Pixar’s new movie, Hoppers, is “like Avatar meets Mission Impossible,” with the first footage being revealed. Directed by Daniel Chong, the movie is one of many on the way from Pixar, including Elio, Toy Story 5, and the recently announced Gatto. What will be Pixar’s 30th animated movie, Hoppers‘ release date is scheduled for March 2026. The film follows Mabel, a girl who uses technology that “hops” human consciousness into lifelike robotic animals.

As part of Pixar’s presentation at the Annecy Animation Festival, chief creative officer Pete Docter shared new details about Hoppers, including screening the first footage. ScreenRant attended the event along with other media outlets and learned that Hoppers is “like Avatar meets Mission Impossible meets Planet Earth,” according to Docter. He describes it as an action-adventure comedy and spy thriller packed with humor, heart, and great characters, and is designed to be a crowd-pleasing experience. Read his full comments below:

So what happens next is a little like Avatar meets Mission Impossible meets Planet Earth. It’s an action adventure, comedy, spy thriller where the humor, the heart, and the adventure leap from the screen in surprising ways. It’s an over the top crowd pleaser, full of twists and big laughs and tons of great characters. We are in the last months of finishing the movie. Can’t wait for you to see it very soon.

At the festival, the first footage from Hoppers was also revealed, showing Mabel hopping into a beaver à la Avatar and trying to recruit another beaver to protest the building of a highway within nature. The beaver she encounters is quite lazy and is caught by a bear. This lazy beaver reacts unbothered at the fact that he’s about to be eaten, because those are the rules of nature. Mabel saves the beaver regardless.

Another scene follows which sees the town’s mayor, voiced by Jon Hamm, going through his seemingly perfect life as he happily makes breakfast and is greeted by his neighbors. When he gets in his car, Mabel is waiting inside already for him, along with other wildlife. While the wildlife can talk to each other, the humans only see their words as animal sounds, which necessitates the beavers to use a text-to-voice app to communicate with the mayor. The mayor is terrified at this whole encounter. The wildlife target him as he is the one leading construction on the highway.

A new image from Hoppers was also revealed:

What This Means For Hoppers

Everything That Was Revealed About Pixar’s New Movie

Docter spoke at length about Hoppers, sharing a litany of details about the upcoming Pixar movie. He says it’s shaping up beautifully and that the story centers on Mabel, a nature-loving college student voiced by Disney star Piper Curda. Raised in a small Northwestern town, Mabel spent her childhood exploring a nearby glade, now threatened by a highway project led by Mayor Jerry Zo, voiced by Jon Hamm. Determined to save the sanctuary, Mabel embarks on a mission to restore wildlife to the area, despite standing alone in her fight.

The twist arrives when Mabel discovers a secret lab where scientists have invented “hopping,” which allows the human mind to be transferred into animal bodies for research. Mabel uses the technology to embody a beaver, setting out to repopulate the glade and stop the highway. Along the way, she befriends a lovable, clueless beaver named King George, voiced by Bobby Moynihan. With scientists chasing her and animal politics complicating things, Mabel’s wild plan faces several hilarious and unexpected challenges.

Our Take On Pixar’s Hoppers

“Avatar Meets M:I” Sounds Intriguing

It’s a shrewd move for Docter to describe Hoppers as “Avatar meets Mission Impossible.” The former is one of the most commercially successful franchises of all time, with each film grossing over $2 billion, and the idea of humans controlling lifelike robotic animals strongly echoes the Na’vi-human hybrids. It’s an easy and exciting comparison for audiences to get behind. How exactly Hoppers mirrors Mission: Impossible remains to be seen, but it’s still an intriguing tease nonetheless.