Willie Ito

[4] In 1954, Ito began working for Walt Disney Studios as an assistant to animator Iwao Takamoto on the film Lady and the Tramp.

He later joined Warner Bros. Cartoons, where he worked with the animators Chuck Jones and Friz Freleng.

[5] According to Ito, Freleng borrowed him from the Chuck Jones unit, resulting in his first screen credit as a layout artist for Prince Violent.

[7] Ito returned to the animation studio in 1985 for three months, working for The Wuzzles and Adventures of the Gummi Bears.

[6] In 2024, Ito announced his upcoming feature short animation film, Hello Maggie, based on the children's book he authored, Hello Maggie (2007), an account of his family's experience in the Japanese internment camps in the United States during World War II.