Clay Kaytis

Clay Kaytis (born March 22, 1973) is an American animator and film director, best known for directing the animated film The Angry Birds Movie, the Christmas comedy film The Christmas Chronicles (2018), and the A Christmas Story sequel A Christmas Story Christmas (2022).

Career Kaytis started his career as an animator at the Walt Disney Animation Studios. His main credits at Disney included Tangled, Wreck-It Ralph, and Frozen. After working for nineteen years, he left the studio in 2013.

Kaytis made his directing debut with The Angry Birds Movie, which he co-directed with Fergal Reilly for Sony Pictures Entertainment. The film was based on the Rovio Entertainment's video game Angry Birds. Jon Vitti wrote the screenplay for the film, which was released on May 20, 2016. Kaytis then made his live-action directing debut with The Christmas Chronicles for Netflix, which was released on November 22, 2018.

In late September 2016, it was announced that Kaytis will direct The Lunch Witch for Amblin Partners.

In 2022, Kaytis directed a sequel to the 1983 film A Christmas Story entitled A Christmas Story Christmas for Warner Bros. Pictures, Legendary Pictures, and HBO Max.

Personal life Kaytis is married to producer Monica Lago-Kaytis.

Filmography Year Title Credits Characters 1995 Pocahontas Inbetween Artist: Additional Clean-Up Animation 1996 The Hunchback of Notre Dame Breakdown Animator Clopin 1997 Hercules Rough Inbetweener 1998 Mulan Rough Inbetweener 1999 Tarzan Additional Rough Inbetweener 2000 Fantasia 2000 Animating Assistant The Emperor's New Groove Animator Pacha 2002 Treasure Planet Animator Scroop 2004 Home on the Range Animator Farm Animals 2005 Chicken Little Animator Buck "Ace" Cluck 2007 Meet the Robinsons Animator 2008 Bolt Supervising Animator 2009 Super Rhino (Video short) Animator 2010 Made in Hollywood: Teen Edition (TV Series) Voice Tangled Animation Supervisor 2012 Tangled Ever After (Short) Animation Supervisor Paperman (Short) Final Line Animator Wreck-It Ralph Animator / End Credit Animation Designer 2013 Get a Horse! (Short) Additional Thanks Frozen Animator 2016 The Angry Birds Movie Director with Fergal Reilly/ Voice Clayton the Waiter Bird 2018 The Christmas Chronicles Director 2020 The Christmas Chronicles 2 Executive producer 2021 Snoopy Presents: For Auld Lang Syne (TV Special) Director / Writer with Alex Galatis and Scott Montgomery 2022 Snoopy Presents: It's the Small Things, Charlie Brown (TV Special) Creative Consultant Snoopy Presents: To Mom (and Dad), With Love (TV Special) Director Snoopy Presents: Lucy's School (TV Special) Creative Consultant A Christmas Story Christmas Director / Screenplay with Nick Schenk