He previously served as president of 20th Century Fox Animation, and has worked as the producer for the film series of Ice Age, Despicable Me, The Secret Life of Pets and Sing.

In 2021, he joined Nintendo's board of directors after working with the video game company on The Super Mario Bros.

[5] Meledandri's first job in the film industry came when he worked as an assistant to executive producer Daniel Melnick on the set of Footloose.

[6] After a series of collaborations with filmmaker John Hughes, Meledandri was placed in charge of 20th Century Fox Animation.

[9] Fox had attempted to retain Meledandri, but it was reported by the Los Angeles Times that Universal's offer of an ownership stake in Illumination had persuaded him to switch.

[7] Meledandri received a share of Illumination's box office earnings as part of his contract with Universal, and as of 2011, he also owned an undisclosed stake in the production company.

[11][12][13] Meledandri intends, however, to retain the original voice actors, as he believes they were perhaps the most memorable parts of the series.

The first film in this collaboration, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, in which Meledandri served as executive producer, was released in December 2022 to universal critical acclaim and commercial success.