Josh Cooley

Name	Josh Cooley
Image
Caption	Cooley in 2024
Birth Date	May 23
Birth Place	Berkeley, California, U.S.
Years Active	2003–present
Awards	Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Toy Story 4 (2019)

Joshua Cooley (born May 23) is an American filmmaker and storyboard artist. He is best known for directing the animated films Toy Story 4 (2019) and Transformers One (2024), with the former winning the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. He also 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 Joe Ranft at Pixar, where he started his career as an intern, mostly working as a storyboard artist on films including The Incredibles (2004), Cars (2006), Ratatouille (2007), Up (2009), and Cars 2 (2011). In 2009, Cooley wrote and directed a short film George & A.J. for Pixar and Walt Disney Pictures.

Cooley worked as a screenwriter and storyboard supervisor on the film Inside Out (2015), which was released to financial success with audiences. Cooley received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay for his work on the film, alongside Pete Docter (the film's director), Ronnie Del Carmen (co-director), and Meg LeFauve. The same year, he wrote and directed another short film titled Riley's First Date?
Following completion of Cooley's work on Inside Out in 2015, he was tapped by John Lasseter and Andrew Stanton to co-direct Toy Story 4. In 2016, Cooley replaced Lasseter as the film's 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. Cooley left Pixar in March 2020.

In 2024, Cooley directed the animated Transformers film, titled Transformers One, for Paramount Pictures. The film is set on the Transformers home planet of Cybertron and focuses on the origins of Optimus Prime and Megatron.

On May 19, 2020, it was reported that Cooley will write and direct a live-action adaptation of the children's book Malamander by Thomas Taylor for Sony Pictures, marking his first live-action film. In addition, on July 10, 2020, it was announced that Cooley would be the writer and director of the film Little Monsters, starring Universal Monsters characters, for Universal Pictures. On June 23, 2021, Cooley was set to write a film based on the Disney Parks attraction Tower of Terror, with Scarlett Johansson starring and producing the project, after previously working together on Transformers One.

In June 2025, Cooley entered talks to direct a film adaptation of the children's book I Eat Poop: A Dung Beetle Story for Paramount Animation and Maximum Effort.

Filmography

Films

Year	Title	Voice Role	Notes
2004	The Incredibles
2006	Cars
2007	Ratatouille
2009	Up	Omega
2011	Cars 2	Corporal Josh Coolant
2015	Inside Out	Jangles
2019	Toy Story 4		Additional Screenplay Material Pixar Senior Creative Team
2020	We Bare Bears: The Movie	Painting Elephant	Additional Voices
2020	Soul		Additional Dialogue Contributions Pixar Senior Creative Team
2024	Transformers One	Control Room Guys / PA System / Skywarp
TBA	Malamander
	Little Monsters
	Tower of Terror

Shorts

Year	Title	Voice Role	Notes
2005	Mindwalk
2009	Calendar Confloption
2009	George and A.J.
2010	Cars Toons: Mater's Tall Tales	Additional Voices	Episodes 8-9
2011	Toy Story Toons: Small Fry	Cashier / Lizard Wizard
2013	Cars Toons: Tales from Radiator Springs	Bug / Additional Voices	Episodes 1-3
2013	Toy Story of Terror!	Officer Phillips	TV special
2015	Riley's First Date?	Dad's Sadness
2021	22 vs. Earth		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	Pixar Senior Creative Team
2019-20	Forky Asks a Question	Special Thanks
2020	Lamp Life	Special Thanks
2020	Onward	Special Thanks, Pixar Senior Creative Team

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