Pixar's 'Coco' and 'LOU' Honored with a Total of Three Academy Award Nominations

As the sun began to rise, so did the anticipation of who would receive the coveted Academy Award nominations. The Livestream of the 90th Academy Award nominations was held approximately at 5:22 am PST with Pixar Animation Studios being honored in three different categories - Coco: Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song, LOU: Best Animated Short.

We were hoping the Coco team would be honored with nominations for Original Screenplay and Original Score as we believe they would have been very well deserved. In the past, Pixar Animation Studios have received a total of seven Academy Award nominations for Original Screenplay and Original Score - for a complete Academy Award history, see below.


Outside of the recent nominations, we were also thrilled to learn that Pixar will be honored with a Scientific and Technical Achievement Academy Award. Ray Feeney, Academy Award recipient and chair of the Scientific and Technical Awards Committee noted, “This year we are happy to honor a very international group of technologists for their innovative and outstanding accomplishments. These individuals have significantly contributed to the ongoing evolution of motion pictures, and their efforts continue to empower the creativity of our industry.”

The team (listed below) is receiving the Academy Award for their work on Pixar's in-house animation system named, Presto. Presto allows artists to work interactively in scene context with full-resolution geometric models and sophisticated rig controls and has significantly increased the productivity of character animators at Pixar.

The award will go to - Rob Jensen for the foundational design and continued development, to Thomas Hahn for the animation toolset, and to George ElKoura, Adam Woodbury and Dirk Van Gelder for the high-performance execution engine of the Presto Animation System at Pixar Animation Studios.

History of Pixar Wins & Nominations at The Academy Awards 

Feature Films 

Toy Story

• Original Score: Randy Newman - Nominated 
• Original Song: "You've Got a Friend in Me" - Nominated 
• Original Screenplay - Nominated 
• Special Achievement Award: John Lasseter - Won 

A Bug's Life

• Original Score: Randy Newman - Nominated 

Toy Story 2 

• Original Song: "When She Loved Me" - Nominated 

Monsters, Inc.

• Animated Feature Film - Nominated (Shrek, Won) 
• Original Score: Randy Newman - Nominated 
• Original Song: "If I Didn't Have You" - Won 
• Sound Editing - Nominated 

Finding Nemo

• Animated Feature Film: Andrew Stanton - Won 
• Original Score: Thomas Newman - Nominated 
• Sound Editing - Nominated 
• Original Screenplay - Nominated 

The Incredibles

• Animated Feature Film: Brad Bird - Won 
• Sound Editing: Michael Silvers & Randy Thom - Won 
• Sound Mixing - Nominated 
• Original Screenplay - Nominated 

Cars

• Animated Feature Film - Nominated (Happy Feet, Won) 
• Original Song: "Our Town" - Nominated 

Ratatouille

• Animated Feature Film: Brad Bird - Won 
• Original Score: Michael Giacchino - Nominated 
• Sound Editing - Nominated 
• Sound Mixing - Nominated 
• Original Screenplay - Nominated 

Wall-E

• Animated Feature Film: Andrew Stanton - Won 
• Original Score - Nominated 
• Original Song: "Down to Earth" - Nominated 
• Sound Editing - Nominated Best Sound Mixing - Nominated 
• Original Screenplay - Nominated 

Up

• Animated Feature Film: Pete Docter - Won 
• Best Picture - Nominated 
• Original Score: Michael Giacchino - Won 
• Sound Editing - Nominated 
• Original Screenplay - Nominated 

Toy Story 3

• Animated Feature Film: Lee Unkrich - Won 
• Best Picture - Nominated 
• Original Song: "We Belong Together" - Won 
• Sound Editing - Nominated 
• Original Screenplay - Nominated 

Cars 2

• No Academy Award nominations 

Brave

• Animated Feature Film: Mark Andrews & Brenda Chapman - Won 

Monsters University

• No Academy Award nominations 

Inside Out

• Animated Feature Film: Pete Docter & Jonas Rivera - Won 
• Original Screenplay - Nominated 

The Good Dinosaur

• No Academy Award nominations 

Finding Dory

• No Academy Award nominations

Coco