Interviewsicle: Academy Award-Winning Filmmaker & Author

Welcome back to Interviewsicle, Newsicle’s interview series! 🎙️🎓 Lily sits down with inspiring guests to explore big ideas, remarkable stories and the questions kids are most curious about.

This episode features Alan Barillaro, an Academy Award-winning filmmaker, former Pixar animator and children’s book author who spent 25 years working on beloved movies including Toy Story films, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, WALL-E and Brave. Alan also created the Oscar-winning animated short film Piper.

Alan is also an accomplished children’s book author whose works include the Bunns Rabbit series, with its newest installment, Bunns Rabbit: Book Two, just released!

Alan tells Lily what it was really like to work at Pixar, how animated characters are brought to life and how he came up with the idea for Piper, the story of a baby bird learning to overcome its fear of the ocean. He also shares fascinating behind-the-scenes stories about making some of Pixar’s most popular movies.

Alan talks about his journey as a children’s book author, where he finds inspiration for his stories and what it’s like to create an entirely new world of characters.

He also shares advice for kids about being creative, overcoming fears, learning from mistakes and following their dreams.