Adrian Molina | |
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![]() Molina at the 2017 Annecy International Animated Film Festival | |
Born | Yuba City, California, U.S. | August 23, 1985
Alma mater | California Institute of the Arts |
Occupations |
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Years active | 2006–present |
Employer | Pixar Animation Studios (2007–present) |
Spouse | Ryan Dooley (m. 2011) |
Adrian Molina (born August 23, 1985) is an American animator, storyboard artist and screenwriter who works for Pixar. He co-wrote the screenplay and story of Coco (2017), which he also co-directed. He will make his solo directorial debut with the upcoming film Elio (2025), which he also wrote. [1] [2]
Molina was born in Yuba City, California to a Mexican family, and raised in Grass Valley, and he graduated from Bear River High School in 2003, to subsequently attend and graduate from the California Institute of the Arts in 2007. [3]
Molina has joined at Pixar since 2007, where he started as a 2D animator on Ratatouille . He later moved on to be a storyboard artist, working on Toy Story 3 and Monsters University . [3] Molina also illustrated the Little Golden Book for Toy Story 3. [4] After writing for The Good Dinosaur , Molina started his first assignment as a screenwriter, for Coco , and later went on to co-direct the film. He also wrote serveral lyrics for the film. [3] [5] [6]
Following the success of Coco and the D23 Expo announcement in September 2022, Molina was announced to write and direct the upcoming feature film Elio , which he will make his solo directorial debut, set to release on June 13, 2025. [7] [1] [8] [2]
Molina is openly gay. He has been married to Ryan Dooley since 2011. [9]
Year | Title | Director | Writer | Executive Producer | Story Artist | Other | Voice | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2007 | Ratatouille | No | No | No | No | Yes | Animator: End Titles | |
2010 | Toy Story 3 | No | No | No | Yes | No | ||
2013 | Monsters University | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Additional Screenplay Material Opening Title Designer and Director | |
2015 | The Good Dinosaur | No | No | No | No | Yes | Additional Screenplay Material | |
2017 | Coco | Co-Director | Yes | No | No | Yes | Additional Voices | Songwriter |
2019 | Toy Story 4 | No | No | No | No | Yes | Pixar Senior Creative Team | |
2020 | Onward | No | No | No | No | Yes | ||
Soul | No | No | No | No | Yes | |||
2021 | Luca | No | No | No | No | Yes | Additional Story Contributions Pixar Senior Creative Team | |
2022 | Turning Red | No | No | Associate | No | Yes | Pixar Senior Creative Team | |
Lightyear | No | No | No | No | Yes | |||
2023 | Elemental | No | No | No | No | Yes | ||
2024 | Inside Out 2 | No | No | No | No | Yes | ||
2025 | Elio | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
Pixar Animation Studios is an American animation studio based in Emeryville, California, known for its critically and commercially successful computer-animated feature films. Since 2006, Pixar has been a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, a division of Disney Entertainment, a segment of the Walt Disney Company.
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Brenda Chapman is an American animator, screenwriter, storyboard artist, and director. In 1998, she became the first woman to direct an animated feature from a major studio, DreamWorks Animation's The Prince of Egypt. In 2012, she directed the Disney/Pixar film Brave with Mark Andrews, becoming the first woman to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
Daniel Scanlon is an American filmmaker, storyboard artist, and animator working for Pixar, for whom he has directed Monsters University (2013) and Onward (2020).
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Coco is a 2017 American animated fantasy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It was directed by Lee Unkrich, co-directed by Adrian Molina, and produced by Darla K. Anderson, from a screenplay written by Molina and Matthew Aldrich, and a story by Unkrich, Molina, Aldrich, and Jason Katz, based on an original idea conceived by Unkrich. The film stars the voices of Anthony Gonzalez, Gael García Bernal, Benjamin Bratt, Alanna Ubach, Renée Victor, Ana Ofelia Murguía, and Edward James Olmos. The story follows a 12-year-old boy named Miguel (Gonzalez) who is accidentally transported to the Land of the Dead, where he seeks the help of his deceased musician great-great-grandfather to return him to his family and reverse their ban on music.
Joshua Cooley is an American filmmaker, storyboard artist, and voice actor. He is best known for directing the animated films Toy Story 4 (2019) and the upcoming Transformers One (2024), as well as co-writing the screenplay for the film Inside Out (2015). He has received for the Academy Awards for nominating Inside Out for Best Original Screenplay and winning Toy Story 4 for Best Animated Feature.
Coco (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the soundtrack album to the Disney/Pixar's 2017 film of the same name. Released by Walt Disney Records on November 19, 2017, the album features eight original songs written by Germaine Franco, Adrian Molina, Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, four alternate versions and 26 score pieces composed by Michael Giacchino.
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Elio is an upcoming American animated science fiction adventure film produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar Animation Studios, and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It is being written and directed by Adrian Molina and produced by Mary Alice Drumm. The film stars the voices of Yonas Kibreab, America Ferrera, Jameela Jamil, and Brad Garrett. It follows an eleven-year-old boy named Elio Solis (Kibreab) who accidentally becomes the intergalactic Ambassador of planet Earth after being beamed up to the Communiverse by aliens for making contact. Elio must form new bonds with eccentric alien lifeforms and survive a series of formidable trials.
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Kelsey Mann is an American film director and storyboard artist. He will make his feature directorial debut with the upcoming Pixar animated film Inside Out 2 (2024), the sequel to the 2015 film.
The aforementioned director Adrian Molina is currently the only credited writer for Pixar's Elio.