The series was first announced on April 3rd, 2008 at Cartoon Network's annual upfront in New York City. The project will be similar to The Cartoon Cartoon Show (more commonly known as the "What A Cartoon!") which aired on the network more than a decade earlier, and which gave birth to some of the channel's first animated series, such as Dexter's Laboratory and Cow and Chicken. The Cartoonstitute hopes to establish a think tank for animators and create an environment in which animators can create characters and stories. A section of Cartoon Network Studios in Burbank, California has been set aside exclusively for the project. The "Cartoonstitute" name was imagined by Lauren Faust, the wife of Craig McCracken.