Robert Peterson (born January 18, 1961) is an American cartoonist, animator, director, screenwriter, storyboard supervisor, and voice actor at Pixar. He was hired at Pixar by Roger Gould in 1994 as an animator for commercials, before subsequently becoming an animator on Toy Story (1995). He was the co-director, co-star, co-head, and co-writer for Up (2009). He conceived the idea of The Good Dinosaur (2015), and was the film's original director before being dismissed from it. His work as a writer for the films Up and Finding Nemo (2003) earned him nominations for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. He was also a co-writer on Cars 3 (2017) and won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Short Form Animated Program for his work on Forky Asks A Question (2020).
Career Peterson's early career as an artist started when he was a mechanical engineering student at Ohio Northern University (1979-1983) and then as a graduate student at Purdue University (1983-1986). At Ohio Northern, Peterson drew a weekly cartoon "For Pete's Sake". At Purdue, Peterson drew the cartoon "Loco Motives" for the Purdue student newspaper, the Purdue Exponent. Prior to his graduation from Purdue in December 1986, the Exponent published "Loco Motives: Boilercoaster 84-86, The Best of the Purdue Exponent's Loco Motives Cartoon", a paper-back collection of Peterson's cartoons. In October 1986 Peterson autographed copies at a book-signing event in the Purdue Memorial Union. At least one copy of the book is known to have original, signed artwork inside the book cover which was drawn by Peterson during the book-signing.
Peterson has also voiced characters for various Pixar projects such as Geri in the short Geri's Game (1997), Roz in Monsters, Inc. (2001) and Monsters University (2013), Mr. Ray in Finding Nemo (2003) and Finding Dory (2016), and Dug and Alpha in Up (2009). His most recent vocal work is playing the Universal Users Manual in the film Elio (2025). Peterson also voiced Chick Hicks in Cars 3 since Chick's original voice actor Michael Keaton was unavailable to reprise the role.
Peterson conceived Pixar's The Good Dinosaur (2015) and served as the film's director until exiting the project in August 2013. He created, wrote, and directed two short-form series: Forky Asks a Question (2019–20) and Dug Days (2021–23).
In August 2015, Peterson voiced a dog named Derby for an E:60 profile on ESPN that chronicled the Trenton Thunder's minor league baseball team's tradition of using bat dogs.
Filmography Feature films Year TitleDirectorWriterVoice ActorPixar SeniorCreative TeamOtherVoice RoleNotes1995Toy StoryAdditional Animation and Layout1998A Bug's LifeStory Artist1999Toy Story 2 2001Monsters, Inc.RozStory Supervisor, Additional Story Material2003Finding NemoMr. Ray / Pelican / Dolphin2004The IncrediblesOliver Sansweet's Lawyer2006CarsWide Chick Pitty2007RatatouilleAdditional Story Material2008WALL-E 2009UpDug / Alpha2010Toy Story 3Janitor2011Cars 22012Brave2013Monsters UniversityRoz2015Inside OutAdditional DialogueThe Good DinosaurOriginal Concept and Development, Additional Production Leadership2016 Finding DoryMr. Ray / Additional VoicesAdditional Screenplay Material2017Cars 3Chick Hicks / Dr. DamageReplacing Michael KeatonCocoStory Consultant2018Incredibles 22019Toy Story 4Additional Voices2020OnwardSpecial ThanksSoul Additional Story Contributions2021Luca2022Turning RedLightyear2023Elemental2024Inside Out 22025ElioUniversal Users Manual 2026Hoppers Special Thanks
Short films Year TitleDirectorWriterStory ArtistOtherVoice Role 1997 Geri's Game Geri 2003 Exploring the Reef 2008 Cars Toons: Mater's Tall Tales Additional Voices 2009 Dug's Special Mission Alpha and Dug George and A.J. Dug 2016 Marine Life Interviews 2017 Miss Fritter's Racing Skoool Dr. Damage 2019–20 Forky Asks a Question Voice Over Announcer 2021–23 Dug Days Dug (all episodes) and Alpha (Carl's Date)
Television Year Title Voice Role Notes 2021–24 Monsters at Work Roz, Roze, Bob "Dentures" Peterson Creative Consultant (season 1) Special Thanks (season 2)2025Monsters Funday FootballRozalternate telecast of Monday Night Football 2027 Cars: Lightning Racers Chick Hicks
Video games Year Title Voice Role 2001 Monsters, Inc. Scream Team Training Roz Monsters, Inc. Scream Team 2002 Monsters, Inc. 2003 Finding Nemo Mr. Ray/Krill 2009 Up Dug/Alpha/Newsreel Announcer 2012 Kinect Rush: A Disney-Pixar Adventure Dug
Other credits Year Title Role 2000 For the Birds Thanks 2008 Presto Special Thanks 2009 Tracy Terry Cane George and A.J. Special Thanks 2011 Toy Story Toons: Small Fry 2017 Lou 2019 Purl Kristen Lester's Story Trust 2020 Lamp Life Special Thanks Burrow
References
External links