Ashton Brannon (born October 31, 1969) is an American Emmy Award-winning writer, director, visual artist, animator, and producer. He was a story artist and directing animator on ''

Toy Story ''Toy Story'' is a 1995 American computer-animated comedy film directed by John Lasseter (in his feature directorial debut), produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The first installment in the '' Toy Story ...

'' and co-director of ''

Toy Story 2 ''Toy Story 2'' is a 1999 American computer-animated film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. The second installment in the ''Toy Story'' franchise and the sequel to '' Toy Story'' (1995), it was directed by John ...

''. He also directed and co-wrote the

Sony Pictures Animation Sony Pictures Animation Inc. is an American animation studio owned by Sony Entertainment's Sony Pictures Entertainment through their Motion Picture Group division and founded on May 9, 2002. The studio's films are distributed worldwide by So ...

film '' Surf's Up''. He also served as co-executive producer, story co-creator and writer on the Netflix animated series '' Arcane''.

Early life

Brannon was born and raised in

Columbus, Georgia Columbus is a consolidated city-county located on the west-central border of the U.S. state of Georgia. Columbus lies on the Chattahoochee River directly across from Phenix City, Alabama. It is the county seat of Muscogee County, with which it o ...

Career

Ash studied visual arts at

Douglas Anderson School of the Arts Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, commonly known as DA or DASOTA, is a magnet high school in the San Marco neighborhood of Jacksonville, Florida, United States. The school opened in 1922 as a primary school specifically for African American stu ...

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which th ...

and went on to attend

CalArts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art university in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both ...

in its Character Animation program. He was accepted as a summer trainee at

Walt Disney Animation Studios Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS), sometimes shortened to Disney Animation, is an American animation studio that creates animated features and short films for The Walt Disney Company. The studio's current production logo features a scene fr ...

where he worked as an animation inbetweener on Disney's 1989 film '' The Little Mermaid''. From 1990 to 1992. Ash joined Warner Bros. Animation as a story artist and animator for such projects as Nike's Hare Jordan Super Bowl ad in 1992. In 1993 Ash joined

Pixar Animation Studios Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Califor ...

as a story artist and directing animator on the studio's first animated feature film ''

'', and story artist on their second film ''

A Bug's Life ''A Bug's Life'' is a 1998 American computer-animated comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. It was the second feature-length film produced by Pixar. Directed by John Lasseter and co-directed by Andrew Stant ...

'' before moving on to direct and help develop the storyline for ''

''. Initially planned as a direct-to-video feature, the film was expanded in scope to become a theatrical feature. Ash won an

Annie Award The Annie Awards are accolades which the Los Angeles branch of the International Animated Film Association, ASIFA-Hollywood, has presented each year since 1972 to recognize excellence in animation shown in cinema and television. Originally de ...

for Outstanding Individual Achievement for Directing in an Animated Feature Production and Outstanding Individual Achievement for Writing in an Animated Feature Production. He was nominated for an Oscar in 2007 on '' Surf's Up''. Ash joined

Riot Games Riot Games, Inc. is an American video game developer, publisher and esports tournament organizer based in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in September 2006 by Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill to develop '' League of Legends'' and went on ...

in 2016 to help craft the storyline for its animated series '' Arcane''. Additionally he served as a co-executive producer and writer on Season One. Ash, along with the show's creative team, won an

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

for Outstanding Animated Program. Most recently Ash co-created the NFT animated series

Stoner Cats Stoner or stoners may refer to: People * Stoner (bass guitarist) * Alyson Stoner (born 1993), American actress and dancer * Andrew Stoner (born 1960), Australian politician, member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, and the Leader of th ...

. The six-episode series centers on an elderly woman suffering from Alzheimer's disease, and her five sentient housecats who must take care of her as she declines. The series was produced with partners

Mila Kunis Milena Markovna "Mila" Kunis (born August 14, 1983) is an American actress. Born in Chernivtsi and raised in Los Angeles, she began playing Jackie Burkhart on the Fox television series ''That '70s Show'' (1998–2006) at the age of 14. Since ...

and Lisa Sterbakov of Orchard Farm Productions, and features a voice cast including

Ashton Kutcher Christopher Ashton Kutcher (; born February 7, 1978) is an American actor, producer, entrepreneur, and former model. He is the recipient of various accolades, including a People's Choice Award, and nominations for two Young Artist Awards, a ...

Jane Fonda Jane Seymour Fonda (born December 21, 1937) is an American actress, activist, and former fashion model. Recognized as a film icon, Fonda is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Jane Fonda, various accolades including two ...

Seth MacFarlane Seth Woodbury MacFarlane (; born October 26, 1973) is an American actor, animator, filmmaker, comedian, and singer. He is the creator and star of the television series '' Family Guy'' (since 1999) and '' The Orville'' (since 2017), and co-creat ...

, and

Chris Rock Christopher Julius Rock (born February 7, 1965) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and filmmaker. Known for his work in comic film, television and stage, he has received multiple accolades, including three Grammy Awards for best come ...

Filmography

Films

Television

Video games

References

External links

* 1969 births Living people American animators American storyboard artists American male screenwriters American animated film directors Animation screenwriters People from Columbus, Georgia Writers from Columbus, Georgia Film directors from Georgia (U.S. state) Animators from Georgia (U.S. state) Pixar people California Institute of the Arts alumni Annie Award winners Sony Pictures Animation people Primetime Emmy Award winners {{US-animator-stub