Travis Knight

“So I’m going through a little bit of a depression. It’s this thing that occupies so much of your time and your thoughts and your emotions — and when you’re done with it, it’s like, ‘What do I do with all this?’ ”

Travis Knight · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-22

Knight describes the emotional toll of finishing Wildwood after it occupied so much of his time and thoughts.

“He’s a child of the Depression. Men of that generation are generally not the most open of humans — one might say ’emotionally constipated’ — so being able to approach that relationship from a different angle was a gift,”

Travis Knight · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-22

Knight reflects on his father's generation and how leading Laika brought them closer together.

“But the fact that we made it the way we made it makes the movie what it is. You are literally seeing somebody coaxing life out of something with their hands.”

Travis Knight · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-22

Knight explains why stop-motion was the right medium for Wildwood, emphasizing the handmade artistry.

“I was absolutely terrified essentially all the time,”

Travis Knight · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-22

Knight recalls his fear when he took over leading Laika without prior experience running a company or making movies.

“This community deserved to exist. It didn’t sit well with me, so I wanted to do whatever I could to try to make a place where these people could still have a home. Had [my father] not gone along with this fucking harebrain scheme … God knows where my life would’ve taken me.”

Travis Knight · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-22

Knight describes his motivation to salvage what remained of Vinton Studios to create a sustainable home for stop-motion animators.

“We do more with less, and we always have,”

Travis Knight · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-22

Knight discusses Laika's approach of producing expensive-looking films on lean budgets compared to competitors.

“I find myself essentially performing all the time,”

Travis Knight · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-22

Knight speaks about his discomfort with the promotional role required of him as Laika's figurehead.

“We are an independent company, so it’s a lot to bear — and look, it’s a grand experiment. We might fall flat on our face,”

Travis Knight · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-22

Knight acknowledges the financial risk of Laika independently handling Wildwood's distribution and marketing.

“The reality is, the company went under, and but for the fact that my father decided to try to save this community, that would’ve been it. It would’ve been gone. That is the simple fact.”

Travis Knight · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-22

Knight argues that his father stepped in to save the Oregon animation community when Will Vinton Studios collapsed.

“It collapsed — it went bankrupt,”

Travis Knight · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-22

Knight recalls the collapse and bankruptcy of Will Vinton Studios, where he began his animation career.

“We didn’t have the terms that we have now for that — I mean, I was just a fucking weird kid,”

Travis Knight · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-22

Knight describes his childhood self as a weird kid, noting that the vocabulary for neurodivergence didn't exist in the 1980s.

“It’s not something I’m necessarily comfortable sharing publicly. I know exactly what his motivations were when all that happened, which is why I find some of the commentary around the whole situation so upsetting — because it’s not even remotely a reflection of what happened,”

Travis Knight · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-22

Knight responds to allegations from Will Vinton and others about the takeover of Vinton's company.

“We put more onscreen than you would think for the amount of dollars that we invest in these movies.”

Travis Knight · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-22

Knight describes how Laika maximizes the visual value of every dollar invested in their films.

“I have tremendous empathy for Will.”

Travis Knight · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-22

Knight states he has tremendous empathy for Will Vinton despite the dispute over the company.

“Those early days of [Nike], it was not easygoing, and I didn’t know,”

Travis Knight · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-22

Knight reflects on the early struggles of Nike, the company his father Phil Knight founded.

“I became more aware of that as we progressed, and then it was undeniable because at some point, they shut the electricity off, they shut the water off, the company couldn’t make payroll. … Vinton Studios was an Oregon company that deserved to be in existence, and the world didn’t agree, unfortunately.”

Travis Knight · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-22

Knight describes the deteriorating conditions at Will Vinton Studios as the company failed financially.

“I don’t want to get engaged in anything that’s resembling character assassination,”

Travis Knight · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-22

Knight expresses reluctance to engage in character assassination when discussing Will Vinton's claims.

“You could tell this story as a live-action movie with some visual effects, you could do it hand-drawn, you could do it as an entirely CG movie beginning to end,”

Travis Knight · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-22

Knight discusses the various formats in which Wildwood's story could have been told.

“But to my benefit, I was able to talk to my father about all this stuff. He’d been through every possible scenario one could imagine in his years of running Nike. I had access to such an extraordinary mind.”

Travis Knight · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-22

Knight describes how his father's experience running Nike helped him navigate the early years of leading Laika.

“I was essentially in utero,”

Travis Knight · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-22

Knight quips about his mother reading The Lord of the Rings to him before he was born.

“It’s been a part of my life for more than half my career,”

Travis Knight · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-22

Knight reflects on spending 16 years working on Wildwood, which he calls his life's work.

“I did not know all the struggles they were going through.”

Travis Knight · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-22

Knight reflects on being unaware of the difficulties his parents faced during Nike's early days.