I think the painted backgrounds in animations are absolutely stunningly beautiful. There's something really special about this medium. I don't believe audiences have grown past it. I think what audiences love is to be entertained-thoroughly, deeply entertained, and that's what I've always set out to do.

If you're sitting in your minivan, playing your computer animated films for your children in the back seat, is it the animation that's entertaining you as you drive and listen? No, it's the storytelling. That's why we put so much importance on story. No amount of great animation will save a bad story.

I do what I do because of Walt Disney - his films and his theme park and his characters and his joy in entertaining.

Walt Disney had always tried to get more dimension in his animation and when I saw these tapes, I thought, This is it! This is what Walt was waiting for! But when I looked around, nobody at the studio at the time was even halfway interested in it.

Every animator is really an actor performing in slow motion, living the character a drawing at a time.

This is what I always tell my filmmakers-you have to do tons of research, because you don't know where the inspiration is going come from.

You cannot base a whole movie on just the imagery alone. It has to be the story and the characters.