Claim: Bonnie Hunt was in a movie.

A Bug 's Life is a 1998 American computer-animated comedy adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures . Directed by John Lasseter and co-directed by Andrew Stanton , the film involves a misfit ant named Flik that is looking for `` tough warriors '' to save his colony from greedy grasshoppers , only to recruit a group of bugs that turn out to be an inept circus troupe . Randy Newman composed the music for the film , which stars the voices of Dave Foley , Kevin Spacey , Julia Louis-Dreyfus , Hayden Panettiere , Phyllis Diller , Richard Kind , David Hyde Pierce , Joe Ranft , Denis Leary , John Ratzenberger , Jonathan Harris , Madeline Kahn , Bonnie Hunt , Mike McShane , and Brad Garrett .   The film is inspired by Aesop 's fable The Ant and the Grasshopper . Production began shortly after the release of Toy Story in 1995 . The screenplay was penned by Stanton and comedy writers Donald McEnery and Bob Shaw . The ants in the film were redesigned to be more appealing , and Pixar 's animation unit employed new technical innovations in computer animation . During production , the filmmakers became embroiled in a public feud with DreamWorks Animation due to their similar film Antz , which was released the same year .   The film was released to theaters on November 25 , 1998 , and was a box office success , surpassing competition , and grossing $ 363 million in receipts . It received positive reviews from film critics , who commended the storyline , witty dialogue and animation , while others criticized it by comparing it to Antz . The film has been released multiple times on home video . It was Roddy McDowall 's final role before his death .