Who directed Pixar’s Cars 3, making a feature-directing debut?

Brian Fee directed Pixar’s Cars 3 as his feature-directing debut.

Fee joined Pixar as a storyboard artist and contributed to several major productions before becoming the director of Cars 3. His earlier storyboard work included films such as Cars, Ratatouille, WALL-E, and Cars 2. That experience helped him understand the visual language and continuity of the Cars world.

Cars 3 centers on Lightning McQueen’s response to a younger generation of racers led by Jackson Storm. The film’s approach is more focused on athletic decline, technical change, mentorship, and career transition than the international espionage plot of Cars 2.

John Lasseter directed the first Cars and Cars 2, so viewers sometimes credit him with all three films. Brian Fee’s appointment marked a change in the series’ directing team while retaining familiar characters, settings, and design traditions from the earlier movies.