Jared Bush (born June 12, 1974) is an American filmmaker serving as the chief creative officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios since 2024. He is best known for co-writing and co-directing the company's animated films Zootopia (2016), its sequel Zootopia 2 (2025), and Encanto (2021), the latter of which won an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. He also wrote the screenplays for Moana (2016), its sequel Moana 2 (2024), and its upcoming 2026 live-action remake. He also co-created and executive produced the Disney XD animated series ' (2014âÂÂ17).
Bush was born and raised in Gaithersburg, Maryland. He attended Harvard University, where he was president of Harvard-Radcliffe Television. He graduated from Harvard with a degree in English and American literature.
Bush was originally hired by Walt Disney Animation Studios on a "provisional eight-week contract". He joined the Zootopia project early on, before it evolved from a spy film into a police procedural; he was excited to work on a spy film because both his father and grandfather had worked for the Central Intelligence Agency. Several months after joining Disney, he had to personally pitch Zootopia to Disney chief executive officer Bob Iger. He later went to co-write the screenplay and co-direct the film. He returned to write the screenplay for Zootopia 2, the sequel to Zootopia, which he also directed alongside one of the first film's directors Byron Howard. Bush and Howard alongside producer Yvett Merino received an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature for Zootopia 2, but lost to Sony Pictures Animation's KPop Demon Hunters. He also wrote the screenplays for Disney animated films Moana and its sequel Moana 2.
Bush co-created the animated television series '. In November 2018, Bush originally developed the Star Wars series Andor, writing a pilot script and series bible for the project. In 2021, Bush directed another Disney animated film Encanto about a Colombian magical family alongside Howard with Charise Castro Smith as co-director. Bush also co-wrote the screenplay alongside Castro Smith. Bush, Howard and Merino alongside another producer Clark Spencer won the Academy Award for Encanto.
On September 19, 2024, Disney Animation announced that chief creative officer Jennifer Lee was stepping down from that position to direct and write Frozen 3 and to write and executive produce Frozen 4. Bush was named as her successor.
Bush is married to Pamela McDonald. The two met while students at Harvard. They have three sons.