Happily Ever After Hours with Animator James Baxter

Join animator James Baxter as he shares behind-the-scenes stories from animating Disney’s Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), The Little Mermaid (1989), Beauty and the Beast (1991), The Lion King (1994), and The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), and DreamWorks Animation’s Shrek 2 (2004), Madagascar (2005), Kung Fu Panda (2008), How to Train Your Dragon (2010), and How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014).

Registration for this program will open to the public starting Wednesday, December 30 at noon.

Members receive priority access for registration to these programs. A limited number of spots for each program are reserved for members only on a first-come, first-served basis. To get priority access to future programs, join as a member today.

Questions can be submitted during the webinar through Zoom's Q&A function. Due to anticipated demand and limited Q&A time, not all submitted questions will be answered.

All participants must sign up by noon Pacific Time on the day prior to the event. Participants must have a Zoom account to attend the workshop. A link to the workshop and instructions for joining will be sent via email prior to the event.

James Baxter developed his love of animation as a teenager in Bristol, England, inspired by animation legend Richard Williams. When Baxter was 20 years old, he learned of the Disney project Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), whose animation was being directed by Williams at a studio in London. He joined the project as an animator and went on to serve as a character animator on the films The Little Mermaid (1989), The Rescuers Down Under (1990), Beauty and the Beast (1991), The Lion King (1994) and The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) for Walt Disney Animation Studios, supervising the characters of Rafiki (The Lion King) and Quasimodo (The Hunchback of Notre Dame).

Following his career as Disney, Baxter went onto to serve as a supervising animator on DreamWorks Animation’s Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002), Shrek 2 (2004), and Madagascar (2005), before making the jump to animation director on Mark Osborne and John Stevenson’s Kung Fu Panda (2008). Additionally, Baxter has served as an animator on Dreamworks’ How to Train Your Dragon (2010), How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014), Trolls (2016), Walt Disney Pictures’ Mary Poppins Returns (2018), and Netflix Animation’s Klaus (2019).

Since opening over 10 years ago, we have sought to make the museum a place where our guests could find animation, innovation, and inspiration and immerse themselves in the remarkable life story of Walt Disney—the man who raised animation to an art, tirelessly pursued innovation, and created a distinctly American legacy, transforming the entertainment world.

Over the course of our closure, we have increased our digital presence to stay true to our mission. Your donations ensure that we can continue opening our museum virtually to the world, and that future generations can continue to be inspired by Walt Disney’s life and legacy.