Editing Lilo & Stitch (2002) (section)

=== Development ===
In 1985, after graduating from California Institute of the Arts, Chris Sanders had created the character of Stitch for an unsuccessful children's book pitch. He said, "I wanted to do a children's book about this little creature that lived in a forest. It was a bit of a monster with no real explanation as to where it came from." He found condensing the story to be difficult, though, and abandoned the project. In 1987, Walt Disney Feature Animation hired him for their newly formed visual development department. His first project was ''The Rescuers Down Under'' (1990), but he soon transitioned into storyboarding. After that, Sanders created storyboard sequences for ''Beauty and the Beast'' (1991) and ''The Lion King'' (1994), and was promoted to head of story on ''Mulan'' (1998).

In 1997, several executives at Disney Feature Animation were invited to a retreat at Michael Eisner's farm in Vermont to discuss the future animation slate beyond adapting pre-existing legends, folklore, or classic novels. At the retreat, Thomas Schumacher, then executive vice president of Disney Feature Animation, suggested they produce a film that would be the "''Dumbo'' for our generation", compared to the large-budget Disney animated features they had already done. Schumacher approached Sanders about producing the film, telling him: "Everybody wants this next film to be you."

During a karaoke dinner at the Walt Disney World Swan Resort, Schumacher asked Sanders, "Is there anything you would like to develop?" Sanders remembered the children's book project he had initially developed. At his next meeting, Sanders pitched a remote, nonurban location, with Stitch crash-landing into a forest and interacting entirely with woodland animals, being ostracized by them, and living on his own at a farm in rural Kansas. But Schumacher suggested that Stitch should interact with people, instead: "The animal world is already alien to us. So, if you want to get the best contrast between this monster and the place where it lives, I would recommend you set it in a human world." Sanders eventually, albeit inadvertently, revisited his idea of a creature bonding with animals in a forest years later with DreamWorks Animation's ''The Wild Robot'' (2024).

For three straight days in his Palm Springs, Florida, hotel room, Sanders created a 29-page pitch book drawing conceptual sketches and outlining the film's general story. He initially revised it by adding a boy character, but as the character of Stitch evolved, Sanders decided he needed to be contrasted with a female character: "I think Stitch represented a male character, so the balance would be to put him with a little girl. We wanted someone who was going to be in conflict with Stitch, and we realized a little boy might be a comrade." Sanders then glanced at a map of Hawaii on his wall, and recalling he had recently vacationed there, he relocated the story there. Not well versed in Hawaiian culture, Sanders turned to a vacation roadmap, and found the names "Lilo Lane" and "Nani" there. After finishing the booklet, he shipped it to Burbank, and Schumacher approved the pitch with one condition: "it has to look like you drew it."