Born in 1934 and raised in San Francisco, animator and cartoonist Willie Ito started his career at Walt Disney Productions on the feature "Lady and the Tramp". Ito worked on the iconic spaghetti kissing seen as an indoctrination into the business, before joining Warner Bros.. While at Warner Bros. he worked with the legendary animator Chuck Jones on such classics as "One Froggy Evening" and "What's Opera, Doc?". Ito also worked with Friz Freleng, where he recieved his first screen credits for doing layouts on "Prince Violent" (later retitled "Prince Varmit"), featuring Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam.

After Warner Bros., Ito joined Hanna-Barbera Productions during the development of the "The Jetsons" and he remained there for 14 years, where he worked on the "Flintstones" and the "Yogie Bear Show", among other iconic cartoon series.

Ito eventually returned to Disney to develop collectibles and mentor younger artists worldwide before retiring after a 45 year career. Ito continues to write, illustrate, and publish children's books.