In an interview with Robert K. Elder for his book The Best Film You've Never Seen, Phil Lord stated that "in an animated feature, you remake the movie three or four times, and it's really easy to get bummed out that the way you did it before didn't get green lit, didn't get paid, and you're making a totally different version of that movie."
They are known for directing and writing animated films Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and The Lego Movie (2014), as well as directing the live-action comedy film 21 Jump Street (2012) and its sequel 22 Jump Street (2014). All of their films have received strong commercial and critical success.