Venice to lavish Golden Lion on creators of Toy Story

John Lasseter, the animation director and producer behind hits such as Toy Story and Finding Nemo, will receive a Golden Lion for lifetime achievement at this year's Venice Film Festival.

He'll share the prize with the directors of Disney-Pixar — the first time that Venice has honoured an entire studio with a Golden Lion.

"John Lasseter is the protagonist of Western contemporary animation cinema," festival director Marco Müller, who admits he's a great admirer of animation, said in a statement released Monday.

"Lasseter has not only contributed in a fundamental manner to bringing animation cinema to new heights as one of the great expressive forces of the new millennium, but has also become one of the symbols of the most precious, vital and inventive tradition of the great Hollywood cinema."

Lasseter will receive the award with Disney-Pixar colleagues Brad Bird, Pete Docter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich.

A founder of Pixar studios, Lasseter continued as principal creative adviser of Disney-Pixar studios when Disney took it over in 2006. Prior to the formation of Pixar in 1986, Lasseter was a member of the computer division of Lucasfilm Ltd.

He has won three Academy Awards, for the short Luxo in 1986,  Tin Toy in 1988 and for special achievement for Toy Story in 1995,  the first full-length movie to be digitally animated throughout. He could win another Oscar as executive producer of  Wall-E.

Lasseter is also executive producer of such films as Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, and  Ratatouille.

Paolo Baratta, president of the Venice Biennale, hailed Lasseter as one of "the great innovators and experimenters of Hollywood."

The Venice Film Festival, one of the three biggest European festivals,  is scheduled for Sept. 2-12.