1990–98: Precursors and origin Nickelodeon Animation Studio's beginnings lie in the roots of the channel's
Nicktoons endeavor. In 1990, Nickelodeon hired
Vanessa Coffey as a creative consultant to develop Nicktoons, providing her with the task of seeking out new characters and stories that would allow the channel a grand entrance into the animation business. The high cost of high-quality animation had discouraged the network from developing weekly animated programming. Although most television networks at the time tended to go to large animation houses with proven track records to develop Saturday-morning series, often generally pre-sold characters from movies, toys or comics, Nickelodeon desired differently. Inspired by the early days of animation and the work of
Bob Clampett,
Tex Avery and
Chuck Jones, Nickelodeon set out to find frustrated cartoonists swallowed up by the studio system. Nickelodeon president
Geraldine Laybourne commissioned eight six-minute pilots at a cost of $100,000 each before selecting three. Seeking the most innovative talents in the field, the products of this artists' union –
Doug,
Rugrats and
The Ren & Stimpy Show – represented twelve years of budget-building toward that end. Kricfalusi suspected the real reason was that the network was uncomfortable with more crude humor. Nickelodeon objected to numerous proposed plotlines and new characters—including
George Liquor, an
Archie Bunker-ish "All-American Male". After missing several promised new-episode delivery and air dates, Nickelodeon's parent company
MTV Networks—which had purchased the rights to the
Ren & Stimpy characters from Kricfalusi—negotiated a settlement with him. The series was moved to Games, who hired as much personnel from Spümcø as possible and put under the creative supervision of
Bob Camp, one of Kricfalusi's former writer-director partners, in order to continue producing
The Ren & Stimpy Show; this period was considered to be a great decline in quality for the series, eventually being cancelled in 1995. The show ended in 1996 as its creator Joe Murray wanted to spend more time with his family. Games Animation also lost
Doug from internal conflicts with Jumbo Pictures. After declining to produce the fifth season of the show, MTV Networks sold the intellectual property of the show to
The Walt Disney Company in 1994, forcing Games Animation and
Ellipse Programme to depart from the show. However, it left Games Animation with guaranteed control over all the shows they would eventually produce aside from
Rugrats. Following the end of ''Rocko's Modern Life
, Games Animation produced the pilots for Hey Arnold!, The Angry Beavers and CatDog'', along with the former's first 26 episodes, and the second's first 13 episodes. The latter was produced by Nickelodeon Animation Studio along with the other two by this point forward.
1998–2007: As Nickelodeon Animation Studio In 1996,
Albie Hecht, then-president of Film and TV Entertainment for Nickelodeon, met with Nickelodeon artists for a brainstorming session on the elements of their ideal studio, and, with their feedback (and some inspiration from the fabled
Willy Wonka chocolate factory), created "a playful, inspirational and cutting-edge lab which will hopefully give birth to the next generation of cartoon classics." He added, "For me, this building is the physical manifestation of a personal dream, which is that when people think of cartoons, they'll say Nicktoons." Located at 231 West Olive Avenue in Burbank, California, the facility, designed by Los Angeles architecture firm AREA, houses 200–300 employees and up to five simultaneous productions. It also contains a miniature golf course (with a hole dedicated to
Walt Disney), an indoor basketball course/screening room, an artists' gallery, a studio store, and a fountain that shoots green water into the air. At the same time, the Los Angeles facility animated the intro for
The Amanda Show. It was reported in 2005 that the Burbank studio was up for sale; this was later corrected, as the owner of the building was selling it. In mid-2006,
Nickelodeon announced a collaboration with
DreamWorks Animation to create shows based on DWA's films. The first DWA co-production was
The Penguins of Madagascar, which would eventually premiere in November 2008 (followed by 2011's
Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness and 2013's
Monsters vs. Aliens).
2007–19: Studio collaborations and acquisitions In 2007, Nick launched
El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera (the first Nicktoon created in
Adobe Flash) and
Tak and the Power of Juju (based on the
video game series of the same name).
Back at the Barnyard (a spin-off of the theatrical film
Barnyard) was released that same year. These shows showed Nickelodeon's increasing willingness to collaborate with a diverse portfolio of companies, with
Mexopolis and
THQ being examples. In 2009, Nickelodeon acquired the rights to
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from Mirage Studios. In early 2011, Viacom bought 30 percent of the Italian studio
Rainbow SpA, the creators of
Winx Club. Following both purchases, Nickelodeon Animation Studio began to produce new content for both franchises: a
continuation of Winx Club and a
reboot series of TMNT. Since they were produced by Nickelodeon Animation Studio, Nickelodeon refers to both continuations as official
Nicktoons. By 2013, Nickelodeon's deal with DreamWorks Animation had reached an end; according to
Bob Schooley, Nickelodeon Animation expressed a desire to refocus on "more Nickish shows". Looking for original concepts, Nickelodeon Animation Studio created the
Nickelodeon Animated Shorts Program, under which it would produce new animated shorts with the potential to turn into whole shows. A select few were greenlit and premiered within the following years. In 2016, Nickelodeon's Burbank animation facility moved into a five-story glass structure that is part of a larger studio complex. The move was intended to bring animated productions currently produced elsewhere in Southern California under a single production facility. Because it houses both animated and live-action productions, the Burbank location has been renamed to simply "Nickelodeon Studios" (which is not to be confused with the
original Nickelodeon Studios at Universal Studios Florida, which closed in 2005). The studio also houses the Nickelodeon time capsule, first buried in
Orlando, Florida in 1992 at the original Nickelodeon Studios and later at the
Nickelodeon Suites Resort in 2006, which has moved to the new studio by the latter's closure and rebrand on June 1, 2016. The capsule is set to be opened on April 30, 2042. The new studio opened on January 11, 2017.
2019–present: Expanding brands In October 2018,
Brian Robbins became president of Nickelodeon. In November, he appointed
Ramsey Ann Naito as head of animation at Nickelodeon; she was later promoted to president of Nickelodeon Animation Studio in 2020. In both roles, Naito reported to Robbins. Under Robbins' presidency, Nickelodeon began to focus more on expanding some its preexisting franchises. At Nickelodeon Animation Studio, this effort encompassed continuations for legacy shows, including ''
Rocko's Modern Life: Static Cling and Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus for Netflix and a CGI reboot of Rugrats
for Paramount+. The first-ever SpongeBob
spin-offs (Kamp Koral: SpongeBob's Under Years and The Patrick Star Show) were also produced. The studio also collaborated with corporate sibling CBS Eye Animation Productions to produce Star Trek: Prodigy. In 2021, Avatar Studios, a division of Nickelodeon Animation dedicated to producing projects from the Avatar: The Last Airbender'' franchise, was launched. In 2023, the studio signed a
first-look deal for animated series and features with Lion Forge Entertainment. In April 2026, Paramount Skydance announced that Nickelodeon Animation Studio would no longer operate as a separate entity and will become the kids and family animation label of
CBS Studios. == Filmography ==