were stunned when a project three years in the works with roughly 50 people involved was scrapped. “It’s super hard to make sure we’re not just settling for a film getting better, but ensuring it’s great,” said Lindsey Collins, Pixar’s senior vice president of development.

Docter said despite the mounting financial pressures, he believes Pixar will remain “useful” to Disney and the world if it simply makes great movies. “If we’re going to just crank crap out, let’s shut the doors,” he said. “I’d rather die trying to make something that we genuinely believe in.”

Source: https://www.wsj.com/business/media/pixa ... r-80c57f9d

[PatchofBlue]

It's not lost on me that in the wake Lasseter's ousting, commentators have continued to hover over Docter questioning whether a nice guy like him is MAN enough to run a company like Pixar.

But mind you, if Docter really has been peer pressured into honestly believing that the reason for Pixar's financial struggles has had anything to do with directors telling more autobiographical stories, that actually severely depletes my trust in his leadership.

Like, blame COVID. Blame the streaming wars. Blame politics. There are a million potential right answers here, but never in the history of film has "this movie just feels too personal" ever been accepted as a useful criticism.

Anyways, seeing BRAVE referred to as a "successful" reworking makes me grimace.

[BloomHunter]

Quite a mixed bag of a commentary from the company. I can get behind that Docter is being pressured by higher ups, but I also do believe some of these questionable comments that he has delivered since the announcement of Lightyear & Turning Red is that of his own.

It was obvious that a lot of their latest sequels were made to save costs and also experiment with their latest tech, but I don't believe that too much of their new IPS from the 2020s have been that much a disaster as they like to paint. I found Luca to be really charming and simplistic, and I could feel the passion for the early 2000s presented in Turning Red.

Meanwhile I barely think of the prequel for Monsters Inc, Cars sequels, Toy Story sequels, Incredibles 2, IO2 or Finding Dory as of much. They just didn't leave that much a strong impression on me as their predecessors did. So if we now are gonna see a proper Monsters Inc sequel, I have no doubts that a Ratatouille 2 is just around the corner for the next decade. Maybe that means that a Finding Nemo continuation will also happen eventually. I mean the time they announced Coco 2, I said to myself (anything is possible next) And I would have been just fine to have Coco as a standalone picture.