We propose a multi length scale approach to modeling recrystallization which links a dislocation model, a cell growth model and a macroscopic model. Although this methodology and linking framework will be applied to recrystallization, it is also applicable to other types of phase transformations in bulk and layered materials. Critical processes such as the dislocation structure evolution, nucleation, the evolution of crystal orientations into a preferred texture, and grain size evolution all operate at different length scales. In this paper we focus on incorporating experimental measurements of dislocation substructures, misorientation measurements of dislocation boundaries, and dislocation simulations into a mesoscopic model of cell growth. In particular, we show how feeding information from the dislocation model into the cell growth model can create realistic initial microstructures.