Krissy Cababa
“Toy Story 5” is Krissy Cababa’s latest film in her 20 years with Pixar.
By J.K. YAMAMOTO
Rafu Shimpo
Disney-Pixar’s “Toy Story 5,” released on June 19, had the franchise’s best-ever opening weekend with ticket sales of over $160 million in North America and over $150 million internationally.
The computer-animated feature is also the latest achievement for associate producer Krissy Cababa, who has been with Pixar for 20 years.The first film she worked on was “Ratatouille” (2007).
Cababa, daughter of Ed and Kerry Cababa, grew up in Torrance and attended North High School. After graduation, she moved to Northern California to attend UC Berkeley, and has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area ever since.
“I’ve always been a movie fan,” she recalled. “Some of my fondest memories are going to the movies as a kid with my family. I remember loving animated films like ‘Peter Pan’ and ‘101 Dalmatians,’ and ‘Lilo and Stitch’ is still one of my favorite films of all time, along with ‘Spirited Away.’ I stood in line for over an hour at the Del Amo Mall to see ‘Star Wars’ when it first came out, so that’s a very vivid memory too.
“At home, I watched a lot of PBS as a kid — ‘Sesame Street’ and ‘Zoom.’ ‘Zoom’ was a big deal for me and my sister, since there was an Asian girl on the show and we saw so few Asian Americans on television then. I still remember her name was Bernadette (Yao).”
Cababa has spent the bulk of her career at Pixar, which is based in Emeryville, a city located between Berkeley and Oakland. “I was very lucky — I started out as a temp, filling in for people who were on extended vacations or leaves. Eventually they offered me a permanent position, and my first role on a feature film was on ‘Toy Story 3’ (2010) as the editorial coordinator.”
In “Toy Story 5,” Sheriff Woody (Tom Hanks), Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) and their friends are confronted by Bonnie’s new favorite plaything, a tablet named Lilypad (Greta Lee). Andrew Stanton directed and co-wrote the screenplay with Kenna Harris. The producers are Lindsey Collins and Jessica Choi.
“Although I really enjoy my role as associate producer, it’s not one that sounds very glamorous or interesting,” Cababa said. “The role does change with every project, depending on what is needed, but some of the responsibilities include ensuring that the project has adequate staffing, watching over the overall budget, milestones, and timelines for the film, and working to resolve the varied and frequent challenges and speed bumps that arise during production.
“In all of this, what I find most satisfying is partnering with the film producer, the director(s), the VFX supervisor, and others to make the production process as smooth as possible. Pixar is great at collaborative problem-solving, and we certainly use that skill a lot.”
In animated films, the voice actors usually record their lines separately and don’t see each other until the press junket and premieres.
“On ‘Toy Story 5,’ I was extremely fortunate to attend a recording session with Joan Cusack (the voice of Jessie the cowgirl), who was incredibly gracious,” Cababa said. “It is truly amazing to watch voice actors at work. She brought so much authenticity and depth of feeling to Jessie, and that was a real highlight for me. I’ve met some of the other cast members as well.”
The film had its world premiere on June 19 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, with Hanks, Allen and Cusack among those appearing on the red carpet. Cababa and her mom attended.
An added thrill was an appearance by Taylor Swift, who performed “I Knew It, I Knew You,” the song she composed for the movie. She and Randy Newman also sang “You’ve Got a Friend in Me,” which Newman composed for the first “Toy Story” (1995).
Pixar Productions
Cababa has held a variety of job titles with a variety of responsibilities — effects manager on “Brave” (2012) and “The Good Dinosaur” (2015); rendering and optimization manager on “Monsters University” (2013); additional sets manager and additional effects manager on “Finding Dory” (2016); editorial manager on “Coco” (2017); production manager on “Luca” (2021); associate producer on “Elemental” (2023).
“The production of each Pixar film is so different! The technology needs change each time, as well as what research various departments do to make sure the film details are as authentic and true-to-life as possible.
“For example, during pre-production for ‘Finding Dory,’ a bunch of the crew members made a trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium to see otters and octopuses up close, and to ask questions of the trainers and staff members there.
“My work on ‘Coco’ as the editorial manager required additional planning due to the heavy use of music in the film, and ‘Elemental’ was extremely challenging — there was a lot of artistic exploration and technical R&D needed to create characters entirely composed of water and fire.”
Cababa explained, “At Pixar, our pipeline is broken up into various specialties. Some departments have analogs in the live-action world (Editorial and Post, for example), and some are specific to animation (Layout, Simulation, and of course Animation and Crowds). Part of my job is to make sure that each department has what they need to complete their part of the film, and that communication flows freely between them.”
AAPI Representation
Cababa grew up with close ties to different cultures. “My father is first-generation Filipino and my mother is Sansei. I don’t think that my upbringing particularly influenced my choices, other than it’s always been a priority for me to promote voices of women and underrepresented groups. I firmly believe that representation does matter!”
Her mom and aunt, Colleen Miyano, are involved in several Japanese American community organizations. Uncle Darrell Kunitomi is a member of the Grateful Crane Ensemble. Grandfather Jack Kunitomi, who served in the Military Intelligence Service during World War II, represented Nisei veterans at many events. His sister Sue Kunitomi Embrey co-founded and chaired the Manzanar Committee.
Cababa is pleased that Pixar has produced several projects that feature AAPI characters or themes in the past few years. “We’re lucky to have three AAPI directors at Pixar: Daniel Chong, the director of ‘Hoppers’ (2026), featuring a Japanese main character; Peter Sohn, the director of ‘Elemental,’ which is based on his own personal life experience; and Domee Shi, the director of ‘Turning Red’ (2022).
“In addition to working on ‘Elemental,’ I’m very proud to have produced two SparkShorts, both of which have themes of acceptance. ‘Float’ (2019) was directed by Bobby Rubio and features two Filipino lead characters, and ‘Loop’ (2020) was directed by Erica Milsom. I heard from so many people how much these short films meant to them and their families, and I love that Pixar is able to include these types of stories in our catalog. All of these films are available on Disney+.”
In “Float,” which was inspired by the director’s autistic son, a father discovers that his infant son can float in mid-air. Although the son floats freely at home, when they go out in public the father loads the boy’s backpack with rocks to weigh him down and avoid attention. An incident at the park causes the father to realize that he was wrong.
In “Loop,” a non-verbal autistic girl and a chatty boy have to paddle a canoe together and gradually learn to understand each other.
What’s next? “I’m always busy helping out here and there around the studio, depending on where my skills are needed. Unfortunately I can’t say what specifically I’m working on next, although I’m sure it will be both challenging and rewarding, as all Pixar projects generally are.”