Adrian Molina
Adrian Molina | |
|---|---|
Molina at the 2017 Annecy International Animated Film Festival | |
| Born | Yuba City, California, U.S. |
| Education | California Institute of the Arts (BFA) |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 2006–present |
| Employer | Pixar Animation Studios (2007–present) |
| Spouse |
Ryan Dooley (m. 2011) |
Adrian Molina is an American animator, storyboard artist, screenwriter and director. He is best known for his works at Pixar, including co-writing and co-directing Coco (2017) and Elio (2025). For the latter, he received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
Early life and education
Molina was born in Yuba City, California to a Mexican family, and raised in Grass Valley. He graduated from Bear River High School in 2003, to subsequently attend and graduate from the California Institute of the Arts in 2007.[1]
Career
Molina joined Pixar in 2007. 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.[1] Molina also illustrated the Little Golden Book for Toy Story 3.[2] After getting an additional screenplay material credit for both Monsters University and 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 several lyrics for the film.[1][3][4]
In 2022, he served as an associate executive producer on the Academy Award-nominated Turning Red.
Following the success of Coco and the D23 Expo announcement in September 2022, Molina was announced to direct the 2025 film Elio.[5][6][7] However in August 2024, it was announced that Molina had left the project, with Madeline Sharafian and Domee Shi taking over the storywriting and directorial duties instead.[8] Nevertheless, he retained his director credit on the film due to his heavy amount of work that he made.[9] Reports in June 2025 suggested Molina left after studio demands for edits to remove the LGBTQ storyline from the film, with staff members crying when they learned of his departure.[10][11] It was later reported that following his departure from the film, the storyline was dramatically changed under the direction of Sharafian and Shi, removing reported scenes where Elio imagined living with his male crush and had a pink bike, leading to backlash among Pixar staff members while disappointing and discouraging others. In March 2026, Pixar chief executive director Pete Docter defended the changes, saying "We're making a movie, not hundreds of millions of dollars in therapy" and asserted that Pixar had found that certain parents did not want entertainment to pressure them into having conversations they were not ready to have with their children, according to the Wall Street Journal.[11][12]
In March 2025, during the Disney Shareholder Meeting, CEO Bob Iger announced that the sequel to Coco was in early development, with Molina returning from the original film.[13]
Personal life
Molina is gay. He has been married to Ryan Dooley since 2011.[14]
Filmography
| Year | Title | Director | Screenwriter | Executive Producer |
Story Artist |
Other | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | CuddleBee Hugs 'n' Such | Co-Director | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Short film from CalArts, co-directed with Alex Hirsch |
| 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 |
| 2021 | Luca | No | No | No | No | Yes | Additional Story Contributor |
| 2022 | Turning Red | No | No | Associate | No | Yes | |
| 2025 | Elio | Yes | Story | No | No | Yes | |
| TBA | Coco 2 | Co-Director | TBA | No | No | Yes |
Accolades
| Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Film | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Annie Awards | February 3, 2018 | Directing in an Animated Feature Production | Coco | Won | [15] |
| Music in an Animated Feature Production | Coco | Won | |||
| Writing in an Animated Feature Production | Coco | Won | |||
| Humanitas Prize | February 16, 2018 | Feature – Family | Coco | Nominated | [16] |
| Imagen Awards | August 25, 2018 | Best Director | Coco | Won | [17] |
References
- ^ a b c "'Coco's Mexican-American Co-Director Adrian Molina Reveals Origins of Pixar's Día de Muertos Film". Archived from the original on October 10, 2018. Retrieved July 9, 2017.
- ^ Spring Into Action! (Disney/Pixar Toy Story 3) by Annie Auerbach | PenguinRandomHouse.com. Archived from the original on November 7, 2017. Retrieved December 7, 2016.
- ^ "Pixar Coco plot details revealed | EW.com". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on November 8, 2020. Retrieved December 7, 2016.
- ^ Robinson, Joanna. "Pixar's Coco Is a "Love Letter to Mexico" When It's Needed Most". HWD. Archived from the original on December 7, 2016. Retrieved December 7, 2016.
- ^ "'Elio': Pixar Sets New Pic About 11-Year-Old Boy Beamed Into Space; America Ferrera Stars & 'Coco's Adrian Molina Directs". Deadline Hollywood. September 9, 2022. Archived from the original on September 21, 2022. Retrieved September 9, 2022.
- ^ Meyer, Joshua (September 9, 2022). "Disney Announces New Pixar Sci-Fi Adventure Comedy, Elio [D23]". /Film. Archived from the original on October 2, 2022. Retrieved December 8, 2022.
- ^ McClintock, Pamela (October 27, 2023). "Disney Delays 'Snow White' and 'Elio' a Year, Removes Jonathan Majors' 'Magazine Dreams' From Calendar". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on October 27, 2023. Retrieved October 27, 2023.
- ^ Taylor, Drew (August 10, 2024). "Pixar Chief Pete Docter Talks New 'Elio' Directors, Story and Casting Changes | Exclusive". TheWrap. Archived from the original on August 14, 2024. Retrieved August 10, 2024.
Docter said that Molina is still at Pixar and, what's more, he 'was taken on to a priority project that we're not ready to talk about yet, but it's very exciting and he's excited about it as well,' even though he's no longer involved with 'Elio.'.
- ^ Julie & T.J. (August 9, 2024). "Pixar at the 2024 D23 Expo – News Consolidation". Pixar Post. Archived from the original on August 14, 2024. Retrieved August 10, 2024.
- ^ Gajewski, Ryan (June 30, 2025). "Inside 'Elio's' "Catastrophic" Path: America Ferrera's Exit, Director Change and Erasure of Queer Themes". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on July 1, 2025. Retrieved July 1, 2025.
- ^ a b Fritz, Ben (March 6, 2026). "Disney Needs Its Next Hit Franchise. Can Pixar's Reluctant Leader Deliver?". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on March 7, 2026.
- ^ Dunn, Jack (March 7, 2026). "Pete Docter Says Pixar Cut LGBTQ Storyline From 'Elio' Because 'We're Making a Movie, Not Hundreds of Millions of Dollars of Therapy'". Variety. Archived from the original on March 8, 2026. Retrieved March 8, 2026.
- ^ "'Coco 2' in Development at Pixar". TheWaltDisneyCompany.com. March 20, 2025. Archived from the original on July 8, 2025. Retrieved July 16, 2025.
- ^ Crispim, Fabio (June 30, 2018). "'Coco' co-director Adrian Molina is 'all for' an LGBT Pixar film". attitude. Retrieved June 30, 2018.
- ^ Giardina, Carolyn (February 4, 2018). "Annie Awards: 'Coco' Tops the Animation Celebration". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on February 4, 2018. Retrieved August 29, 2024.
- ^ Pedersen, Erik (January 9, 2018). "Humanitas Prize Finalists Announced; Feature Awards Split Into 3 Categories". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on January 9, 2018. Retrieved August 29, 2024.
- ^ Ramos, Dino-Ray (August 26, 2018). "Imagen Awards: 'One Day At A Time', 'Coco' Among Honorees – Full Winners List". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on August 26, 2018. Retrieved August 29, 2024.