John Lasseter Net Worth

John Lasseter's Quotes

• When I was in high school, I read this book called The Art of Animation by Bob Thomas. It's all about the Walt Disney studio and the making of Sleeping Beauty (1959). I read this and it dawned on me - wait a minute, people do animation for a living?
• We make the kind of movies we want to see, we love to laugh, but I also believe what Walt Disney said "For every laugh there should be a tear." I love movies that make me cry, because they're tapping into a real emotion in me, and I always think afterwards "How did they do that?".
• From the beginning, I kept saying it's not the technology that's going to entertain audiences, it's the story. When you go and see a really great live-action film, you don't walk out and say "That new Panavision camera was staggering, it made the film so good." The computer is a tool, and it's in the service of the story.
• Andrew Stanton always said that 2-D animation became the scapegoat for bad storytelling. But you can make just as bad of a movie in 3-D.
• Let me tell you a funny story. I took the family to see this film one weekend - I'll go to see almost any film that's good for the whole family. And so we're sitting there watching this film, which I won't name, and there are long stretches that are just not very entertaining. My little son - he was probably six at the time - was sitting next to me, and right in the middle of this dull section, he turns to me and says, "Dad? How many letters are in my name?" I must have laughed for five minutes. I thought, "Oh, man, this movie has lost this little boy." His mind has been wandering, trying to figure out how many letters there are in his name. So I told my wife, Nancy, what he said, and she started laughing, and then the story went down the row through my whole family, our four other sons, and we're sitting there as a family giggling and laughing. And I thought to myself, If ever a child anywhere in the world leans over to their daddy during one of my movies and asks, "How many letters are in my name?" I'll quit.

Interesting Facts about John Lasseter

1. His influences include Frank Capra, Preston Sturges, Walt Disney and Chuck Jones.
2. Educated at the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia. He later received an honorary degree from the university in 2014.
3. Introduces the DVD release of Hayao Miyazaki's Laputa: Castle in the Sky (1986), one of his favorite films.
4. Ranked #1 in Premiere magazine's 2004 annual Power 100 list with Pixar CEO Steve Jobs. They had ranked #23 in 2003 and #31 in 2002.
5. He won his first award at the age of five when he won $15.00 from the Model Grocery Market in Whittier, California, for a crayon drawing of the Headless Horseman.
6. While attending California Institute of the Arts, he produced two animated films, both winners of the Student Academy Award for Animation, Lady and the Lamp in 1979 and Nitemare in 1980.
7. In 2004, he was honored by the Art Directors Guild with its prestigious "Outstanding Contribution to Cinematic Imagery" award, and received an honorary degree from the American Film Institute.
8. He was a member of the Computer Division of Lucasfilm Ltd. (which was later sold and became Pixar), where he designed and animated the computer-generated Stained Glass Knight character in the Steven Spielberg-produced film Young Sherlock Holmes (1985).
9. Ranked #3 on Premiere magazine's 2005 Power 50 List with Pixar founder Steve Jobs. They had ranked #1 in 2004.
10. Member of the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Short Films and Feature Animation Branch) since 2005.
11. Is a huge fan of Hayao Miyazaki, who is a close personal friend.
12. Ranked #1 on Premiere magazine's 2006 "Power 50" list with Pixar/Disney executive Steve Jobs. They had ranked #3 in 2005 and #1 in 2004.
13. Admitted that whenever Pixar has encountered a creative problem, they look to Miyazaki's films for inspiration.
14. While at Lucasfilm, he worked with Sam Leffler, who was the author/editor of "The Unix System Manager's Manual". At Leffler's request, Lasseter created a cartoon version of "Beastie", the daemon mascot of BSD Unix, to appear on the book cover; Lasseter would reprise the character for two later books. Although Lasseter did not create Beastie, and several other artists have interpreted the character over the years, his rendering has proven to be one of the most popular and endearing versions.
15. Five days after Toy Story (1995) opened in theaters, he was on a trip with his family and upon getting off a plane, he saw a little boy with a Woody doll, which was enough to convince Lasseter how successful the film was.
16. He loves spy movies, especially the Jason Bourne trilogy. His favorite movie is Dumbo (1941).
17. Decided to be an animator as a child after spending $.49 to watch The Sword in the Stone (1963) in a theater.
18. His first job at the Disney Animation studio was the introduction of Copper in The Fox and the Hound (1981). He even collaborated with Glen Keane on the climactic fight scene.
19. He has an extensive collection of vintage toys and model trains. He also has an extensive collection of Hawaiian shirts, most of them have his iconic Pixar characters.
20. In Toy Story (1995), Woody was based on a pull string Casper that John owned when he was a child. Buzz Lightyear was based on a G.I. Joe action figure that John also owned when he was a child.