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Today, Disney and Pixar re-affirmed once again their commitment to France’s Annecy Animation Festival, a world-class event the studios now use annually to deliver exclusive news and preview screenings to a global audience of animation fans.
In what opened as a regular preview showcase of upcoming “Elio,” DisneyPixar’s Chief Creative Officer Pete Docter unveiled a packed-Pixar slate featuring an all-new film, breaking the news to an ecstatic audience.
“Gatto”, expected in summer 2027, comes from the filmmaking team behind “Luca,” – director Enrico Casarosa and producer Andrea Warren. Casarosa’s directorial debut feature now turned fan-favorite due to his loveable characters and lush Italian settings, “Luca” was the first Pixar film to be released exclusively on Disney+, as Hollywood execs struggled to adapt to the pandemic’s shifting tides.
Since then, DisneyPixar has —to all animation fans’ greatest pleasure— pivoted back to a worldwide theatrical release strategy, paired with exclusive premieres. Annecy crowds may well be the very first audience to discover “Gatto” in June 2027.
This new Pixar film returns to Italy, Casarosa’s birth country, this time to Venice, where, after years of maneuvering the sea-side, extraordinary city, a black cat named Nero begins to question whether he’s lived the right lives.
Indebted to a local feline mob boss, Nero finds himself in a quandary and is forced to forge a truly unexpected friendship that may finally lead him to his purpose…. unless the mysterious and dark side of Venice gets the better of him first.
The Annecy crowd cheered the announcement, as “Luca” continues to delight Pixar fans and family audiences alike. The feature was re-released last year, along with two other COVID-struck Pixar films “Red Alert” and “Soul”, and is now streaming exclusively on Disney+.
An animation-hungry Annecy crowds were not disappointed by this year’s showcase, as “Elio” filmmakers Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi and producer Mary Alice Drumm took the stage and offered a not-so-brief 27 minutes preview of their long-awaited feature. What has been shown so far enchanted festival goers, leaving them eager to discover the full scope of the adventures that await Elio and Aunt Olga (voiced by Academy Award Winner Zoe Saldaña), as they travel millions of miles across the universe encountering a host of out-of-this world creatures who just might help him figure out exactly where he belongs. “Elio” hits global theaters next week.
DisneyPixar’s CCO Peter Docter — who was honored today with an induction into Annecy’s Walk of Fame — delighted Pixar fans with exclusive footage from “Hoppers” along with a sneak peek at the first two minutes of the studio’s summer 2026 release, “Toy Story 5.”
Docter confirmed the return of Joan Cusack as Jessie in this next “Toy Story” chapter and announced exciting new characters as well, as the studio celebrates the 30th birthday of the fan-favorite, trailblazing franchise. “Toy Story”, released in 1995, is the first feature length computer animated film ever released and the debut feature release from Pixar Animation Studios, released by Walt Disney Pictures.
A film that revolutionized the industry and brought forth the age of computer-generated animation.
As the supervising animator on the original “Toy Story,”, Docter showcased rarely seen legacy footage from the film, which brought fame and fortune to Pixar and started a franchise that has since received 18 Academy Award nominations and won 3 Academy Awards and a Special Achievement Award, with Best Animated Feature for both “Toy Story 3” and “Toy Story 4” and Best Original Song (“We Belong Together”), featured in the acclaimed third installment of Woody and Buzz’ franchise.
30 years ago, “Toy Story” was showcased in Annecy. Today, it definitely seemed that Docter was once again telling Annecy’s crowds: “You’ve Got a Friend in Me.”
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