Ash Brannon

Ash Brannon
Ash Brannon
Born	Ashton Brannon; October 31, 1969 (age 55); Columbus, Georgia, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Writer, director, visual artist, animator, producer
Years active	1989–present

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^[1] and co-director of Toy Story 2.^[2] He also directed and co-wrote the Sony Pictures Animation 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.^{[citation needed]}

Career

Brannon studied visual arts at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts in Jacksonville, Florida and went on to attend CalArts in its Character Animation program. He was accepted as a summer trainee at Walt Disney Animation Studios where he worked as an animation inbetweener on Disney's 1989 film The Little Mermaid. From 1990 to 1992.^{[citation needed]} Brannon 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 Brannon joined Pixar Animation Studios as a story artist on the studio's first two animated feature films Toy Story and A Bug's Life, as well as animation director on the former, before moving on to direct and help develop the storyline for Toy Story 2. Initially planned as a direct-to-video feature, the film was expanded in scope to become a theatrical feature. Brannon won an Annie Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement for Directing in an Animated Feature Production and Outstanding Individual Achievement for Writing in an Animated Feature Production.^{[citation needed]} He was nominated for an Oscar in 2007 on Surf's Up.^{[citation needed]}

Brannon joined Riot Games 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. Brannon, along with the show's creative team, won an Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program.^{[citation needed]}

Most recently Brannon co-created the NFT animated series Stoner Cats. 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 and Lisa Sterbakov of Orchard Farm Productions, and features a voice cast including Mila Kunis, Ashton Kutcher, Jane Fonda, Seth MacFarlane, and Chris Rock.^[3]

Filmography

Films

Year	Film	Director	Writer	Animator	Story Artist	Other	Voice Role	Notes
1989	The Little Mermaid	No	No	No	No	Yes		Animation Trainee
1990	The Rescuers Down Under	No	No	No	No	Yes		Special Thanks
1995	Toy Story	No	No	Directing	Yes	No
1998	A Bug's Life	No	No	No	Yes	No
1999	Toy Story 2	Co-Director	Original Story	Yes	No	Yes		New Character Designs
2006	Over the Hedge	No	No	No	Additional	No
2006	Open Season	No	No	No	No	Yes		Special Thanks
2007	Surf's Up	Yes	Screenplay	No	No	Yes	Filmmaker #1
2016	Rock Dog	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Ian	^[4]
2022	Hotel Transylvania: Transformania	No	No	No	Yes	No

Television

Year	Film	Director	Writer	Storyboard artist	Notes
1993	2 Stupid Dogs	No	No	Yes	Episode: "Red"
2021–23	Stoner Cats	Yes	Yes	No	7 episodes
2021	Arcane^[5]	No	Yes	No	Episode: "The Base Violence Necessary for Change"; Netflix series

Video games

Year	Title	Notes
1995	Toy Story: The Video Game	Pixar: Animator
1996	Toy Story: Animated Storybook	Disco Godfather (as "Ashley Brannon")
1999	Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue	Special Thanks
1999	Toy Story 2 Activity Center

References

^ Price, David A. (5 May 2009). The Pixar Touch. Random House Digital. pp. 175–. ISBN 978-0-307-27829-6. Retrieved 19 August 2011.
^ Clarke, Frederick S. (2002). Cinefantastique. Vol. 34. F. S. Clarke. p. 15. Retrieved 19 August 2011.
^ Weprin, Alex (2023-09-13). "SEC Files Charges Against NFT Project 'Stoner Cats' Starring Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis and More". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2024-01-13.
^ Amidi, Amid (3 August 2015). "5 Things You Need To Know About The Chinese/American Feature 'Rock Dog'". Cartoon Brew. Retrieved 3 August 2015.
^ "Arcane: When Will It Happen On Big Screens To Know Click Here!". Premiere Next. 13 January 2021. Archived from the original on 7 November 2021. Retrieved 3 May 2021.

External links

Ash Brannon at IMDb

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[Price2009-1] Price, David A. (5 May 2009). The Pixar Touch. Random House Digital. pp. 175–. ISBN 978-0-307-27829-6. Retrieved 19 August 2011.

[Clarke2002-2] Clarke, Frederick S. (2002). Cinefantastique. Vol. 34. F. S. Clarke. p. 15. Retrieved 19 August 2011.

[3] Weprin, Alex (2023-09-13). "SEC Files Charges Against NFT Project 'Stoner Cats' Starring Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis and More". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2024-01-13.

[4] Amidi, Amid (3 August 2015). "5 Things You Need To Know About The Chinese/American Feature 'Rock Dog'". Cartoon Brew. Retrieved 3 August 2015.

[5] "Arcane: When Will It Happen On Big Screens To Know Click Here!". Premiere Next. 13 January 2021. Archived from the original on 7 November 2021. Retrieved 3 May 2021.

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v t e Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Animated Feature
1990s	A Bug's Life – John Lasseter and Andrew Stanton / The Prince of Egypt – Simon Wells, Brenda Chapman, and Steve Hickner (1998) Toy Story 2 – John Lasseter, Lee Unkrich, and Ash Brannon (1999)
2000s	Chicken Run – Peter Lord and Nick Park (2000) Shrek – Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson (2001) Spirited Away – Hayao Miyazaki (2002) Finding Nemo – Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich (2003) The Incredibles – Brad Bird (2004) Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit – Nick Park and Steve Box (2005) Cars – John Lasseter and Joe Ranft (2006) Ratatouille – Brad Bird and Jan Pinkava (2007) WALL-E – Andrew Stanton (2008) Up – Pete Docter and Bob Peterson (2009)
2010s	Toy Story 3 – Lee Unkrich (2010) Rango – Gore Verbinski (2011) Wreck-It Ralph – Rich Moore (2012) Frozen – Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee (2013) The Lego Movie – Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (2014) Inside Out – Pete Docter and Ronnie del Carmen (2015) Zootopia – Byron Howard and Rich Moore (2016) Coco – Lee Unkrich (2017) Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse – Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, and Rodney Rothman (2018) Toy Story 4 – Josh Cooley (2019)
2020s	Soul – Pete Docter and Dana Murray (2020) The Mitchells vs. the Machines – Mike Rianda (2021) Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio – Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson (2022) Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse – Joaquim Dos Santos, Justin K. Thompson, and Kemp Powers (2023)
In 2020, the category was transferred to the Critics' Choice Super Awards.

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Ash Brannon
Born	Ashton Brannon (1969-10-31) October 31, 1969 (age 55) Columbus, Georgia, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Writer, director, visual artist, animator, producer
Years active	1989–present