Finding Nemo a new animation studio, Circle 7 Animation, to make sequels to the seven Disney-owned Pixar films (which consisted of the films released between 1995 and 2006). The studio had put "Toy Story 3" and "Monsters University" into development, and had hired screenwriter Laurie Craig to write a draft for "Finding Dory". Circle 7 was subsequently shut down after Robert Iger replaced Eisner as CEO of Disney and arranged the acquisition of Pixar. In July 2012, it was reported that Andrew Stanton was developing a sequel to "Finding Nemo", to be titled "Finding Dory", with Victoria Strouse writing the script, and
Finding Nemo – The Musical new songs written by Tony Award-winning "Avenue Q" composer Robert Lopez and his wife, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, would "combine puppets, dancers, acrobats and animated backdrops" and open in late 2006. Years later, Anderson-Lopez explained that she had written a compact 15-minute "a cappella" version of the story of Oedipus; someone at Disney read it and recognized her talent for condensing material, and offered her the opportunity to make a pitch for the "Finding Nemo" project. Tony Award-winning director Peter Brosius signed on to direct the show, with Michael Curry, who designed puppets for Disney's successful stage version of "The Lion King",