Animating from the inside out

"In Finding Nemo I had a HUGE revelation and I called
this Animating from the INSIDE out. My character is not
just some spans of geometry.  My character has a heart, has
flesh, has a brain, thinks on their own, etc.  After I would
put my blocking in there shortly thereafter I would think,
'Okay, this character has ALWAYS done this, they have
always moved in this way, They are living this moment of
their life RIGHT NOW.'

I think this kind of thinking has happened over many years
of thinking and animating. But the sooner anyone can start
thinking about animation like this the sooner their animation
will become ALIVE and not just a series of movements."

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 I found this gem on my good buddy, Jamaal's site. And
although it's obviously attributed to someone at Pixar, this
actually sounds like something Jamaal would say himself.
We both previously worked in Seattle and we'd always be
talking about art, trying to come up with all of these new ideas.
The dude is as passionate about this artform as anyone I know.