Jonas Rivera


Jonas H. Rivera is an American film producer. He produced the animated films Up, Inside Out and Toy Story 4, all of which won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. Rivera is an alumnus of San Francisco State University and has worked with Pixar Animation Studios since 1994.

Early life

Rivera was born and raised in Castro Valley, California. As a boy, he wanted to become an animator, but according to him, he could not draw: "I was a terrible artist, and I still am." Rivera graduated from San Francisco State University with a degree in Film Production.

Career

In 1994, in the last year of making Toy Story, he joined Pixar as their first production intern: "I saw Luxo Jr. in a class and liked it so much I cold-called Pixar." Since then he worked on almost every Pixar film, at first as a coordinator and manager. In 2009, as the producer of Up, he received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Picture. Rivera also produced Inside Out and Toy Story 4, both of which won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
During the making of the first Toy Story, he was collecting things used in the production of the movie, a collection which would eventually be known as the Pixar Archives, now counting thousands of objects and stored in a climate-controlled building. He was inspired by Disney, which also saved objects from the studio productions.

Personal life

Rivera is married to Michele. They have three children: daughters Ava and Elsa and son William. He is of Mexican descent.

Filmography