But it's not at his alma mater, the University of Utah. Nope, Utah's finest is at rival Brigham Young University, and Catmull should know.

A graduate of the U.'s legendary computer science program of the late '60s and '70s, Catmull is president of the wildly successful Pixar Animation, which produced "Toy Story" and "Finding Nemo." During a visit Thursday to BYU, Catmull complimented the school for producing students with savvy filmmaking know-how.

"All of a sudden in the last few years, BYU has risen to the top," Catmull said. "They're smart about what they do, and the students that come out of it are really good."

Catmull's appearance was part of the school's announcement of the new Brigham Young University Center for Animation, which will be part of both the engineering and fine arts colleges. R. Brent Adams, whose leadership led to several student-made short films winning student Academy and Emmy awards for animation, will run the center.

The university also screened the newest student-produced film, a five-minute story called "Pajama Gladiator." The short is about a boy who explains to his mother that he was fighting space aliens in another world, causing the cookie jar to crash to the floor.

The short, reminiscent of Pixar's "Monsters, Inc." and its latest comedy short, the alien invasion tale "Lifted," took two years and the work of nearly 100 students.

"We were definitely inspired by Pixar. They're the king of the hill," said the film's director, Glenn Harmon, who now works for the West Valley City-based video game company Sensory Sweep Studios. "They would come in every three or four months and check out our progress."

In the past three years, Pixar has hired more than 15 BYU graduates for internships and permanent jobs to work on animated films, Adams said.

Other students have gone on to work for video-game companies, Hollywood special effects houses and other animation studios.

"Students come out and get training, and they learn real production work," Catmull said about the work the students do for Pixar.

Pixar's résumé includes "The Incredibles," "A Bug's Life," "Cars," and their latest film, "Ratatouille," which won an Oscar for Best Animated Film. The northern California company, owned by Apple Computer's Steve Jobs, has two feature-length movies coming out this year, including this summer's "WALL-E" and a film called "Bolt" for Christmas.