Clay Kaytis made his directing debut for Rovio Animation and Sony Pictures with The Angry Birds Movie in 2016. The film was based on the number-one app of all time and grossed $352 million worldwide, making it Sony's number one film of that year.
Kaytis followed this up with The Christmas Chronicles in 2018, which was his first live-action film. The Kurt Russell-starring movie was viewed over 20 million times in its first week of release on Netflix.
Next, Kaytis worked on two animated Peanuts specials for AppleTV+: Snoopy Presents: For Auld Lang Syne in 2021, which he co-wrote, and the Emmy-nominated Snoopy Presents: To Mom (and Dad),with Love in 2022.
His latest film, A Christmas Story Christmas in 2022, is also his first feature screenwriting credit. The movie reunites the entire child cast of A Christmas Story in 1983, 39 years after the original film's release.
Kaytis developed his talent as a filmmaker at Walt Disney Animation Studios, starting as an intern in the Talent Development Program in 1994. He animated on hand-drawn films including Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hercules, Mulan, Tarzan, Fantasia 2000, The Emperor's New Groove, and Treasure Planet.
In 2004, Kaytis transitioned to CG animation to animate on Chicken Little and Meet the Robinsons. He was quickly promoted to Supervising Animator on Rhino, the hamster, for Bolt, and was awarded a U.S. Patent and Disney Inventor Award for his invention of a "distance based mesh deformer."
Kaytis was also the Head of Animation on the film Tangled, which set a new standard for CG animation. He designed and directed the end credit titles for Wreck-it Ralph and worked on the academy award-winning and record-breaking feature, Frozen.
During his career at Disney, Kaytis was fortunate to work with legendary animators and filmmakers including John Lasseter, Glen Keane, Eric Goldberg, and Ken Duncan. He also directed commercials for the film Hop and the Universal Studios Hollywood theme park ride The Secret Life of Pets: Off the Leash.
Kaytis was one of the first podcasters, creating The Animation Podcast in 2005, a series of interviews with animation legends that is enjoyed by students, professionals, and fans of animation worldwide. He has been nominated for an Annie Award and two Visual Effects Society Awards.
Together with his wife Monica Lago-Kaytis, Kaytis runs their production company Frogbot Films, developing and producing live-action and animated films and TV series.
