On this day in 1960, animator, screenwriter, voice actor, and Disney Legend Joe Ranft was born. Ranft started at Disney as a writer in 1980. He worked on the stories for films like ‘The Lion King,’ ‘The Little Mermaid, and ‘Beauty and the Beast.’ He joined Pixar as head of story in 1992. There, Ranft had a hand in all of the Pixar projects from ‘Toy Story’ until ‘Cars’ in 2006, even voicing Heimlich and Wheezy. Sadly, he passed away in a car crash in 2005. [65 years ago in 2025]
