In the early 1990s, he became a television writer. He made his writing debut on the late-night television series, ''
Late Night with Conan O'Brien.
Afterwards, he started to transition into film with his theatrical debut providing additional story material on Mulan. After the success of Mulan'',
Disney gave Reynolds a 'six-year contract' deal to work for both
Walt Disney Feature Animation and
Pixar Animation Studios. Some later works with the "Mouse-House" included additional writing on the story for ''
A Bug's Life, writer of the host segments on Fantasia 2000, and got his official writing debut with The Emperor's New Groove.'' He went on to write with other writers on films like on
Atlantis: The Lost Empire with
Tab Murphy,
The Jungle Book 2 with Karl Geurs and
Evan Spiliotopoulos, and his most acclaimed work yet,
Finding Nemo, with
Andrew Stanton and
Bob Peterson. He received numerous nominations and awards for
Nemo, including an
Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay, a
BAFTA nomination for Best Original Screenplay, a
Hugo Award nomination for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form, and a
Nebula Award nomination for Best Script, and won an
Annie for Writing in a Feature Production. Reynolds was attached to co-write, alongside Ken Kaufman, the 2006 animated film
Curious George. His name was featured in the film’s trailer but was left uncredited in the film. His last movie credit was for working on
Chimpanzee where he was a creative consultant and wrote the short film
The Polar Bears in 2012. In 2007, Reynolds was slated to write a film adaptation of the book
Nightmare Academy. In 2010, it was reported that he was working at
Sony Pictures Animation for a feature titled
Futuropolis that would've been co-written and directed by Stephan Franck. , no updates have emerged for
Nightmare Academy and
Futuropolis. On June 7, 2015, Reynolds and
New Groove director
Mark Dindal attended a conversation event for the
Austin Film Festival where they shared their knowledge, secrets, and strategies. In 2021, Reynolds was announced as screenwriter for
The Garfield Movie, along with the announcement that
Chris Pratt would voice the titular character. Writing alongside Paul A. Kaplan and Mark Torgove, the film reunited Reynolds with
New Groove director Mark Dindal. The film was released on May 24, 2024, and while it was met with mixed-to-negative reviews, the film was a box-office hit. ==Filmography==