In a “candid chat” with The Hollywood Reporter—one that conveniently makes no mention of his involvement in a decades-long wage-fixing scheme that robbed animation industry workers of tens (and potentially hundreds of) millions of dollars in wages—Pixar and Disney Animation president Ed Catmull said that he thinks Pixar will have its first solo female director sometime in the next five years.
Pixar almost had its first solo female director with Brave, before the studio removed Brenda Chapman from the project and replaced her with Mark Andrews.
Asked by the Reporter why Pixar had not been able to cultivate a female director within its ranks during its 20-year feature filmmaking history, Catmull didn’t offer much of an answer, but suggested that he thinks the eventual director may come from their story department. Said Catmull: