There are A LOT of talented people out there who would love to work for Pixar. And with the success that Pixar has had since 95, they know what to look for in a person. Like others have said, it’s great that they are getting fresh new talent in there. People moving on was bound to happen one day. And nobody lives forever. The torch will have to be passed one day. Getting new people in their, and having them learn how Pixar does things early, will keep them from being in the situation Studio Ghilbli may find themselves in in five years or so.
I believe I have stated my views in another thread (I think the ‘Brenda Chapman/Brave’ thread) about the importance of ‘succession planning’. The Brain Trust is a brilliant business and creative strategy, but even it has shortcomings if it’s not continually revitalized with a new generation of leaders and decision-makers.
As much as we love Lasseter, Bird, Docter, and Stanton, they’ve already directed a fair amount of films. It’s been more than fifteen years since Pixar’s first feature, and it’s time for new storytellers to step up to the plate (we’ve seen that with Unkrich and Sohn).
Dreamworks surprisingly has little directorial mainstays (which might explain their lack of consistency and quality), but at least they give everyone, as the Aussies would say, a ‘fair go’. Don’t get me started on Blue Sky or Studio Ghibli (which has pretty much only one Brazilian and Japanese director. respectively).
So I don’t think Pixar is ‘losing’ anyone so much as gaining new voices and visionaries to lead the company into the next decade.
As for folks like Romano, Chapman, and Sweetland leaving the studio, they have the ‘right’ to do so, whether it be over creative differences, political manipulations, or simple ‘competitive offers’ from rivals. And the way the film industry works, unless you seriously ‘burned your bridges’, you are always welcome back (as Lasseter would tell you with regards to Disney). 
I’m not sure about Brad Bird, but I cant see Andrew Stanton staying away from animation and Pixar for very long. And like its been mentioned, they keep getting new people too. To paraphrase a certain evil bear: When those people leave, new ones come in. When THOSE people leave, new ones come in And maybe after doing the same thing with the same company for awhile people just wanna move on or switch to something else for a little bit. I guess you’d just have to wait and see who comes back.
I guess you’re right, Stanton wouldn’t be gone for long. 
I hope the same goes for BB.
…I am sure there is a reason for leaving, whoever is leaving… a lot of good people already left, and some of them haven’t talked about Pixar very pleasantly. You are just mentioning directors, but you are forgetting all artists like TD, Environment and character artists, students, producers… Pixar is switching people a lot and even it looks like its great to work there, its very tough. We all love their movies, their work etc… but nobody really tells you what is the true. Anyway, who cares right? but most of the people who worked there are saying, that Dreamworks is the best place to work at. My opinion? I would go to small starting cg studio, where the environment is not like micro-management and all leaders don’t jump on your back and fire you, when some little problem happened.
Who is this charac… oh… OK.
Is this something you’ve heard from a Pixar employee? Anyway, I think Dreamworks was listed in Fortune’s best companies to work for, so I wouldn’t be surprised.
But really, there’s good and bad with every company. No one’s perfect, Pixar, Dreamworks or otherwise.
Working with a startup is a great idea, but with great opportunity comes great risk. It’s the same thing about whether to work for a well-established MNC or a small-time firm. Pretty much the same dilemma that Lightning McQueen faced, I guess, with his sponsors.
No guts, no glory!
Well, it is the cycle of life that talent will leave. Lest we forget that it’s not just now, but talent has come and gone from PIXAR in the past. Take Ash Brannon who left some time ago and went on to direct the film ‘Surf’s Up.’
Sure, while we may recall studio mainstays at other places such as the Disney Studio’s ‘The Nine Old Men,’ there’s always going to be people that come and go. Though luckily there are plenty of opportunities for animation than there were way-back-when.
One of the most tragic to me was when animator Bill Tytla left Disney. This was the man who created such a powerful scene by animating Chernabog in the ‘Night on Bald Mountain’ sequence. After he left, he never had the chance to do anything quite as ‘big.’
I always thought it was interesting that the same man who animated Chernabog also animated little Dumbo.
Not a surprised they are loosing people… it can be many things, which are happening at Disney branches and it’s common.
Health issues like high blood pressure made by stressful work and times, bad salaries, big headed decisions, stupid unnecessary rules, better offers from other anim. studios. Not a surprise for me.
Where former talent exits, new talent takes its place. The world will never be short of bright-minded individuals that can bring a fresh new perspective.
Well…it sounds good, but Disney works little bit different way their system of decisions and people, who sits there…ew You really have to find a right moment and be lucky about people, who works there to get what you have asked for.
I think this is a very important thing to keep in mind.