What you need to know
Kate McKinnon has expressed how much she loves certain Pixar movies.
Speaking exclusively with PEOPLE at the premiere of her latest project, the sci-fi film In the Blink of an Eye, held at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, on January 26, the 42-year-old actress opened up about what Pixar’s animated films, specifically directed by Andrew Stanton, mean to her.
“I’m a lifelong fan, absolutely,” McKinnon said of Coach Stanton, 60. “For me, the themes of the stories he tells are quasi-religious texts.”
disney/pixar
The Saturday Night Live alum continued, “I mean, there’s ancient wisdom in them. He has ancient wisdom.”
McKinnon cited 2003’s Finding Nemo and 2008’s Wall-E as prime examples of Pixar classics that Stanton directed and co-wrote. Both animated films won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
“These are stories about time, humanity, and life itself. That’s true. And this film was no exception,” McKinnon said of the 2026 project.
According to the film’s description, In the Blink of an Eye is a film in which “three storylines spanning thousands of years intersect to reflect hope, connection, and the circle of life.”
Randy Shropshire/Getty
Never miss a news. Sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up to date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to human interest stories.
In the film, McKinnon plays Coakley, who is aboard a spaceship bound for a distant planet with a sentient onboard computer “to combat a disease plaguing the ship’s oxygen-producing plants.”
In the Blink of an Eye, which also stars Rashida Jones and Daveed Diggs, will be available to stream on Hulu on February 27th.
