Pixar is in production on Gatto, a new animated feature about a black cat in Venice, Italy, that will release in cinemas in summer 2027.
Pixar chief creative officer Pete Docter revealed the film at the end of Pixar’s slate presentation at Annecy International Animation Film Festival today (Friday, June 13).
Gatto will follow Nero, a black cat living in Venice, who cannot swim and must navigate a town filled with people who are superstitious about him.
Nero aligns himself with “the seedier side of cat society” said Docter, where he finds himself indebted to a cat boss named Rocco.
He loves music, and becomes captivated by another outsider – a street musician named Maya.
The film will be directed by Italian filmmaker Enrico Casarosa, who previously directed Pixar’s Luca.
Speaking on-stage in Annecy, Docter said the film is trying to “capture the painterly texture of Venice while still preserving the depth and dimension you’ve come to expect from Pixar.”
Docter also took the audience through footage and images of 30 years of Toy Story, eliciting gasps from the Annecy crowd when he showed footage of the computer programme used to animate the first film, released in 1995.
He followed this with teasers for Toy Story 5, which is set to release in cinemas in summer 2026. Docter confirmed that Tim Allen, Tom Hanks and Joan Cusack will all return to their voice roles.
The film will follow the character of Bonnie, first introduced in Toy Story 3, who is now eight years old and has been bought a ‘lilypad’ tablet device by her parents. The story will pit the original toys against the tablet for Bonnie’s attention, in what Docter described as “toy meets tech.”
He also showed the audience the opening of the film, which sees a crate of platinum edition Buzz Lightyear dolls shipwrecked on a desert island.
One of the dolls brings the others to life; and they band together to create Buzz’s iconic line from the first film, “Rendez-vous with Star Command”, before boarding a raft and setting out to sea.
In showing the Pixar release schedule at the end of the presentation, Docter also confirmed that The Incredibles 3 and Coco 2 are set for release in “2028 and beyond”.
Brad Bird is writing The Incredibles 3, with Pete Sohn directing; while Lee Unkrich is returning to direct Coco 2.
The first section of the Pixar showcase was dedicated to footage and art from the studio’s next release, Elio, which lands in cinemas on June 20. Co-directors Domee Shi and Madeline Sharafian were joined by producer Mary Alice Drumm to present the footage.
Earlier in the day in Annecy, Disney presented Zootopia 2, showing new footage from the animal adventure and confirming that Ron Clements is directing the film.
Zootopia 2 is releasing in cinemas on November 26.
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