Catmull, who admired Walt Disney nearly as much as he admired Albert Einstein, was hoping to persuade Lucas to let him devote some time to computer animation as well; Lucas, however, considered that scope creep. He wanted Catmull developing tools to make digital movies, not wasting his time on what Lucas regarded as high-tech cartoons. Catmull did his best to follow orders, though he continued to hire the kind of staff he wanted, even when that sometimes meant doing it on the sly; when Catmull hired a young former Disney animator named John Lasseter, he finagled the approval of Lucasfilm
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