Pioneer animation Ed Catmull, co-founder of Pixar, to retire

Pixar co-founder Ed Catmull, who helped transform the movie business over three decades, will retire at the end of the year.

Catmull, 73, known as the technical brains behind Pixar, will stay in an advisory role until July. His role as president of Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios in Emeryville, will not be replaced, parent company Disney said. The two studios each have individual presidents.

"Ed Catmull's impact on the entertainment industry is immeasurable," said Disney CEO Bob Iger in a statement. "A pioneer of the intersection of creativity and technology, Ed expanded the possibilities for storytellers along with the expectations of audiences."

Catmull's fellow co-founder John Lasseter is also leaving Pixar at the end of the year, citing "missteps." Employees reprinted last year's episodes of sexual harassment to the Hollywood Reporter.

Pixar, the studio behind hits like "Finding Nemo" and "Monsters, Inc.," has 1,200 employees in its Emeryville headquarters, where it is the largest employer.

"It's so easy to go to a conservative place. "Catmull told The Chronicle in 2011." We're always going to have something that is a little chaotic and messy. … As a company we're just trying to allow unpredictable things to happen. "

Catmull was hired in 1979 by Star Wars creator George Lucas. He helped start a Lucasfilm division that became Pixar in 1986, when Apple's co-founder Steve Jobs bought the company. It had the 1995 breakout hit "Toy Story," was about astronaut toy and cowboy vying for the teen owner's affections. Walt Disney bought Pixar in 2006.

Catmull grew up in Salt Lake City with a steady diet of Disney movies. He studied computer graphics at the University of Utah and the New York Institute of Technology, where he founded the computer graphics laboratory. He has won four Academy Awards.