Veteran Disney/Pixar contributor John Kahrs directed the brilliant and touching black-and-white Paperman which won this year’s Academy Award for Best Animated Short and played in theaters before Wreck–It Ralph.

Major agencies were in hot pursuit because toons are such major profit centers right now and Kahrs had worked on Tangled, The Incredibles, Monsters Inc, Ratatouille, Toy Story 2, and A Bug’s Life.

He signed with WME Thursday, July 11, Deadline said.