After the sensational success of their collaboration on A Bug’s Life, which has just become one of the top-grossing animated releases of all times, Walt Disney Studios and Pixar Animation Studios today announced that they have determined a start date for their next joint production.

Tentatively titled Monsters, Inc. the film will go into production in May and is targeted for release in 2001.

“Monsters, Inc.” is a comedy set in the realm of things that go bump in the night, where chaos breaks loose after a hapless monster accidentally lets a human child into the secret world. This latest original title from Pixar follows “Toy Story,” “A Bug’s Life” and the upcoming release of “Toy Story 2.”

“Monsters, Inc.” is being directed by Pete Docter, who received an Oscar® nomination for his role in creating the original story for “Toy Story,” and David Silverman, the Emmy Award-winning supervising director of “The Simpsons.” Darla K. Anderson, who produced last year’s animated blockbuster, “A Bug’s
Life,” is set to produce. John Lasseter, Pixar’s two-time Oscar-winning director, and Andrew Stanton, co-director of “A Bug’s Life,” will executive produce.