In Pixar’s Monsters, Inc., who composed the film’s original musical score?

Randy Newman composed the original musical score for Pixar’s Monsters, Inc.

Newman’s score combines orchestral adventure music with playful, theatrical passages suited to the film’s unusual world of doors, monsters, and factory machinery. His music helps shift the tone between workplace comedy, chase scenes, and the emotional relationship between Sulley and Boo.

Newman also wrote “If I Didn’t Have You,” the film’s featured song performed by Mike and Sulley. That song won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, giving Newman another major recognition connected with the movie. The score and song together helped establish Monsters, Inc. as both a comedy and a musical character story.

Randy Newman is sometimes confused with Thomas Newman, another prominent film composer and his cousin. Thomas Newman did not compose Monsters, Inc. Randy Newman’s earlier Pixar work included Toy Story, and he later continued composing for the studio’s films.