McQueen graduated from Sheridan College in 1985. He was sent by Sheridan on a scholarship to the New York Institute of Technology Computer Graphics Lab, where he worked as head of the 3-D production department, which made film effects, TV commercials and scientific visuals.

In 1994 he moved to Pixar Animation Studios (partly due to his interest in Toy Story and his respect for John Lasseter), where he supervised the animation on Pixar’s early successes, including Toy Story, A Bug’s Life, Toy Story 2 and Monsters, Inc..

In December 2001, McQueen was diagnosed with melanoma, while he was working at Pixar. On October 29, 2002, he died of heart failure brought by the disease in Berkeley, California, at the age of 41. His death occurred during the production of Finding Nemo, which is dedicated to him. His former colleagues also paid homage by naming the main character and Piston Cup Champion in the film Cars “Lightning McQueen”.

Pixar Animation Studios had plans underway to open a new studio in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, which would be named the Glenn McQueen Pixar Animation Center to honor McQueen. It was planned to be around 20,000 square feet (1,900 m) and be located in the downtown area of Vancouver. The studio focused on producing short films and TV episodes based on Pixar characters. Job qualifications were released in 2009 and the studio opened in spring 2010, producing many shorts including Small Fry (2011) and Partysaurus Rex (2012).

In October 2013, the studio was closed down in order to re-focus Pixar’s efforts at its main headquarters.