Change bootanimation of the Kindle Fire After some exploring around on my Kindle Fire via ES File Explorer, I discovered the bootanimation.zip in system\media. Looking at the .zip, Amazon had left users who could reach this file instructions on how this boot animation works and how to change it. After setting everything up and preparing to swap the original with my own, I was given a warning that what I was doing was unable to be preformed. 

Is there a way to get around this problem without rooting my Kindle?
That file is in the /system partition, which is mounted read-only, and even if you make it writable (which also requires you to be root), by default it's only writable by root. So it's not possible without rooting your device. The steps you have to take to be able to change your boot animation:


Root your device. The rooting method is device-specific, so I can't help you how; it's usually easy to find a  tutorial using Google.
Turn on root mode in ES File explorer (left side menu, root explorer).
Click on that menu item once more. It brings up a menu in which you can remount the /system partition in read/write mode.