Angus MacLane

Angus MacLane (born April 13, 1975) is an American animator, filmmaker and voice actor best known for his long‑standing career at Pixar Animation Studios. Raised in Portland, Oregon after being born in Riverside County, California, he initially aspired to become a comic‑book artist before switching to animation midway through his education, ultimately earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1997. Immediately after graduation he joined Pixar, debuting as an animator on the Oscar‑winning short Geri’s Game and subsequently contributing to every feature film from A Bug’s Life (1998) through Toy Story 3 (2010), including key character‑development work on Monsters, Inc. and The Incredibles. His animation on The Incredibles earned him an Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement in Character Animation, cementing his reputation as a master of expressive movement. Transitioning from pure animation to storytelling, MacLane served as supervising animator on the short One Man Band before moving to the story team for WALL‑E, where he also created the memorable side character BURN‑E and later expanded that concept into a dedicated short. His directorial talents emerged with the Toy Story spin‑off shorts Small Fry and the television special Toy Story of Terror!, the latter winning an Annie for Outstanding Achievement in Directing. He co‑directed the critical and commercial success Finding Dory (2016) and made his solo feature‑film debut with Lightyear (2022), a Toy Story spin‑off that, despite mixed box‑office performance, showcased his vision for interstellar adventure. Outside of Pixar, MacLane is a passionate LEGO enthusiast, having invented the CubeDudes building system and designing an official LEGO WALL‑E set. In May 2023, following a corporate restructuring, he was among the Pixar staff laid off, marking the end of a remarkable 26‑year tenure at the studio.