Pixar Animation Studios Announces New Original Film, Gives Updates on Current Projects at Annecy Festival

With the Annecy Festival, celebrating all things animation, currently taking place in France, it comes as no surprise that Pixar Animation Studios seized the opportunity and shared more about some of their upcoming projects while announcing a brand new title set for 2027.

What’s Happening:

HOPPERS

Announced last year, we’re getting more details surrounding Hoppers, an original story, directed by Daniel Chong and produced by Nicole Grindle.

In Hoppers, we’ll follow Mabel - a nature student - voiced by Disney Channel alum Piper Curda. Mabel grew up surrounded by a nearby glade that serves as a sanctuary to hundreds of animals, spending hours there with her grandma - but now, years later, the animals have left the glade and that glade is at risk as Mayor Jerry Generazzo (voiced by Jon Hamm), is ready to build a highway through it.

Mabel needs help, and she’s going to need a miracle - when she discovers the Hoppers - scientists who have figured out how to hop their minds into robot bodies so they can study animals AS animals…when the crazy contraption works.  

While the scientists use it for research, Mabel tries to hop into an animal body to bring the critters back to the glade to stop Mayor Jerry.

Pixar’s Pete Docter has described the movie as “kind of like Avatar - but cuter….A little like Avatar meets Mission: Impossible meets Planet Earth."

Bobby Moynihan lends his voice to a friendly but clueless beaver king named King George that befriends Mabel, a happy-go-lucky, conflict averse kind of guy.

Mabel needs to keep her real identity a secret as she is being chased by the scientists, and discovering that the animal world is not all fun and games.

Docter also described the film as “an action-adventure-comedy-spy-thriller where humor, heart, and adventure leap from the screen in surprising ways."

Hoppers is due out in March of 2026.

TOY STORY 5

This year marks the anniversary of Toy Story, which came out 30 years ago and as such, we’ve been expecting to hear more about the highly anticipated fifth installment of the iconic franchise - Toy Story 5. 

We already know that Andrew Stanton, director of the Academy Award-winning films Finding Nemo and WALL-E, is writing and directing. A plus since he has worked on every single Toy Story film prior, with Kenna Harris co-directing and Jess Choy producing.

We have previously assumed but now officially learned that Joan Cusack will be returning as Jessie, now confirmed  to return alongside Tom Hanks and Tim Allen, reprising their roles as Woody and Buzz Lightyear, respectively.

We’ve already known that the plot will see the toys take on electronics - like tablets. Namely, the Lilypad, the tablet that Bonnie (who is now 8) has.

Lilypad believes Bonnie should move on from toys, which of course creates the conflict in our tale it would seem.

Jessie, now in charge of Bonnie's room, seeks out Woody, who returns, and might not see eye to eye with Buzz,

Those in attendance at Annecy were treated to the first two minutes of the film, which is still very much a work in progress, set for a summer 2026 release.

GATTO

The Biggest news coming from the event was the reveal of a new film from the studio, the first time it has been mentioned officially outside of the studio walls.

From the team behind what has quickly become a fan-favorite, Luca, Director Enrico Casarosa and producer Andrea Warren, are going to bring us back to Italy, but this time to the city of Venice.

There, we’ll follow a black cat named Nero, who is indebted to a feline mob boss, Rocco. To make matters worse, Venice is not the best place for him to begin with as Nero cannot swim - in a city that is largely water. It’s also filled with superstitious people who think black cats are bad luck.

Fortunately(?), Nero loves music and is enchanted by a street musician named Maya, and ends up captive (quite literally) to her music. Maya is also an outsider in the city too, and it seems this story might just follow TWO black cats of sorts.

Perhaps as equally interesting as the plot, Docter referred to Venice as a living painting - later expanding on the subtle comment and pointing out the art has that quality, saying “We want the film itself to look like that too. We’re doing tests to bring depth and dimension - like you’d expect from Pixar - while capturing the handmade texture of Venice.

Gatto is still very much a work in progress, expected to arrive in the summer of 2027.

Further Down The Line

There is more coming from Pixar, some of which was not even mentioned today including Incredibles 3, which we just learned would be directed by Peter Sohn, who previously took the reigns of The Good Dinosaur and his deeply personal film, Elemental.

Sohn is a fantastic choice to helm the third installment of the series, while Brad Bird will be writing and executive producing.  Sohn worked with Brad Bird in the story department on each of his films dating back to The Iron Giant, (including the original The Incredibles and Incredibles 2), save for his upcoming movie at Skydance, which is why he isn’t behind Incredibles 3.

Coco 2, even further down the road, will also see Lee Unkrich returning to direct.

Catch up with all of this news in our latest edition of LP Pulse, and stay tuned to Laughing Place for more updates as these films will be prevalent for the next few years.