Following work on "Oliver & Company", Peter Schneider, president of Walt Disney Feature Animation, asked supervising animator Mike Gabriel if he would consider directing. At the time, Gabriel declined the offer, stating "Well, after watching ], it doesn't look like it would be much fun." After a few months, Schneider offered Gabriel to direct "The Rescuers Down Under", in which he accepted. Following his assignment as supervising animator as Tito on "Oliver", which was met with favorable praise from general audiences, Hendel Butoy was added to co-direct "Rescuers Down Under" with Gabriel. Meanwhile, Schneider recruited Thomas Schumacher, who had worked at the Mark Taper Forum, to serve as producer on the project.