Ed Catmull, the co-founder of Pixar and the former president of Walt Disney Animation Studios, has joined the board of Baobab Studios, the company said on Tuesday.
Catmull will join Kevin Lin, the co-founder of Twitch, and Glenn Entis, the former chief visual and technology officer at Electronic Arts and co-founder of PDI, on the board of directors.
“I’m honored to join the board of directors of Baobab Studios and to be part of their creative journey,” Catmull said in a statement. “Baobab is at the forefront of telling incredible stories across mediums, and I look forward to supporting the entire team as the company evolves into the preeminent animation studio of the future.”
An industry veteran with more than five decades of experience, Catmull has overseen major animated works like Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Frozen and The Incredibles 2. The executive began his career at Lucasfilm before going on to co-found Pixar in 1986 with Steve Jobs and John Lasseter. In 2006, after Disney acquired Pixar for $7.4 billion, Catmull was named president of Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar Animation Studio. Catmull eventually retired in 2018 but stayed on as an adviser for Pixar and Disney’s animation studios through the summer of 2019.
Baobab, which has nabbed nine Daytime Emmys for shorts like Baba Yaga and Crow: The Legend, was co-founded by Maureen Fan, Eric Darnell and Larry Cutler. Upcoming projects include a collaboration with Disney Branded Television for the Disney+ series The Witchverse.
“I have followed Ed’s work for years and am proud to welcome him to our board of directors,” Fan, the CEO of Baobab Studios, said. “Ed’s leadership and innovative genius in the world of animation is unparalleled, and his insight will be invaluable as we imagine new characters and worlds, as well as an active role for our audiences inside of them.”
