Angus MacLane
American animator (born 1975)
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Angus MacLane (born April 13, 1975) is an American animator, filmmaker and voice actor, best known for his work at Pixar Animation Studios.[1][2][3][4][5][6] He co-directed the film Finding Dory (2016)[7][8] and made his solo feature directorial debut with the Toy Story spin-off film Lightyear (2022).[9] MacLane is also a Lego enthusiast and created the CubeDudes building format and designed a LEGO WALL-E that has become an official set from The Lego Group.[10][11]
- Animator
- screenwriter
- director
- voice actor
Angus MacLane | |
|---|---|
MacLane in 2016 | |
| Born | April 13, 1975 |
| Alma mater | Rhode Island School of Design (BFA) |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1997–present |
| Employer | Pixar Animation Studios (1997–2023) |
Early life and education
Angus MacLane was born on April 13, 1975, in Riverside County, California, but grew up in Portland, Oregon. He originally wanted to be a comic book artist but halfway through school switched to animation and hoped one day he could work at the Will Vinton Studios (now Laika) and would eventually go on to work for the studio before working for Pixar. In 1997, he received a bachelor of fine arts from Rhode Island School of Design.[12]
Career
1997–2023: Pixar
MacLane joined Pixar in 1997, starting as an animator on the short film Geri's Game. He worked as an animator on every Pixar feature film from A Bug's Life (1998) through Toy Story 3 (2010). He also worked in the character development on Monsters, Inc. (2001) and The Incredibles (2004).[13]
After serving as a supervising animator on One Man Band, MacLane started working on the story team for Andrew Stanton's WALL-E before moving up to directing animator. After animating a small scene for a side character named BURN-E, MacLane was intrigued to learn what might happen to the character. This led to the development of a short film for the film's home media release, titled BURN-E, which became his first directing credit at Pixar.
In the following years, MacLane continued to direct for the studio, being in charge of the Toy Story Toons short film Small Fry (2011) and the television special Toy Story of Terror! (2013). In June 2014, it was announced he would work again with Stanton as co-director on Finding Dory (2016).[7][8]
In December 2020, it was announced he would write and direct Lightyear, a Toy Story spin-off centered on the character the toy is based upon. His feature directorial debut, the film was billed as a passion project inspired by his love of science fiction films.[14] The film was released in June 2022 to generally positive reactions but becoming a box-office bomb, which in turn lost the studio an estimated $106 million.[15]
MacLane was one of 75 Pixar employees laid off by The Walt Disney Company as part of an ongoing company-wide restructuring in May 2023.[16][17][18]
Further projects
In November 2025, it was reported that MacLane was developing a new film titled Trudy Blue, with Dakota Johnson attached in the leading role.[19]
Filmography
Films
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Animator | Story Artist |
Character Developer |
Production Artist |
Other | Voice Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | A Bug's Life | No | No | Additional | No | No | No | No | ||
| 1999 | Toy Story 2 | No | No | Yes | Additional | No | No | No | ||
| 2000 | Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins |
Partial | No | No | No | No | No | No | Directed Pixar CG opening scene direct-to-video [20][21] | |
| 2001 | Monsters, Inc. | No | No | Yes | Additional | Yes | No | No | ||
| 2003 | Finding Nemo | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | ||
| 2004 | The Incredibles | No | No | Yes | No | Animation | No | No | ||
| 2006 | Cars | No | No | Additional | No | No | No | No | ||
| 2007 | Ratatouille | No | No | Additional | No | No | No | No | ||
| 2008 | WALL-E | No | No | Directing | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | BURN-E (uncredited) | |
| 2009 | Up | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | ||
| 2010 | Toy Story 3 | No | No | Yes | No | Animation | No | No | ||
| 2016 | Finding Dory | Co-Director | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Sunfish "Charlie Back and Forth" / Additional Voices | Additional Story Material |
| 2017 | Coco | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Pixar Senior Creative Team | |
| 2018 | Incredibles 2 | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | ||
| 2019 | Toy Story 4 | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | ||
| 2020 | Onward | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | ||
| Soul | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | |||
| 2021 | Luca | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | ||
| 2022 | Turning Red | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | ||
| Lightyear | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | ERIC / DERIC / Zyclops | ||
| 2023 | Elemental | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | ||
| 2026 | Hoppers | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Special Thanks |
Shorts
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Animator | Executive Producer |
Other | Voice Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Geri's Game | No | No | Yes | No | No | ||
| 2000 | For the Birds | No | No | Yes | No | No | ||
| 2005 | One Man Band | No | No | Supervising | No | No | ||
| 2008 | BURN-E | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | BURN-E / SUPPLY-R | |
| 2010 | Cars Toons: Mater's Tall Tales | No | No | No | No | Yes | Additional Voices | Episodes 8–9 |
| 2011 | Toy Story Toons: Hawaiian Vacation | No | No | Supervising | No | Yes | Captain Zip | |
| Toy Story Toons: Small Fry | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Gary Grappling Hook / T-Bone / Funky Monk / Super Pirate | ||
| 2012 | Toy Story Toons: Partysaurus Rex | No | No | No | No | Yes | Additional Voices | Special Thanks |
| 2013 | Party Central | No | No | No | No | Yes | ||
| 2016 | Marine Life Interviews | No | No | No | Yes | No | ||
| 2017 | Lou | No | No | No | No | Yes | Special Thanks | |
| 2019 | Purl | No | No | No | No | Yes | ||
| 2022 | Cars on the Road | No | No | No | No | Yes | Pixar Senior Creative Team |
Television
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Other | Voice Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000–01 | Buzz Lightyear of Star Command | Partial | No | No | Directed Pixar CG intro variants [20][21] | |
| 2013 | Toy Story of Terror! | Yes | Yes | Yes | Officer Wilson | TV special |
| 2025 | Win or Lose | No | No | Yes | Pixar Senior Creative Team |
Other credits
Recognition
- 2005, Won Annie Award for 'Character Animation' for The Incredibles[13]
- 2014, Won Annie Award for 'Outstanding Achievement in Directing' for Toy Story of Terror[24]
