A Conversation with Pete Docter & Jonas Rivera from Pixar Animation Studios
Biographies
Pete Docter is the Oscar-winning director of Monsters, Inc., Up, and Inside Out, and Chief Creative Officer at Pixar Animation Studios. He is currently directing Disney and Pixar’s upcoming feature film Soul with producer Dana Murray and co-director Kemp Powers, which is set to release November 20, 2020.
Starting at Pixar in 1990 as the studio’s third animator, Docter helped develop the story and characters for Toy Story, Pixar’s first full-length animated feature film, for which he also was supervising animator. He served as a storyboard artist on A Bug’s Life, and wrote initial story treatments for both Toy Story 2 and WALL•E. Aside from directing his three films, Docter also executive produced Monsters University and Academy Award-winning Brave.
Docter’s interest in animation began at the age of eight when he created his first flipbook. He studied character animation at California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) in Valencia, California, where he produced a variety of short films, one of which won a Student Academy Award. Those films have since been shown in animation festivals worldwide and are featured in Pixar Short Films Collection Volume 2. Upon joining Pixar, he animated and directed several commercials, and has been nominated for eight Academy Awards including Best Animated Feature-winners Up and Inside Out and nominee Monsters, Inc., and Best Original Screenplay for Up, Inside Out and WALL•E. In 2007, Up also was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Jonas Rivera joined Pixar Animation Studios in 1994 to work on Toy Story as the studio’s first and only production intern at the time. He advanced roles on almost every subsequent Pixar feature film until becoming producer of the studio’s 2009 film Up. In 2015, Rivera teamed up again with director Pete Docter for Inside Out, which won an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and was nominated for Best Original Screenplay. He most recently produced Toy Story 4, which also won an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
Rivera’s various past roles at the studio include art department coordinator for A Bug’s Life, marketing and creative resources coordinator on Toy Story 2, art department manager on Monsters, Inc., and production manager on Cars.
In his executive role as senior vice president, production, Rivera oversees all of feature film production at the studio. A Bay Area native, Rivera grew up in Castro Valley and graduated from San Francisco State University with a degree in film production.