Deamer said that when they returned to the office, legendary Pixar animator Lee Unkirck rearranged the sequence of events so that the flashback became the start of the movie. While he empathizes with fans who find the opening scene hard to watch, he stands by the studio’s decision, saying:

The opening scene to Pixar’s Finding Nemo was originally told in flashbacks. Speaking with UNILAD, animator Jason Deamer revealed that the opening scene to Finding Nemo was a last-minute addition to the Pixar movie.

Finding Nemo is one of Pixar's most beloved movies, but one of the animators behind the 2003 film has revealed that it was almost the studio's "first bad movie" – until one last-minute change was made.