Toy Story animator Ralph Eggleston has died at the age of 56

Ralph Eggleston entered the world of animation in the late 80s and joined Pixar in 1992, where he worked until his death. He started there as story designer and art director on Zack and Krista’s Adventures in the Fernguli Rainforest.

During the 90s, he worked on several Disney films, including Aladdin, The Lion King and Pocahontas, before his first role in Pixar’s Toy Story, where he served as art director. He helped create this feature film, the studio’s first, with a graphic style that would inform all subsequent films.

He will hold the same position on 1001 Paws, Toy Story 2, The Incredibles and Cars. Meanwhile, he won an Oscar for Best Animated Short Film for Funny Birds on a High Voltage Line. He was then promoted to head of production at Pixar and oversaw Finding Nemo, Wall-E, Vice Versa and The Incredibles 2.

In the studio, Eggleston was a Swiss army knife, working on the lighting of Up There or the visual development of Monsters & Cie and Soul. Occasionally hired by Disney, he was also a “color consultant” on John Carter and contributed to The Princess and the Frog.

He died of cancer at the age of 56.