Philip Johnston (born October 26, 1971) is an American filmmaker and voice actor, best known as one of the writers for the Walt Disney Animation Studios films Wreck-It Ralph (2012), Zootopia (2016)^[1] and Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018), the latter of which he directed alongside Rich Moore.

Johnston was born in Minneapolis to Beverly & William Johnston.^[2] He was raised in Neenah, Wisconsin.^[3][4] His father was an Episcopal priest.^[4] When he was young, he received an annual pass that allowed him free entry into the Marcus Theatres, a Wisconsin-based theater chain, through a connection at his father's church.^[4] Johnston is a graduate of Neenah High School.^[2]

He graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1994 with a degree in journalism.^[5] After graduation he worked in regional news television for nine years.^[3] His first job was as a weatherman in Rochester, Minnesota despite knowing nothing about meteorology.^[6][3] He then worked as a bureau reporter at the Omaha, Nebraska, ABC affiliate, KETV.^[7] Afterwards, he transferred to KARE station in Minneapolis.^[8][4]

Johnston graduated with a MFA in film from Columbia University School of the Arts' Film Program in 2004.^[9] He was classmates with Jennifer Lee, whom he later brought on to co-write Wreck-It Ralph with.^[10]

His short, Flightless Birds, about a community of five trying to save their town was shot in South Dakota.^[11]

After graduation, Johnston sold his first work to ABC.^[12] The half hour comedy, Life is Super, is about a woman who adopts several children and subsequently turning her experience into a podcast.^[12]

Johnston optioned his first feature script to ThinkFilm before it went bankrupt.^[3] Jeremy Orm Is a Pervert is about the intersection of a preacher's career and his son's pornography business.^[3] This was loosely based on his side hustle back in middle school selling pornographic magazines he acquired from upperclassmen to his classmates.^[6] He managed to buy a pair of Air Jordans with the profits before eventually getting the operation shut down by his parents.^[6]

His script for Cedar Rapids (2011) was included in the 2009 Black List (survey), a list voted by members of the entertainment industry for favorite, unproduced screenplays.^[13]

Johnston met his wife, Jill Cordes, while working as a reporter at KETV, Nebraska, where she was a morning anchor.^[14]

While attending Columbia, he lived in Brooklyn with his wife, Jill.^[4] He was neighbors with film critic Christy Lemire.^[4]