Arnold was born in Atlanta, Georgia, and rose to prominence in Hollywood during the initial wave of computer animation.

Her interest in journalism led her to her first professional assignment as unit publicist for American Playhouse's debut production, King of America.

[2] From there, she freelanced in film production in Atlanta and met producer David Picker, who invited her to work at Columbia Pictures in Los Angeles.

While working on the Tony Scott movie Revenge at Columbia, Arnold met Kevin Costner and ended up joining the Dances with Wolves production as associate producer.

In 1992, Arnold was recruited by Peter Schneider and John Lasseter to work on Toy Story for Disney.

[5] In 2016, Soria stepped down from her role as co-president to return to producing, leaving Arnold the sole president of feature animation.