Paperman

 ( 2012 3d Films ) 

George arrives at work, despondent, gazing at the lipstick-marked paper on his desk. He looks out the window and is surprised to find Meg in the building across the street, working in an office with an open window. After failing to get her attention by waving his arms, much to the annoyance of his boss, George begins Paper plane from a stack of papers on his desk, throwing them out the window one by one in an attempt to get her to notice him. His efforts are met with varying levels of failure, as well as disparaging looks from his boss. In desperation, having used all of the paper on his desk to no success, he uses the lipstick-marked paper, although this fails as well when a gust of wind tugs it from his hands. Meg then leaves the office, and George, rebuffing his boss, dashes from his desk. Rushing across a street of busy traffic, he fails to see which way she went, and only finds the final lipstick-marked paper airplane. Angered, he throws it hard and it soars into the sky.

It turns out many of the paper airplanes have collected in a nearby alley, and when the lipstick-marked paper airplane lands among them, they begin to stir and fly from the ground, seeming to come alive, and set off in pursuit of George. A cloud of paper airplanes forces him toward a nearby train station and onto a train, much to his confusion. Meanwhile, the lipstick-marked paper airplane sets off in pursuit of Meg, finding her at a flower stand. Recognizing the lipstick-marked paper, she chases the airplane to another train station and aboard a different train. They're finally brought together when both of their trains stop at the same station; George still covered in paper airplanes and Meg holding his lipstick-marked paper airplane. As the credits roll, they are seen chatting happily with each other at a restaurant table with the lipstick marked paper between them. The picture disappears but the paper still is in the credits before it flies off.

• John Kahrs as George
• Kari Wahlgren as Meg

In an interview with Animation World Network, director John Kahrs revealed that Paperman first materialized when he was working as an animator at Blue Sky Studios during the 1990s. Kahrs conceived Paperman while he was traveling on his routine commute through Grand Central Station, where he was inspired by "the random connections you sometimes make with people" on these excursions. As a result, he created a story about "a guy who makes a connection with this girl on his long commute", elaborating that "the story really is about what happens when he tries to get her back and make that connection again". Describing Paperman as an "urban fairytale", Kahrs pitched the idea as an animated short to Disney Chief Creative Officer John Lasseter and Walt Disney Animation Studios several times. The studio refused to develop the project because they were pre-occupied with Tangled (2010), on which Kahrs also worked. It wasn't until after Tangled was completed that Disney, who was searching for a project that would "fill the space between" Tangled and Wreck-It Ralph, that Paperman was finally green-light.

Kahrs developed the story on and wrote the original Draft document of Paperman. However, he admitted that the writing was really a collaborative process because he constantly received creative input from a "peer group of directors". Lasseter, who served as an executive producer on the film, also made frequent contributions. The main character, George, was inspired by George Bailey from the film It's A Wonderful Life (1946). According to Kahrs, Bailey, like George, "experiences the full gamut of life, from the highest highs to the lowest lows. He's a real guy; he gets frustrated. He's got dreams".