Byron Howard

“If we can be the best people we are as individuals, then that's the way to change the world.”

“Ariel got me into animation. She was the first Disney heroine that really felt alive. She felt like a real young woman.”

“'Zootopia' features such a large and diverse range of characters - one of our biggest casts ever for a Disney Animation film. We needed talented actors who could help bring these animals to life.”

“The era of 'The Jungle Book' was when the animators were at the top of their game and their sense of character was great.”

“When I first heard that they were going to make 'Beauty and the Beast' at Disney, I was like, 'Oh, God, there's no way I'm going to see that movie,' because I knew what that movie was, was just two people sitting down to dinner over and over and over again. But then when I went to see it, it was like, 'Oh, they made it work.'”

“You hope, when you're working on these things, that people love them whether it makes a lot of money or not.”

“A nice thing about being at Disney is that these movies can develop into a presence in theme parks and become something real, or maybe get a sequel or tell other stories.”

“People were very nice to me. They knew I didn't have the money to do figure-drawing classes, so they let me annex the figure-drawing classes that the animators had.”

“One of the magical things about these anthropomorphic animal movies is that we can take things that are so common in our own world that we deal with, like the DMV, or moving to a new city, or our family, and show you a mirror image of those things, reflected in a whole new way. That's why animals are great.”

“When I was up in Washington state, I always thought, 'I'm going to go to Los Angeles where films are made and stories are told, and they're going to love me and welcome me with open arms.' But, there was no welcoming committee.”

“Oh, I like Roger Moore - he's cheeky.”

“It's tough sometimes for groups of people and animals to let go of that fear that can so easily bubble back up to the surface.”

“As animation directors, you're the first one on the film; you're the last one off, and you get to learn from and touch every department throughout the whole journey. I don't know any other job in the world that's like that. I don't think live-action is like that. It's a very different sort of experience.”

“Once you're done with the film, it's almost like empty nest syndrome: your kid has moved out of the house.”

“Twitter and Tumblr and Facebook, it's so amazing because years ago, when I was growing up and watching movies, there was no way for us to interact with filmmakers at all. You could send a letter, and you'd never know if you were going to hear back or not.”

“We thought a human city is kind of like that watering hole. It's where different groups come together and have to find ways to live and survive and cohabit and cooperate, but they may not always see eye-to-eye.”

“The people around us are at the top of their craft, and we benefit from that.”

“When you work on these films for so long and so intensely, when you get to the end of them, suddenly there's nothing to do.”

“We want these movies to be timeless, and we want people to really engage with the characters and find something that they can really relate to and emotionally connect with.”