I've often heard people say that managing creative people is the hardest thing in the world. 'They're never happy, they drive up the cost of things, blah blah blah.' I just manage people the way I always wanted to be managed. That is, to be creatively challenged, but never to be told what to do.

John Lasseter

The art challenges the technology, and the technology inspires the art.

John Lasseter

People want to be creatively satisfied, and having fun is such an important part of that.

John Lasseter

Toys are put on this Earth to be played with by a child.

John Lasseter

Walt Disney always said, 'For every laugh, there should be a tear.' I believe in that.

John Lasseter

I believe in the nobility of entertaining people and I take great, great pride that people are willing to give me two or three hours of their busy lives.

John Lasseter

I do what I do because of Walt Disney. Goofy. Mickey Mouse. I never forgot how their films entertained me.

John Lasseter

My father pulled into Pearl Harbor four days after the bombing, and he said, everything was still burning. He said they never told the public how bad it was. It was really bad.

John Lasseter

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.

John Lasseter

I am, by nature, an honest person. I wear my emotions on my sleeve. There is no 'behind closed doors' with me.

John Lasseter

When I was a freshman in high school, I read a book about the making of Disney's 'Sleeping Beauty' called 'The Art of Animation.' It was this weird revelation for me, because I hadn't considered that people actually get paid to make cartoons.

John Lasseter

Sure, they were simple desk lamps with only a minimal amount of movement, but you could immediately tell that Luxo Jr. was a baby, and that the big one was his mother. In that short little film, computer animation went from a novelty to a serious tool for filmmaking.

John Lasseter

We use shorts at the studio extensively to develop talent. I always love to give opportunities for young story people, animators, layout people something like that to take the next step up in their career and try things out.

John Lasseter

Every movie has three things you have to do - you have to have a compelling story that keeps people on the edge of their seats; you have to populate that story with memorable and appealing characters; and you have to put that story and those characters in a believable world. Those three things are so vitally important.

John Lasseter

When you go into the theatre and the lights dim, you want to entertain people from beginning to end. You want them to be swept up in your story, on the edge of their seats, unable to wait to see what happens next, be blown away and afterwards just go, 'Wow!'

John Lasseter

Computers don't create computer animation any more than a pencil creates pencil animation. What creates computer animation is the artist.

John Lasseter

The magic of Disneyland, walking through the tunnel underneath the train station to Main Street, it just transports you to other places and other times.

John Lasseter

Car love is the sound of a throaty V-8 rumbling and revving, the acceleration throwing you back in the seat - especially when you get on a beautiful, winding road and the light's dappling through the trees.

John Lasseter

Animation is the one type of movie that really does play for the entire audience. Our challenge is to make stories that connect for kids and adults.

John Lasseter

Fortunately for me, I'm married to an amazing woman - Nancy Lasseter - who is wise enough not to let me buy every car I want. If I was single, I would be living in a very small apartment and renting a warehouse full of cool cars.

John Lasseter

I've often heard people say that managing creative people is the hardest thing in the world. 'They're never happy, they drive up the cost of things, blah blah blah.' I just manage people the way I always wanted to be managed. That is, to be creatively challenged, but never to be told what to do.

John Lasseter