Jill Culton is an American animator and director. With her directorial debut on Sony's first animated film, Open Season, she became the first female principal director of a big budget, computer-animated feature. Previously, she studied at the Character Animation program at the California Institute of the Arts, where she later taught animation. She was also a storyboard artist for various Pixar films such as Toy Story, Toy Story 2, A Bug's Life and also co-wrote the original treatment for Monsters, Inc., and continued to become the Head of Development.