In 2018, Bryant became the first African-American to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film and the first former professional athlete to be nominated and to win an Academy Award in any category for his film "Dear Basketball". The film also won the Annie Award for Best Animated Short Subject and a Sports Emmy Award. The film was produced by Bryant's production company, Granity Studios. In addition to future animation projects, he had been in talks with animator veteran Bruce Smith for the last six months before his death about starting his own animation studio.