34 Facts About Pete Docter

Peter Hans Docter was born on October 9,1968 and is an American filmmaker and animator, who has served as chief creative officer of Pixar since 2018.

Pete Docter has directed the company's animated films Monsters, Inc, Up, Inside Out, and Soul.

Pete Docter describes himself as a "geeky kid from Minnesota who likes to draw cartoons".

Pete Docter was born on October 9,1968 in Bloomington, Minnesota, the son of Rita Margaret and David Reinhardt Pete Docter.

Pete Docter grew up introverted and socially isolated, preferring to work alone and having to remind himself to connect with others.

Pete Docter often played in the creek beside his house, pretending to be Indiana Jones and acting out scenes.

Pete Docter taught himself cartooning, making flip books and homemade animated shorts with a family movie camera.

Pete Docter later described his interest in animation as a way to "play God", making up nearly living characters.

Pete Docter spent about a year at the University of Minnesota studying both philosophy and making art before transferring to the California Institute of the Arts, where he won a Student Academy Award for his production "Next Door" and graduated in 1990 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts.

Pete Docter did not think much of Pixar at that time, and later considered his choice to work there a strange and unusual one.

Pete Docter was a fan of the company's early short films, but he knew nothing about them otherwise.

Pete Docter started at Pixar in 1990 at the age of 21 after John Lasseter asked his former classmate the late Joe Ranft, who was one of Docter's teachers at CalArts, to recommend any students who would be a good fit for the company.

Pete Docter instantly felt at home in the tight-knit atmosphere of the company.

Pete Docter had been brought in with limited responsibilities, but Lasseter quickly assigned him larger and larger roles in writing, animation, sound recording, and orchestra scoring.

Pete Docter was one of the three key screenwriters behind the concept of Toy Story, and partially based the character of Buzz Lightyear on himself.

Pete Docter had a mirror on his desk and made faces with it as he conceptualized the character.

Pete Docter has been an integral part of some of Pixar's most seminal works, including Toy Story, Toy Story 2, A Bug's Life and Monsters, Inc.

Pete Docter contributed to these animated films as a co-author to the scripts, and worked with CGI stalwarts such as Lasseter, Ronnie del Carmen, Bob Peterson, Andrew Stanton, Brad Bird, and Joe Ranft.

Pete Docter has referred to his colleagues at Pixar as a bunch of "wild stallions".

Pete Docter is one of the five founding members of the Pixar Braintrust, which came together during the making of Toy Story.

Pete Docter has said that the abrupt move from a complete, single-minded devotion to his career to parenting drove him "upside down" and formed the inspiration for the storyline.

Pete Docter then directed the 2009 film Up, released on May 29,2009.

Pete Docter based the protagonist of Up partially on himself, based on his frequent feelings of social awkwardness and his desire to get away from crowds to contemplate.

Pete Docter directed the 2015 film Inside Out to critical acclaim.

In May 2009, Pete Docter remarked retrospectively to Christianity Today that he had lived "a blessed life" so far.

Pete Docter has been nominated for eight Oscars, three Annie Awards, four BAFTA Film Awards, a British Academy Children's Award, and a Hochi Film Award.

TheWrap reported that Pete Docter planned to complete the film he began working on in 2016, which ultimately became Soul.

Pete Docter received the Winsor McCay Award at the 2023 Annie Awards ceremony along with fellow animators Craig McCracken and Evelyn Lambart, for his "unparalleled achievement and exceptional contributions to animation".

Pete Docter is married to Amanda Pete Docter and has two children, Nicholas and Elie.

Pete Docter is a fan of anime, particularly the work of Hayao Miyazaki.

Pete Docter has said that Miyazaki's animation has "beautifully observed little moments of truth that you just recognize and respond to".

Pete Docter is a fan of the filmography of Pixar competitor DreamWorks.

Critical, public and commercial reception to films Pete Docter has directed as of January 9,2021.

Pete Docter has cast certain actors and crew members in multiple of the films he has directed.