Josh Cooley

Josh Cooley
Josh Cooley
	Cooley in 2019
Born	May 23, 1979 (age 44); Berkeley, California, U.S.
Occupations	Film director; screenwriter; storyboard artist; voice actor;
Years active	2003–present
Employer	Pixar Animation Studios (2003–2020)
Awards	Academy Award for Best Animated Feature; Toy Story 4 (2019)

Joshua Cooley (born May 23, 1979) is an American filmmaker, storyboard artist, and voice actor. He made his feature directorial debut with the Pixar animated film Toy Story 4 (2019), the fourth film in the Toy Story franchise, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. He is also directing the upcoming Transformers animated film Transformers One (2024). Prior, he co-wrote the screenplay for the film Inside Out (2015), which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.

Career

Cooley was recruited by

George & A.J. for Pixar and Walt Disney Pictures.^[4]

In 2015, Cooley worked as a screenwriter and storyboard supervisor on the film

Ronnie Del Carmen (co-director), and Meg LeFauve.^[5] The same year, he wrote and directed another short film titled Riley's First Date?.^[6]^[5]

Following the success of Inside Out, Cooley was tapped by John Lasseter and screenwriter Andrew Stanton to co-direct Toy Story 4. Lasseter ended up setting aside his directorial duties in 2016,^[7] making Cooley the sole director. Toy Story 4 was Cooley's directorial debut. Upon release, the film received critical acclaim, and Cooley took home his first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.^[8] Cooley left Pixar in March 2020.^[9]
Cooley is set to direct an animated Transformers film, titled Transformers One, for Paramount Pictures.^[10] The film, which will be "separate and apart from" the Michael Bay-directed franchise and the stand-alone Bumblebee, will focus on Optimus Prime and Megatron's relationship.^[10]
On May 19, 2020, it was reported that Cooley will write and direct a live-action adaptation of the children's book Malamander by
Universal Monsters characters, for Universal Pictures.^[11]

Filmography

Films

Year Title Director Writer Supervisor Artist Other Voice Notes

2004 The Incredibles No No No Story No Uncredited ^[4]

2006 Cars No No No Story No Additional

2007 Ratatouille No No No Story No

2009 Up No No No Story Yes Omega

2011 Cars 2 No No Story No No Additional

2015 Inside Out No Screenplay Story No Yes Jangles

2019 Toy Story 4 Yes Original Story No No Yes Additional Screenplay Material
Pixar Senior Creative Team

2020 We Bare Bears: The Movie No No No No Yes Painting Elephant Additional Voices

Soul No No No No Yes Additional Dialogue Contributions
Pixar Senior Creative Team

2024 Transformers One Yes No No No No ^[10]

TBA Malamander Yes Yes No No No ^[9]

Little Monsters Yes Yes No No No ^[11]

Tower of Terror No Yes No No No ^[12]

Shorts

Year Title Director Writer Artist Editor Other Voice Notes

2005 Mindwalk No No No Film No

2009 Calendar Confloption No No Story No No ^[13]

George and A.J. Yes Yes No No No

2010 Cars Toons: Mater's Tall Tales No No No No Yes Additional Voices Episodes 8-9

2011 Toy Story Toons: Small Fry No No No Story Yes Cashier / Lizard Wizard

2013 Cars Toons: Tales from Radiator Springs No No No No Yes Bug / Additional Voices Episodes 1-3

Toy Story of Terror! No No No No Yes Officer Phillips TV special

2015 Riley's First Date? Yes Yes No No Yes Dad's Sadness

2021 22 vs. Earth No Yes No No No Disney+ Original Short Film

Other credits

Year Title Role

2009 Tracy Cameraman #2, Extras, Camera Operator, Artist

2015 The Good Dinosaur Special Thanks

2017 Coco Pixar Senior Creative Team

2018 Incredibles 2

2019-20 Forky Asks a Question Special Thanks

2020 Lamp Life^[14]

Onward Special Thanks, Pixar Senior Creative Team

References

^ Cooley, Josh [@CooleyUrFaceOff] (May 23, 2019). "Frank, I never told you that I was turned by my vampire master 400 years ago. I am immortal, birthdays mean nothing to me. But I accept your human congratulatory message" (Tweet). Archived from the original on July 15, 2019. Retrieved July 15, 2019 – via Twitter.

^ "Twenty-Four Years and Beyond: Pixar Artists Who Worked on Every "Toy Story" Film". May 1, 2019. Archived from the original on June 27, 2019. Retrieved May 19, 2019.

^ Brown, Phil (June 17, 2015). "Inside Pixar And Out With Josh Cooley". cgmagonline.com. Archived from the original on December 11, 2015. Retrieved December 10, 2015.

^ ^a ^b ^c Murphy, Robert (October 6, 2010). "Josh Cooley gives an in-depth look at Pixar's creative process". siliconprairienews.com. Archived from the original on December 11, 2015. Retrieved December 10, 2015.

^ ^a ^b McFarland, K.M. (October 16, 2015). "4 Things Riley's First Date? Reveals About Pixar". wired.com. Archived from the original on December 11, 2015. Retrieved December 10, 2015.

^ "Riley's First Date? Is a Sublime Follow-Up to Inside Out". disney.com. Archived from the original on December 9, 2015. Retrieved December 10, 2015.

^ Hazelton, John (December 19, 2019). "'Toy Story 4' filmmakers on why the franchise needed another instalment". ScreenDaily. Archived from the original on November 16, 2020. Retrieved November 12, 2020.

^ "D23 Expo: Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios: The Upcoming Films". July 14, 2017. Archived from the original on July 15, 2017. Retrieved April 20, 2018.

^ ^a ^b ^c Kit, Borys (May 19, 2020). "'Toy Story 4' Director Josh Cooley to Tackle 'Malamander' for Sony Pictures (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on June 17, 2020. Retrieved June 16, 2020.

^ ^a ^b ^c Fleming, Mike Jr. (April 29, 2020). "Animated 'Transformers' Prequel Activated; 'Toy Story 4's Josh Cooley To Direct For Hasbro/eOne & Paramount". Deadline.com. Archived from the original on April 30, 2020. Retrieved April 29, 2020.

^ ^a ^b Kit, Borys (July 10, 2020). "'Toy Story 4' Director Josh Cooley Tackling 'Little Monsters' for Universal (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on July 15, 2020. Retrieved November 12, 2020.

^ Couch, Aaron (June 23, 2021). "Scarlett Johansson and Disney Team for 'Tower of Terror'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved September 17, 2021.

^ Lauer, Andy (March 11, 2009). ""Answer Man," "Food Inc." Among 2009 Sonoma International Film Festival Selections". IndieWire. Archived from the original on March 24, 2021. Retrieved March 12, 2021.

^ Prudom, Laura (January 29, 2020). "Disney Plus' Lamp Life Sneak Peek: What Happened to Bo Peep Between Toy Story 2 and 4? - IGN". IGN. Archived from the original on January 31, 2020. Retrieved March 14, 2021.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Josh Cooley.

Josh Cooley at
IMDb

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Josh Cooley
Films directed
Feature

Toy Story 4 (2019)

Transformers One (2024)

Short

George and A.J. (2009)

Riley's First Date? (2015)

Written only

Inside Out (2015)

22 vs. Earth (2021, short)

Awards for Josh Cooley

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Academy Award for Best Animated Feature

Shrek - Aron Warner (2001)

Spirited Away - Hayao Miyazaki (2002)

Finding Nemo - Andrew Stanton (2003)

The Incredibles - Brad Bird (2004)

Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit - Nick Park and Steve Box (2005)

Happy Feet - George Miller (2006)

Ratatouille - Brad Bird (2007)

WALL-E - Andrew Stanton (2008)

Up - Pete Docter (2009)

Toy Story 3 - Lee Unkrich (2010)

Rango - Gore Verbinski (2011)

Brave - Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman (2012)

Frozen - Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee and Peter Del Vecho (2013)

Big Hero 6 - Don Hall, Chris Williams and Roy Conli (2014)

Inside Out - Pete Docter and Jonas Rivera (2015)

Zootopia - Byron Howard, Rich Moore and Clark Spencer (2016)

Coco - Lee Unkrich and Darla K. Anderson (2017)

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse - Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (2018)

Toy Story 4 - Josh Cooley, Mark Nielsen and Jonas Rivera (2019)

Soul - Pete Docter and Dana Murray (2020)

Encanto - Jared Bush, Byron Howard, Yvett Merino and Clark Spencer (2021)

Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio - Guillermo del Toro, Mark Gustafson, Gary Ungar and Alex Bulkley (2022)

The Boy and the Heron - Hayao Miyazaki and Toshio Suzuki (2023)

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Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement for Writing in a Feature Production

Brenda Chapman (1994)

Andrew Stanton, Joss Whedon, Joel Cohen and Alec Sokolow (1996)

Rita Hsiao, Chris Sanders, Philip LaZebnik, Raymond Singer and Eugenia Bostwick-Singer (1998)

Brad Bird and Tim McCanlies (1999)

John Lasseter, Pete Docter, Ash Brannon, Andrew Stanton, Rita Hsiao, Doug Chamberlin and Chris Webb (2000)

Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, Joe Stillman and Roger S. H. Schulman (2001)

Hayao Miyazaki (2002)

Andrew Stanton, Bob Peterson and David Reynolds (2003)

Brad Bird (2004)

Mark Burton
(2005)

Dick Clement, Ian La Frenais, Christopher Lloyd, Joe Keenan and William Davies (2006)

Brad Bird (2007)

Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger (2008)

Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach (2009)

Chris Sanders, Will Davies and Dean DeBlois (2010)

James Ward Byrkit, John Logan and Gore Verbinski (2011)

Phil Johnston and Jennifer Lee (2012)

Hayao Miyazaki (2013)

Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (2014)

Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve and Josh Cooley (2015)

Jared Bush and Phil Johnston (2016)

Adrian Molina and Matthew Aldrich (2017)

Phil Lord and Rodney Rothman (2018)

Jérémy Clapin and Guillaume Laurant (2019)

Pete Docter, Mike Jones and Kemp Powers (2020)

Mike Rianda and Jeff Rowe (2021)

Dean Fleischer Camp, Jenny Slate, Nick Paley and Elisabeth Holm (2022)

Robert L. Baird and Lloyd Taylor (2023)

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Austin Film Critics Association Award for Best Original Screenplay

Noah Baumbach (2005)

Guillermo del Toro (2006)

Diablo Cody (2007)

Charlie Kaufman (2008)

Quentin Tarantino (2009)

Mark Heyman, Andres Heinz, and John McLaughlin (2010)

Woody Allen (2011)

Rian Johnson (2012)

Spike Jonze (2013)

Dan Gilroy (2014)

Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve, and Josh Cooley (2015)

Barry Jenkins (2016)

Jordan Peele (2017)

Boots Riley (2018)

Bong Joon-ho and Han Jin-won (2019)

Lee Isaac Chung (2020)

Vanessa Block and Michael Sarnoski (2021)

Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (2022)

Celine Song (2023)

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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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Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Original Screenplay

Nia Vardalos (2002)

Sofia Coppola (2003)

Charlie Kaufman (2004)

Bobby Moresco
(2005)

Michael Arndt (2006)

Diablo Cody (2007)

Jenny Lumet (2008)

Quentin Tarantino (2009)

Christopher Nolan (2010)

Will Reiser (2011)

Rian Johnson (2012)

Spike Jonze (2013)

Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr. and Armando Bo (2014)

Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve, Josh Cooley and Ronnie del Carmen (2015)

Damien Chazelle (2016)

Jordan Peele (2017)

Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara (2018)

Noah Baumbach (2019)

Emerald Fennell (2020)

Kenneth Branagh (2021)

Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (2022)

Celine Song (2023)

Authority control databases
International

VIAF

National

Germany

Israel

United States

Poland

Artists

MusicBrainz

Other

IdRef

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Josh_Cooley&oldid=1217652291"

[1] Cooley, Josh [@CooleyUrFaceOff] (May 23, 2019). "Frank, I never told you that I was turned by my vampire master 400 years ago. I am immortal, birthdays mean nothing to me. But I accept your human congratulatory message" (Tweet). Archived from the original on July 15, 2019. Retrieved July 15, 2019 – via Twitter.

[2] "Twenty-Four Years and Beyond: Pixar Artists Who Worked on Every "Toy Story" Film". May 1, 2019. Archived from the original on June 27, 2019. Retrieved May 19, 2019.

[Jun2015CGM-3] Brown, Phil (June 17, 2015). "Inside Pixar And Out With Josh Cooley". cgmagonline.com. Archived from the original on December 11, 2015. Retrieved December 10, 2015.

[Oc2010SPN-4] Murphy, Robert (October 6, 2010). "Josh Cooley gives an in-depth look at Pixar's creative process". siliconprairienews.com. Archived from the original on December 11, 2015. Retrieved December 10, 2015.

[Oct2015W-5] McFarland, K.M. (October 16, 2015). "4 Things Riley's First Date? Reveals About Pixar". wired.com. Archived from the original on December 11, 2015. Retrieved December 10, 2015.

[6] "Riley's First Date? Is a Sublime Follow-Up to Inside Out". disney.com. Archived from the original on December 9, 2015. Retrieved December 10, 2015.

[7] Hazelton, John (December 19, 2019). "'Toy Story 4' filmmakers on why the franchise needed another instalment". ScreenDaily. Archived from the original on November 16, 2020. Retrieved November 12, 2020.

[8] "D23 Expo: Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios: The Upcoming Films". July 14, 2017. Archived from the original on July 15, 2017. Retrieved April 20, 2018.

[Malamander-9] Kit, Borys (May 19, 2020). "'Toy Story 4' Director Josh Cooley to Tackle 'Malamander' for Sony Pictures (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on June 17, 2020. Retrieved June 16, 2020.

[Tranformers-10] Fleming, Mike Jr. (April 29, 2020). "Animated 'Transformers' Prequel Activated; 'Toy Story 4's Josh Cooley To Direct For Hasbro/eOne & Paramount". Deadline.com. Archived from the original on April 30, 2020. Retrieved April 29, 2020.

[littlemonsters-11] Kit, Borys (July 10, 2020). "'Toy Story 4' Director Josh Cooley Tackling 'Little Monsters' for Universal (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on July 15, 2020. Retrieved November 12, 2020.

[12] Couch, Aaron (June 23, 2021). "Scarlett Johansson and Disney Team for 'Tower of Terror'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved September 17, 2021.

[13] Lauer, Andy (March 11, 2009). ""Answer Man," "Food Inc." Among 2009 Sonoma International Film Festival Selections". IndieWire. Archived from the original on March 24, 2021. Retrieved March 12, 2021.

[14] Prudom, Laura (January 29, 2020). "Disney Plus' Lamp Life Sneak Peek: What Happened to Bo Peep Between Toy Story 2 and 4? - IGN". IGN. Archived from the original on January 31, 2020. Retrieved March 14, 2021.

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