Don Hahn

Don Hahn is an American film producer, director, author, and former Disney animation executive whose career is closely tied to the studio’s late-twentieth-century revival. Born in Chicago on November 26, 1955, he grew up in Burbank, California, near Walt Disney Studios. He studied music at the University of California, Los Angeles, then joined Disney in 1976. His early studio work included assistant-director duties on Pete’s Dragon and production work on The Fox and the Hound. Hahn became associate producer on The Black Cauldron (1985), an unusually ambitious and difficult Disney feature whose production saw major creative changes. He was producer of Beauty and the Beast (1991), directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise. The film became the first animated feature nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, and it won Oscars for its score and title song. Hahn next produced The Lion King (1994), the highest-grossing traditionally animated feature during its initial release. Its story follows Simba, a lion cub driven from Pride Rock after Scar engineers Mufasa’s death; Simba returns to confront Scar and reclaim the throne. Hahn remained a significant producer during Disney’s 1990s output, producing The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), adapted from Victor Hugo’s novel, and Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001), a science-fiction adventure designed around explorer Milo Thatch and the submerged civilization of Atlantis. He also produced the 2012 stop-motion feature Frankenweenie, Tim Burton’s feature-length expansion of Burton’s 1984 short. The black-and-white film centers on Victor Frankenstein, a boy who reanimates his dead dog, Sparky. As a director, Hahn turned his experience within Disney into documentaries. Waking Sleeping Beauty (2009), which Hahn directed, examines Walt Disney Feature Animation’s turbulent 1984–1994 resurgence, including the leadership of Michael Eisner, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and Roy E. Disney. Rather than presenting only finished films, it uses interviews and behind-the-scenes material to address conflicts surrounding projects such as The Black Cauldron and The Lion King. Hahn also produced The Hand Behind the Mouse: The Ub Iwerks Story (1999), which chronicles the career of Disney animator and technical innovator Ub Iwerks, Walt’s early collaborator and the principal animator of early Mickey Mouse films. Outside film production, Hahn has written books about Disney animation, including Animation Magic (1996) and Before the Animation Begins (2016). His work connects studio history with firsthand production experience, from hand-drawn features to documentaries examining the artists, executives, and disputes behind Disney’s modern animated canon and legacy.