Disney Animation’s CCO on AI, creative excellence, and the art of the sequel

When Jared Bush stepped into the role of chief creative officer at Walt Disney Animation Studios in 2024, he was already developing the follow-up to his 2016 Academy Award-winning feature Zootropolis (known as Zootopia in the US).

The buddy‑cop pastiche centres on a cast of anthropomorphic animals, led by Judy Hopps, who dreams of becoming the first rabbit police officer in the city. She forms an unlikely partnership with a sly fox and con artist, Nick Wilde.

Bush co-wrote and co-directed the first film with Byron Howard. He went on to write further Disney hits including Moana, its sequel Moana 2, and the forthcoming live‑action remake. Encanto (2021), which also won the Oscar for best animated feature, was likewise directed by Bush and Howard.

Their latest release, Zootropolis 2, has already proved a record‑breaking success, crossing the $1bn mark at the global box office within weeks of opening.

Bush discusses the experience of delivering the sequel — which is already tipped for Academy Awards recognition — and how he focuses Disney’s animation teams on creative excellence.

Congratulations on the two Golden Globe nominations and the BAFTA nomination. What inspired the original idea for Zootropolis and how did you hone that idea into one that Disney wanted to make?

Thank you - it’s an enormous honour for all of us at who poured our hearts into this film. We call animation a team sport, it’s so incredibly collaborative, so for this film that we all worked so hard on together to be connecting with people like this is wonderfully gratifying. Where did it all start, well for the first film, my directing partner, Byron Howard, actually hired me 15  years ago to be the writer of a film that he wanted to create about a city of animals. As we started to build the story, I think we both saw the enormous potential of this endlessly entertaining world of animals that could be so fun, but also hold up a mirror to human nature, and leave you with a story that made you think.

With Zootropolis 2 – where did you begin to imagine a follow up to such a popular film?

Honestly, from the very beginning of creating the world of Zootropolis, we could see the possibilities for new stories, new lands, and new characters were endless, so it was always our dream to return. Of course, our next film was Encanto, but as we were finishing that up, I may have drawn our Zootropolis logo with a “2” after it, except the “2” was a snake (which is about the only animal I can draw!). But as we researched, we got excited about the differences between reptiles and mammals and what kind of story we could tell about those differences. And knowing that the heart of Zootropolis is always the relationship between Judy and Nick, two animals who are also very different, it was clear we had a theme we wanted to explore, both on a relationship level as well as a societal one. As we dove deeper, and talked about our own experiences with differences, we were struck by how navigating them, seeing them as enormous benefits, sometimes comes down to simply talking to one another. Judy and Nick’s reunion conversation at the top of the weather wall was created for that exact reason, and reaching that moment became the true north for our entire film.

What do you feel a CCO within Disney needs to provide for their team to be successful and what does success mean to you as the CCO?

I believe that at Disney Animation, we are our best creative selves when we feel safe to play and explore without worrying whether we’ve found “the perfect idea.” Some of my favourite scenes, characters and jokes over the years have come from people spitballing “what-ifs,” and “how-about-thats,” sketching ideas that may not be right for the story yet, but are springboards to better and better ideas. So stepping into the CCO role, I felt it was a big part of my job to make sure people felt comfortable failing, saying that imperfect thing, sharing an underbaked concept to start a conversation. To that end, for Zootropolis 2, we spent a lot of time building a creative safety net and expanding it through every department of the film, so that people would take risks, speak up and share their own ideas to mix. Then we expand upon that, bringing different departments who aren’t always in the same room together, to collaborate on a much deeper level with that “what-if” philosophy in mind. Our story department, visual development artists and animators came together for informal brainstorming sessions we called story jams, where we would play around with new concepts we were considering  - for example, we did a session on an environment in the film for semiaquatic mammals called Marsh Market, and we had the team sketch out ideas for that space. When Russ the Walrus turns into the boat Nick and Judy ride? That came from a story jam.

How do you ensure your team focuses on producing creative excellence?

I’m very lucky to be surrounded by brilliant artists, storytellers, technicians, and innovators who are constantly trying to set the bar higher. But when you are working on a film for five years, you can still lose your way. You can be too close to it. You can want to hold onto your good idea, instead of discarding it for a great idea you can’t see yet. That’s why honest feedback is so important, and truly listening to that feedback is absolutely critical. Part of our unique process at Disney Animation as well as Pixar, is that over the five years it takes to make our films, we screen it for ourselves internally about six to eight times and anyone in the studio – anyone, whether they are working on that film or not - is asked to share their feedback on the film. A new system I implemented on Zootropolis 2 was asking our development team to take over sharing that feedback, unfiltered to the entire studio.  This meant that everyone, the producers and directors of the film included, was hearing the same information whether it was good or bad. It created an enormous amount of transparency, freed us from our echo chambers, and allowed everyone to take ownership in solving the problems together, and celebrate the progress we made along the way. Most importantly, it allowed people at the studio to see just how much their opinions matter.

How do you best communicate your vision for a project with your animators so that they are consistent and deliver to your expectations?

There are so many moving parts when making an animated film as complex as Zootropolis 2, and huge credit goes to our insanely talented animators themselves. We had such an incredible team, and our co-heads of animation Kira Lehtomaki and Chad Sellers as well as our supervising animators did such an amazing job. I also think Byron Howard, my directing partner, is one of the best directors of animation in the world. I learned so much from him when I first joined the studio, and perhaps the most important lesson was making sure we communicated the emotional point of view of the scenes, and the characters within them. Our animators are some of the best in the world, so explaining we’d like a character to walk from point A to point B isn’t what helps them. What helps them is talking about why that character is moving, how they are feeling while moving, what we hope the audience will feel about them moving. If a director is clear about those emotional elements, the animators have everything they need, and more often than not, their own interpretations overdeliver.

Do you find it's becoming harder to reach kids through movies? Does that factor into your preparation?

We do think about our audiences, young and old, of course, and we think about how many things are pulling at their time. I have three teenage boys - there is a lot vying for their attention. But I do believe all audiences, especially younger generations, still crave the kind of communal experience that only movies can provide. We just need to give them a reason to go. That’s why we put everything of ourselves that we can into these films. To make it worth it. To excite them. To take them on a rollercoaster of all the emotions. And it’s meant so much to us that people are going to watch this film on the big screen, and going back multiple times. It means the hard work of all of the folks behind the screen created a rollercoaster that’s bringing audiences together, and it’s something we in no way take for granted.

How do you balance utilising and marketing legacy brands with creating completely new characters and experiences for audiences?

Well, of course legacy characters and brands couldn’t exist without having been originals first. Both avenues have enormous benefits as well as challenges. Moana 2 was the first sequel I’d ever been a part of, working as a writer and EP on that film, and now Zootropolis 2 is my first sequel as director and writer. The original Zootropolis and Moana happened to be the first two films I worked on at Disney, so having been on all of those journeys, I can honestly say I love all of it. Returning to worlds and characters who are close to my heart is like going on another vacation with your very best friends. But of course, there is also something incredibly special about creating all-new characters and the worlds they live in. It’s just pure imagination. As CCO, I believe in having a healthy balance between continuing stories with characters we know and love, while always creating original, new, dynamic worlds, and characters, whose stories could continue into the future.

Disney has partnered with OpenAI - how do you see that playing a part in the animation studio, if not already?

When I think about our films, one of the things that makes them so special is that every bit of every frame is crafted by our artists. We have a people-led approach to how we make films, and I think there’s a future where there may be new tools, of course, but we always look at innovations as that, tools for the artist.

Is there another Disney sequel you feel deserves wider recognition and why?

In Disney Animation’s 100 plus year history, we’ve actually only made six sequels:  Rescuers Down Under was the first, followed by Fantasia/2000, Wreck-It Ralph, Frozen, Moana and now Zootropolis. Picking from that list is like picking one of your kids to be recognised – I can’t do it! What I will say is that every one of those sequel films was created because of filmmaker passion and most importantly, audiences connecting with legacy stories that we are deeply proud of.  And with more stories coming in the world of Frozen, I can’t wait for audiences to see what the team is dreaming up.