Among the layoffs that took place at the Walt Disney Company were job cuts at Pixar that included the director and producer of Lightyear, Deadline has confirmed.
Director Angus MacLane, a 26-year animator who was part of the Senior Creative Team in animated films like Coco, Incredibles 2 and Toy Story 4, was cut from the studio in late May, which was part of the 7,000 layoffs Disney had planned. Galyn Susman, who had been at the studio since the original Toy Story was released in 1995, was also part of the cuts.
There was a total of 75 jobs that were made redundant on May 23, Reuters first reported. It’s worth noting that cuts at the animated studio are rare and the last time it happened was in 2013 when The Good Dinosaur was delayed. At the time, 5% of Pixar’s 1,200 workforce was cut, including director Bob Peterson.
MacLane and Susman’s exits were part of the creative team of Lightyear, the Toy Story spinoff film based on the astronaut that inspired the Buzz Lightyear toy. The film recruited Chris Evans to voice the titular character.
Lightyear underwhelmed at the box office making $226.7 million worldwide on a reported $200 million budget. The animated movie was plagued by multiple controversies, including not including Tim Allen (who voices Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story) and the depiction of a same-sex couple that made countries in the Middle East and Asia turn away from exhibiting the film.
After completing its round of layoffs in the U.S., Disney is now looking internationally to make more cuts.