Daniel Scanlon (born June 21, 1976) is an American filmmaker, storyboard artist, and animator. He is best known for directing the Pixar animated films Monsters University (2013) and Onward (2020), with the latter nominating him for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
Early life Scanlon grew up in Clawson, Michigan. When he was one year old and his brother three years old, their father died, and when they were teenagers, a relative gave them a brief audio recording of their father. Scanlon has said that these experiences helped inspire the story of Onward. He graduated with a BFA from the Columbus College of Art and Design in 1998.
Career Scanlon was an animator for The Indescribable Nth and Joseph: King of Dreams. He served as a storyboard artist for The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea and 101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure.
Scanlon joined Pixar in 2001, where he was a story artist for Cars and Toy Story 3. He co-directed the short film Mater and the Ghostlight. He illustrated part one of Unmentionables, a comic book written by his wife, Michele Scanlon, and wrote and directed the live-action feature film Tracy. Tracy was Scanlon's first feature film as a writer/director. He also served as a member of the senior creative team on Brave and Inside Out.
Scanlon directed the prequel film of Monsters, Inc., Monsters University, released in 2013, to positive reviews and commercial success. He subsequently directed the fantasy-road trip film Onward (2020), featuring the voices of Tom Holland, Chris Pratt, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Octavia Spencer. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, but lost to another Pixar film Soul.
In February 2021, Scanlon stated that he and Kori Rae would develop another original Pixar feature film. In November 2024, Scanlon stated he was leaving Pixar, but would not be against working with the company in a consultancy role in the future.
Filmography
Feature films
Year Title Director Writer ExecutiveProducer StoryArtist Animator:CharacterBuilder AdditionalVoices Other Notes2000The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea Direct-to-videoJoseph: King of Dreams 2003101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure 2006Cars Additional Screenplay Material2007Ratatouille Pixar Productions2010Toy Story 3 2011Cars 2 Pixar Senior Creative Team2012Brave 2013Monsters University 2015Inside Out The Good Dinosaur 2016Finding Dory 2017Cars 3 Coco 2018Incredibles 2 2019Toy Story 4 2020Onward Soul 2021 Luca 2022 Turning Red Lightyear 2023 Elemental 2024 Inside Out 2 2025 Elio Special Thanks Zootopia 2
Independent Films Year Title Director Writer Producer Film Editor Cinematographer Puppeteer Sound Mixer Animator Other Role Notes2009Tracy Dan Sullivan Extras, Artwork, Song Lyricist
Short films and series Year TitleDirectorWriterAnimatorExecutiveProducerOtherNotes 2000The Indescribable Nth 2006 Mater and the Ghostlight Original Story 2013 Party Central 2022 Cars on the Road Disney+ Original short films, Pixar Senior Creative Team 2024 Dream Productions Disney+ Original long-form limited series, Pixar Senior Creative Team 2025 Win or Lose
Other Credits Year Title Notes 2008Cars Toons: Mater's Tall Tales Special Thanks 2017 Lou 2019 Purl Float 2020 Out
References
External links