2 buddies, 1 vision, big success

JOHN \o7LASSETER\f7 and Randy Newman both grew up in Southern California, but they couldn't possibly come from more different worlds. Lasseter is from Whittier, son of the parts manager at a Chevy dealership. Newman grew up on the Westside of Los Angeles, where he spent much of his boyhood on Hollywood sound stages, watching his uncles Alfred, Lionel and Emil Newman conduct studio orchestras.

But when it comes to their work, it's hard to imagine two masters of their craft more in sync with each other; Newman is one of the great songwriters of our time, and Lasseter is the reigning wizard of computer animation.

Whether discussing the importance of emotion in music or reminiscing about their favorite Bugs Bunny cartoons, they always seem to be on the same page, with one starting a thought, the other finishing it.

Since they met in 1991, Lasseter and Newman have creatively been virtually inseparable. Newman has done the score and written songs for every Lasseter-directed Pixar film, including both installments in the "Toy Story" series, "A Bug's Life" and "Cars," as well as "Monsters, Inc.," a Pixar hit that Lasseter also produced.

They are both up for Oscars again this year: Lasseter for best animated film ("Cars"); Newman for best song for "Our Town," the ballad from "Cars" performed by James Taylor. (Newman is up for a Grammy for "Our Town" as well.)

At a dinner that stretched late into the night, the conversation ranged far and wide; Lasseter -- earnest, if a bit overpowering -- served as the ringmaster, with Newman, sardonic and self-deprecating, proving the comic relief.

Lasseter remains astounded that Newman has now been nominated for 17 Oscars and won only one, for "If I Didn't Have You" ("Monsters, Inc."). Praising "You've Got a Friend in Me," a song Newman wrote for "Toy Story," Lasseter says, "I can't believe he didn't win with that -- everyone has recorded that song. I've often thought the academy should go back 10 years later and reexamine who won their awards because it often takes time to see how films or songs grow and become absorbed in the culture."

I asked Newman what he thought of a version Robert Goulet did. "I was at the session," Newman recalls. "And he kept singing, 'You've got a friend in me, babe.' " Newman laughs. "Clearly nobody else was going to do it, so it was my job to say, 'Drop the 'babe.' You could tell he took it badly because he said, 'Oh, I get it. Get rid of the \o7soul\f7.' "