“Zootopia 2” Comes Home: Byron Howard, Yvett Merino, and the Voice Cast Reflect on the Film's Remarkable Journey

When Zootopia 2 crossed the threshold to become the highest-grossing film of 2025, the news landed differently inside the walls of Walt Disney Animation Studios than it might have anywhere else because it was confirmation that hundreds of artists — animators, layout teams, lighters, composers — had delivered something audiences wanted to return to, again and again. "That just means that people took the trouble to go to the theaters, sit down with their families and see the film in those big venues," said director Byron Howard, "and not just go once but many times."

With Zootopia 2 now available at home on digital and releasing March 3rd on Blu-ray, 4K, and DVD, the film is making the leap from the big screen to the family shelf. To mark the occasion, I visited Walt Disney Animation Studios to sit down with Howard, producer Yvett Merino, and voice cast members Patrick Warburton (Mayor Brian Winddancer) and Yvette Nicole Brown (EMT Otter and The Bearoness) to discuss the home video release.

For Merino, the box office success carries a specific weight, one tied directly to the people who made it. "We have hundreds of artists and production people who work on these films," she said, "and they put so much work into every single frame. This success means that people are going and seeing their work and celebrating their work."

Howard echoed that sentiment, noting the particular joy of seeing audiences engage with a film that had been years in the making. One early casualty of the story process was a scene set in a bunny hospital — an idea that originated with writer and chief creative officer Jared Bush early in development. "He's like a giggly little kid when he has a funny idea," Howard recalled. "This bunny hospital was one of the first scenes he got excited about, but it got cut out of the movie. Sorry, Jared." The scene survives in storyboard form among the deleted scenes of the bonus features.

Part of what makes the home video release feel special, Howard and Merino suggested, is that it gives audiences a rare window into the studio itself — a place with its own rhythms, rituals, and sense of family. "When a movie really kicks in and gets into production, this place is humming," Howard said. "There are animators working like mad, layout artists setting up cameras, lighters doing the final shots. There's music being written around the corner just waiting to be recorded by 70-piece orchestras."

Merino's favorite behind-the-scenes moment to highlight? The Treat Trolley, which fans can see as a bonus feature with the release. "I hear that bell like rooms away, and I'm like, the treat trolley is coming," she said, laughing. The idea came from the studio’s support team. "Let's help people who are crunching right now, let's bring them treats." Howard summed it up simply: "It's the little things."

For Warburton and Brown, being invited into the Zootopia universe was an easy yes — immediately and without hesitation. "When Disney calls, you're there," Warburton said. "You don't even have to know what it's about."

Brown was characteristically direct about her own reaction. "’Would you consider being in Zootopia 2?’ And I was like, I'm going to pay you for calling me to tell me this." She noted that her second recording session came just five months before the film's release, which prompted some genuine surprise when she learned Warburton's character wasn't locked until about a year out. "Y'all are animating very quickly now," she said, praising the efficiency of the animators.

Both actors spoke about the distinct experience of recording at the studio versus the more typical remote setup. Brown, who has a booth at home, described the difference vividly: "Usually when I'm recording for a television show, I'm in my pajamas. My husband brings me a little coffee, and I get it done." Coming onto the lot, she said, carried a different energy entirely — walking the same hallways, standing in the same rooms as the generations of artists who came before.

The conversation turned nostalgic when the subject shifted to home video collections. Howard credited The Little Mermaid as the film that made him want to become an animator — and pointed to releases like Sleeping Beauty as examples of how high-definition formats have transformed the home viewing experience. "The detail you can see at home just by pausing it and taking a look at the artistry that goes into every frame, it's incredible." Merino's formative memory was more tactile: a clamshell VHS copy of Beauty and the Beast that she wore out entirely. "I would play it over and over and over again." For Brown, it was Dumbo and The Lion King. Warburton, who noted with some amusement that he is "a lot older," reached back further still: Disney records, including a Haunted Mansion album and a Pirates of the Caribbean record.

Warburton offered perhaps the most straightforward case for the film's staying power as a home video staple. "The story, the heart, the soul of this picture — everything it has to say about people in society, everybody being the same, loving, inclusion — it all resonates. You watch it, you're entertained, but you do become touched at the end of it."

Brown made the case for the pause button. "The beauty of having it at home is that you can rewind and you can pause and catch all of the things that the animators did that you might have missed the first time around."

Zootopia 2 is now available to own on digital, coming to Blu-ray, 4K Ultra-HD, and DVD on March 3rd.