Bob Petersen, like so many of Pixar's talents, comes across like everyone's favorite uncle.
The 48-year-old codirector of "Up" came up through the ranks, working as a writer on "Finding Nemo" and "Ratatouille," story artist on "Toy Story 2" and "A Bug's Life," and doing various voice work as well. (He voices both Dug the dog and his nemesis, Alpha, in "Up".)
In an interview with The Japan Times, Petersen revealed the lengths Pixar goes to in researching a film, which in this case included camping out on Tabletop Mountain in Venezuela to research locations, having an actual ostrich run amok in the Pixar studios to study large bird behavior, and crunching the numbers to find out just how many helium balloons it takes to fly a suburban home.