# Adrian Molina

Adrian Molina (born August 23, 1985) is an American animator, storyboard artist and screenwriter who works for Pixar. He co-wrote the screenplay and story of Coco (2017), which he also co-directed.

## Early life and education

Molina was born in Yuba City, California to a Mexican family, and raised in Grass Valley. He graduated from Bear River High School in 2003, to subsequently attend and graduate from the California Institute of the Arts in 2007.

## Career

Molina joined Pixar in 2007. He started as a 2D animator on Ratatouille. He later moved on to be a storyboard artist, working on Toy Story 3 and Monsters University. Molina also illustrated the Little Golden Book for Toy Story 3. After writing for The Good Dinosaur, Molina started his first assignment as a screenwriter, for Coco, and later went on to co-direct the film. He also wrote several lyrics for the film.
Following the success of Coco and the D23 Expo announcement in September 2022, Molina was announced to direct the upcoming feature film Elio, set to release on June 20, 2025. However in August 2024, it was announced that Molina had left he project to work on another original film with Domee Shi and Madeline Sharafian directing Elio instead. Nevertheless, he is reportedly retaining his director credit because of the amount of work he directed that is being kept in the film.

## Personal life

Molina is gay. He has been married to Ryan Dooley since 2011.

## Filmography

| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Executive Producer | Story Artist | Other | Notes |
| 2007 | Ratatouille | No | No | No | No | Yes | Animator: End Titles |
| 2010 | Toy Story 3 | No | No | No | Yes | No | |
| 2013 | Monsters University | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Additional Screenplay Material Opening Title Designer and Director |
| 2015 | The Good Dinosaur | No | No | No | No | Yes | Additional Screenplay Material |
| 2017 | Coco | Co-Director | Yes | No | No | Yes | Additional Voices, Songwriter |
| 2019 | Toy Story 4 | No | No | No | No | Yes | Pixar Senior Creative Team |
| 2020 | Onward | No | No | No | No | Yes | Pixar Senior Creative Team |
| 2020 | Soul | No | No | No | No | Yes | Pixar Senior Creative Team |
| 2021 | Luca | No | No | No | No | Yes | Additional Story Contributor Pixar Senior Creative Team |
| 2022 | Turning Red | No | No | Associate | No | Yes | Pixar Senior Creative Team |
| 2022 | Lightyear | No | No | No | No | Yes | Pixar Senior Creative Team |
| 2023 | Elemental | No | No | No | No | Yes | Pixar Senior Creative Team |
| 2024 | Inside Out 2 | No | No | No | No | Yes | Pixar Senior Creative Team |
| 2025 | Elio | Yes | TBA | No | No | Yes | Pixar Senior Creative Team |

## Accolades

Accolades received by Adrian Molina :
| Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Film | Result |
| Academy Awards | March 4, 2018 | Best Animated Feature | Coco | Nominated |
| Annie Awards | February 3, 2018 | Directing in an Animated Feature Production | Coco | Won |
| Annie Awards | February 3, 2018 | Music in an Animated Feature Production | Coco | Won |
| Annie Awards | February 3, 2018 | Writing in an Animated Feature Production | Coco | Won |
| Humanitas Prize | February 16, 2018 | Feature – Family | Coco | Nominated |
| Imagen Awards | August 25, 2018 | Best Director | Coco | Won |