Ramsey Naito, President of Paramount Animation and Nickelodeon Animation, will remain in her role as head of Paramount Animation following the completion of Skydance‘s acquisition of Paramount Global on Thursday, August 7, sources have told Deadline.
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| Ramsey Naito | Getty/Courtesy/Deadline |
Meanwhile, Skydance Animation won’t be merged with Paramount Animation, it's being reported. Rather, in the short term, Skydance Animation will remain separate with former Pixar Studios Chief Creative Officer John Lasseter continuing as Animation Head and Holly Edwards as President of Animation. Skydance Animation’s priority remains its Netflix output deal.
Paramount has some untangling to do post-merger since departing Paramount Global co-CEO Brian Robbins oversaw both Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon. As President of Paramount Animation and Nickelodeon Animation, his lieutenant Naito similarly spearheaded animation across both features for Paramount and TV series for Nickelodeon, the latter though Nickelodeon Animation Studio.
In the new Paramount corporate structure unveiled on Monday, the areas are split, with features going to Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein, Co-Chairs of Paramount Pictures, and Nickelodeon to George Cheeks, Chair of TV Media, with Nickelodeon and Nickelodeon TV Studios listed under his purview. The latter is a moniker that has not been used in recent memory; it likely refers to the existing Nickelodeon Animation Studio.
In light of the separation, Naito will no longer oversee television animation for Nickelodeon, focusing on animated features for Paramount, sources have told Deadline.
It is unclear yet who will succeed her running Nickelodeon TV Studios/Nickelodeon Animation Studio, home of Nickelodeon’s flagship SpongeBob SquarePants franchise as well as The Fairly OddParents, Rugrats, Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Loud House and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Naito joined Nickelodeon in 2018, serving as Executive Vice President (EVP) of Animation Production and Development for the Nickelodeon Group, overseeing a renaissance at the studio of animation content and production in scale and creativity. In September 2020, the Oscar®-nominated producer was upped to President of Nickelodeon Animation, overseeing the network’s animation content across all formats and platforms--spanning linear, digital, TV movies, theatrical motion pictures and SVOD.
Naito gained oversight of Paramount Animation in September 2021 in the wake of Robbins being named Paramount Pictures President and CEO.
During 2021, she oversaw the launches of global television and film franchises such as PAW Patrol: The Movie; the expansion of the SpongeBob SquarePants universe with The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run and two original spinoffs, Kamp Koral: SpongeBob’s Under Years and The Patrick Star Show; Baby Shark's Big Show; Blue’s Clues & You!; Santiago of the Seas; The Loud House Movie; and Rugrats (2021).
She was tasked upon being promoted with developing Nickelodeon properties into animated pictures. During her run at Paramount Animation, the studio released the Point Grey Pictures’ animated pic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem which grossed closed to $182M worldwide in the summer of 2023 and yielded $1 billion-plus in global retail sales for that calendar year alone. Other animated titles released during her run include PAW Patrol: The Movie ($144.3M worldwide), Transformers One ($129.4M worldwide) and Smurfs (currently $90M worldwide). Upcoming is The SpongeBob Movie: The Search for SquarePants (Dec. 19), PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie (July 24, 2026), The Angry Birds Movie 3 (Jan. 29, 2027), as well as The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender (Oct. 9, 2026) and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem 2 (Sept. 17, 2027).
Other projects under Naito’s purview were Star Trek: Prodigy from Nickelodeon Animation, as well as a Monster High animated series.
While at Nickelodeon Animation, Naito launched the network’s largest animation slate in its 40+ year history with over 70 projects at the Nickelodeon Animation Studio and deals with top talent and creators.
Prior to Nickelodeon, Naito produced DreamWorks Animation’s Oscar-nominated feature, The Boss Baby, while also earning her a PGA nomination for Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures. Prior to DreamWorks Animation, Ramsey worked as a producer for Blue Sky Studios, at Cartoon Network as Head of Movies and at Nickelodeon Movies as Vice President of Development & Production. Her executive and producer credits include: Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins (2009), Barnyard (2006), The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (2004), The Wild Thornberrys Movie (2002), Hey Arnold! The Movie (2002), the Oscar-nominated Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (2001), Rugrats in Paris: The Movie (2000), and South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999).
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