Masaaki Yuasa
"Food Chain" was written, storyboarded, and directed by noted Japanese animator Masaaki Yuasa, with Yuasa's longtime associate Eunyoung Choi serving as the episode's creative director. The entirety of the episode was animated by Science SARU, Yuasa and Choi's Tokyo-based studio. In an interview with The Mary Sue, Kent Osborne, head of story for "Adventure Time", revealed how the episode came to be. After "Adventure Time" had become a mainstream success, Cartoon Network allowed the show's producers to experiment with guest animators and directors. The first episode to be entirely helmed by someone new was season five's "A Glitch is a Glitch", animated by David OReilly. After the series was renewed for a sixth season, the network agreed to let the producers approach Yuasa. Once asked, Yuasa agreed to work on the episode, and he traveled to Los Angeles, where he pitched his ideas about an episode centered entirely around the concept of the food chain, using "big beautiful watercolor illustrations" to express his ideas.