If you've seen Pixar's latest feature, Monsters University, you will have been charmed by the animated short film that played before it. Written and directed by Saschka Unseld, The Blue Umbrella tells the story of two umbrellas that fall in love, despite running into a few challenges along the way. Prior to The Blue Umbrella, Saschka worked on Toy Story 3, Cars 2 and Brave. He is currently in the staging and layout department of Pixar's next feature, The Good Dinosaur. We caught up with the uber-creative Mr Unseld to find out his favourite apps and gadgets, and to get a peek at his seriously cool workspace.

Lee Unkrich has an impressive Pixar pedigree: working his way up through editing roles at the animation giant, he eventually directed Toy Story 3 and co-directed Finding Nemo, Monsters Inc and Toy Story 2. To celebrate Finding Nemo's re-release in 3D, he chatted with Lifehacker about productivity, decision-making, teamwork and the best things about being a director.

AJ Riebli has worked for legendary animation studio Pixar for 15 years and across 13 productions. Lifehacker caught up with him on his recent visit to Australia to grab his thoughts on creativity, technology and getting ahead in movie-making.