Pixar Animation Studios offered an exclusive first look at its hottest upcoming features — including Hoopers and Toy Story 5 — and announced a brand-new original production, Gatto, during a studio presentation on Friday at the Annecy international animation film festival as part of a broader showcase that also included extensive footage from Pixar’s 2025 release Elio.
Pixar chief creative officer Pete Docter took the stage to present behind-the-scenes material from Toy Story 5, revealing early footage and confirming the return of franchise veterans Tom Hanks, Tim Allen and Joan Cussack. Directed by Andrew Stanton and McKenna Harris and produced by Jessica Choi, the fifth installment in Pixar’s flagship franchise is scheduled for release on June 19, 2026.
Docter shared that the new film will explore the challenges faced by the toys in a digital-first world. It’s Toy meets Tech,” he said, outlining the film’s plot, which will see the original movies’ team of toys facing up to the challenge presented by the new favorite plaything of their eight-year-old owner Bonnie Anderson: A tech tablet called Lillypad. Woody, Buzz and the rest of the gang will confront a new generation of children more enamored with screens than playthings.
Docter screened the world premiere of the film’s opening scene, in which a container full of Buzz Lightyears awakens on an isolated desert island and struggled to reconnect with “star command.”
Toy Story 5 will also feature Ernie Hudson voicing Combat Carl, taking over the role originally voiced by the late Carl Weathers. In honor of the franchise’s 30th anniversary, the Annecy audience was also treated to archival footage from the making of the original 1995 Toy Story, Pixar’s first full-length feature.
Docter also announced a brand-new animated feature, the original Gatto. The feature, to be directed by Luca filmmaker Enrico Casarosa, follows Nero, a water-hating black cat living in the picturesque city of Venice, Italy, who befriends Maya, a lonely street musician. Docter gave a sneak peek at the first animated tests and character drawings for the movie, which will have a much more painterly design than is typical of Pixar. Gatto is set to premiere in the summer of 2027.
The studio also debuted a first-look clip from Hoopers, an original Pixar comedy about Mabel (Piper Curda), a nature-loving young woman trying to stop the local Mayor Jerry (Jon Hamm), from building a highway that will destroy her local woodlands. Thanks to a secret brain-swapping experiment, Mabel is able to transfer her mind into a robot beaver and heads to a pond, where refugees from the encroaching industrialization have landed. There she tries to convince the animals, led by he regal beaver King George (Bobby Moynihan) to join her and stop the highway.
The Annecy session also included a preview of Elio, directed by Madeline Sharafian and Domee Shi, and produced by Mary Alice Drumm. The science fiction adventure, which premieres in theaters on June 20, follows 11-year-old Elio Solis (voiced by Yonas Kibreab), who is mistakenly identified as Earth’s ambassador after being abducted by aliens. The voice cast includes Zoe Saldaña, Remy Edgerly, Brad Garrett, Jameela Jamil, and Shirley Henderson. Elio premiered earlier this week in Los Angeles. The Annecy crowd was treated to a full 25 minutes of footage.
#Pixar #Toy #Story #Tease #Original #Gatto #Annecy
