It looks like WALL-E, Nemo and Buzz Lightyear will soon have a second home in the Great White North.

Pixar Animation, the Oscar-winning studio behind such smash films as "WALL-E," "Finding Nemo" and "Toy Story," plans to open a branch in Vancouver, executives say.

"The operation will be small in size and dedicated to producing short-form quality computer animation for theme parks, DVDs, television and theatrical exhibition ... for several different divisions of the Walt Disney Co.," Disney/Pixar president Ed Catmull told the Hollywood Reporter.

Pixar is a subsidiary of Walt Disney Co. and is based in Emeryville, California. Its other films include "The Incredibles," "Monsters Inc." and "Cars."

Pixar's Vancouver operation will be its first outside of California.

"It's great news for Vancouver and for Canada," Alan Phillips, president of the Vancouver Institute of Media Arts, said Friday in a telephone interview.

"It's a great sort of shot of adrenaline in everyone's arm in Vancouver," added Casey Kwan, a senior instructor at the school.

"For the last half year or so it's been pretty gloomy for our industry," he said. "[Video game publisher Electronic Arts] had their big layoffs earlier in the year, and Nexon, which is a game company in town, they shut down their studio," he said.

"So it's a nice ray of optimism for everybody."

Kwan thinks Vancouver was picked because of its rich talent.

"I think Pixar recognizes the fact that there's a great community in Vancouver of artists and schools as well as programmers," he said.

"Vancouver has a long history of animation studios, be they television or digital effects or even gaming, so there's a lot of talent here across the board."

"B.C.'s got great tax credits for them as well, so I think there's a lot of incentive to come here. It's a great hub."

Pixar was formed 23 years ago.

The company has made nine acclaimed films, beginning with "Toy Story" in 1995. The films have received a slew of awards, including more than 20 Oscars as well as a handful of Grammys and Golden Globes.

Since the Academy Awards began presenting an award for best animated feature in 2001, Pixar has received six nominations, winning for "Finding Nemo," "The Incredibles," "Ratatouille" and "WALL-E."

Its 10th movie, "Up," which features the voices of Ed Asner and Christopher Plummer and will be Pixar's first 3-D film, opens the Cannes Film Festival next week. It hits theatres later this month.