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Even as other animators began to unionize, however, companies sought to isolate production workers from their creative colleagues and tried to convince them that they didn’t need guild representation because, someday, they would be the producers and executives running the show, Sito said.

Over time, that attitude shifted — particularly during the 2-D animation renaissance of the late 1980s and early 1990s when the guild made a more concerted effort to organize and connect with rank-and-file, “regular people,” Sito said.

Tom Sito — a USC animation professor and former Local 839 president from 1992 to 2001 — attributed the general spike in union membership to industrial and cultural shifts.

“When we looked at labor leaders, we saw people like Jimmy Hoffa and all these organized-crime thugs,” Sito said.

Tom Sito, a veteran Hollywood animator whose credits include "The Little Mermaid," "Beauty & The Beast," "Aladdin" and "The Lion King" and who teaches at the University of Southern California, said audience tastes are changing.