Dan Scanlon


Daniel Scanlon is an American filmmaker, storyboard artist, and animator. He is best known for directing the Pixar animated films Monsters University and Onward, with the latter nominating him for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
𝕏 MrDanScanlon

Early life

Scanlon grew up in Clawson, Michigan. When he was one year old and his brother three years old, their father died, and when they were teenagers, a relative gave them a brief audio recording of their father. Scanlon has said that these experiences helped inspire the story of Onward. He graduated with a BFA from the Columbus College of Art and Design in 1998.

Career

Scanlon was an animator for The Indescribable Nth and Joseph: King of Dreams. He served as a storyboard artist for The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea and 101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure.
Scanlon joined Pixar in 2001, where he was a story artist for Cars and Toy Story 3. He co-directed the short film Mater and the Ghostlight. He illustrated part one of Unmentionables, a comic book written by his wife, Michele Scanlon, and wrote and directed the live-action feature film Tracy. Tracy was Scanlon's first feature film as a writer/director. He also served as a member of the senior creative team on Brave and Inside Out.
Scanlon directed the prequel film of Monsters, Inc., Monsters University, released in 2013, to positive reviews and commercial success. He subsequently directed the fantasy-road trip film Onward, featuring the voices of Tom Holland, Chris Pratt, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Octavia Spencer. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, but lost to another Pixar film Soul.
In February 2021, Scanlon stated that he and Kori Rae would develop another original Pixar feature film. In November 2024, Scanlon stated he was leaving Pixar, but would not be against working with the company in a consultancy role in the future.

Filmography

Feature films

YearTitleDirectorWriterExecutive
Producer		Story
Artist		Animator:
Character
Builder		Additional
Voices		OtherNotes
2000The Little Mermaid II: Return to the SeaDirect-to-video
2000Joseph: King of DreamsDirect-to-video
2003101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London AdventureDirect-to-video
2006CarsAdditional Screenplay Material
2007RatatouillePixar Productions
2010Toy Story 3
2011Cars 2Pixar Senior Creative Team
2012BravePixar Senior Creative Team
2013Monsters UniversityPixar Senior Creative Team
2015Inside OutPixar Senior Creative Team
2015The Good DinosaurPixar Senior Creative Team
2016Finding DoryPixar Senior Creative Team
2017Cars 3Pixar Senior Creative Team
2017CocoPixar Senior Creative Team
2018Incredibles 2Pixar Senior Creative Team
2019Toy Story 4Pixar Senior Creative Team
2020OnwardPixar Senior Creative Team
2020SoulPixar Senior Creative Team
2021LucaPixar Senior Creative Team
2022Turning RedPixar Senior Creative Team
2022LightyearPixar Senior Creative Team
2023ElementalPixar Senior Creative Team
2024Inside Out 2Pixar Senior Creative Team
2025ElioSpecial Thanks
2025Zootopia 2Special Thanks
---------Special Thanks