Joseph Henry "Joe" Ranft (March 13, 1960, Pasadena, California, USA – August 16, 2005, Mendocino County, California, USA) was an American screenwriter, animator, storyboard artist, director, voice actor and magician, who worked for Pixar Animation Studios and Disney at Walt Disney Animation Studios and Disney Television Animation. His brother, Jerome Ranft, is a sculptor who also worked on several Pixar films.
He received an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay nomination as one of the writers of Toy Story (1995), and was also the co-director on Cars (2006), his final work.
In 1980, Ranft joined Disney as a writer and storyboard artist. During his first five years with Disney, Joe worked on a number of television projects that were never produced. Later in his Disney career, he was promoted into the Feature Animation department, where he was mentored by Eric Larson. Ranft later spoke about training under the Disney legend: "He always reminds me of just the fundamental things that I tend to forget. You know, it's like, animation is so complex; 'How many drawings are in there?' and stuff, but Eric always comes back to like; 'What does the audience perceive?'"
Around this time, he studied under and began performing with the improvisational group, The Groundlings. Ranft stayed with Disney throughout the 1980s, writing the story on many animated features, including Oliver & Company, The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast. He also worked on The Brave Little Toaster in 1987 for Hyperion Animation and James and the Giant Peach in 1996 for Allied Filmmakers.
Ranft reunited with Lasseter when he was hired by Pixar in 1991 as their head of story. There he worked on all of their films produced up to 2006; this included Toy Story (for which he received an Academy Award nomination) and A Bug's Life, as the co-story writer and others as story supervisor. His final film was Cars. He also voiced characters in many of the films, including Heimlich the caterpillar in A Bug's Life, Wheezy the penguin in Toy Story 2, and Jacques the shrimp in Finding Nemo.
In the movie Monsters, Inc., Ranft had a monster named after him (J.J. Ranft) as most of the scarers in the film were named for Pixar staff. Ranft used a German accent to voice Heimlich the caterpillar in A Bug's Life and a French accent to voice Jacques the shrimp in Finding Nemo. He was also given lead story credit on The Brave Little Toaster (1987) and voiced Elmo St. Peters, the appliance salesman as well as the evil clown who appears in Toaster's nightmare.
On August 16, 2005, Ranft, 45, and his friend Eric Frierson, 39, were passengers in Ranft's 2004 Honda Element, which was being driven by another friend, Elegba Earl, 32. Earl suddenly lost control and crashed through a guard rail while northbound on Highway 1. The SUV tumbled down a cliff and plunged 130 feet (40 m) into the mouth of the Navarro River where it meets the Pacific Ocean in Mendocino County, killing both Ranft and Earl instantly. Frierson survived by escaping through the sun roof, though he received moderate injuries. Ranft died during the production of Cars, which he co-directed and voice acted in. The film and tie-in game are dedicated to his memory, as is Tim Burton's Corpse Bride, on which Ranft was executive producer. His remains were cremated.
Ranft has been recognized by colleagues and in various tributes in animated films released after his death. Henry Selick called him "the story giant of our generation." In honor of Ranft, in Selick's animated film production Coraline, the moving SUV that moves Coraline into her new apartment is emblazoned with a "Ranft Moving, Inc." logo. The movers themselves are modeled after Ranft and his brother Jerome, who voiced one of the movers. Jerome took over most of Ranft's voice roles following his brother's death. The 2010 Blu-Ray and DVD re-release of Toy Story 2 includes a special feature that focuses on Ranft and his accomplishments titled "Celebrating Our Friend Joe Ranft". Ranft did early drawings for the character of Finn McMissile in an unused scene from the film Cars, and his drawings were later used in creating the character for Cars 2. John Lasseter has cited Ranft as being one of the main inspirations for the character of Mater from those films, and described his influence as being "all over Cars 2". In the film Inside Out, the character of Jangles the clown is based on a character created by Ranft outside of Pixar named "Buttocks the Clown",according to co-director Ronnie del Carmen and story artist Domee Shi. The end credits of the Pixar film Coco showcase a digital ofrenda with pictures of many Pixar employees and their loved ones who had previously died, including Ranft. Additionally, the 2020 film Soul includes his name on a wall of previous mentors to the character 22.
| Year | Image | Character | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 
|
Red | Cars |
| 2006 | 
|
Peterbilt | Cars |
| 2003 | 
|
Jacques | Finding Nemo |
| 2001 | 
|
Pete "Claws" Ward | Monsters, Inc. |
| 1999 | 
|
Wheezy | Toy Story 2 |
| 1999 | 
|
Heimlich | Toy Story 2 |
| 1998 | 
|
Heimlich | A Bug's Life |
| 1998 | 
|
Complaining Fly | A Bug's Life |
| 1995 | 
|
Lenny | Toy Story |
| 1993 | 
|
Igor | The Nightmare Before Christmas |