Minnesota's Pete Docter wins record third Oscar for 'Soul'

Pixar's Pete Docter made history at the Academy Awards as he became the first director to win three Oscars for Best Animated Feature.

The Bloomington native took home the prize at Sunday night's ceremony for Soul, accepting the Oscar alongside producer Dana Leigh Murray.

It was Docter's third win in the category that was only created in 2002, having previously won for his work on Pixar's Up and Inside Out.

He has also received a previous Best Animated Feature nomination for Monsters Inc., and Best Screenplay nominations as a writer for Toy Story, Wall-E, Up, and Inside Out.

Soul focused on a middle-school band teacher (Jamie Foxx) with a passion for jazz, who reverts to his "soul state" after an accident.

Accepting his award, Docter thanks Disney (which owns Pixar) for taking a chance on his idea, saying he told the studio "we want to do a movie that explores the meaning of life and they said go ahead."

He also paid tribute to "music teachers and art teachers everywhere," saying: "You make the world a better place. My wish tonight is that we can follow the example of jazz musicians: that wherever we are, whatever we have, we turn it into something beautiful."

Another Minnesotan nominated on Oscar night was Stillwater's Mike Scheuerman, the producer of Hunger Ward, which was nominated in the Best Short Documentary category.

The move was about two female health care workers trying to save starving children in Yemen. The category was won by Colette.