Pixar Animation Studios was particularly hard hit by Tuesday’s wave of company-wide layoffs at Disney, even though it was riding high on the success of the summer blockbuster “Toy Story 5.”
A Disney spokesperson confirmed that the media conglomerate is cutting hundreds of jobs in certain divisions of the company. That includes layoffs at ESPN, many of which are related to the NFL Network merger. Disney Entertainment Television. And Disney Studios. Most of the studio-side layoffs took place within Pixar, and most of the television group’s layoffs took place at National Geographic.
Disney employees were informed Tuesday morning that they would be losing their jobs.
In April, Disney cut approximately 1,000 employees in its studios, television networks, ESPN, product and technology, and marketing departments across its corporate group. At the time, newly appointed Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro said in a memo to employees: “Over the past several months, we have worked hard to ensure that we deliver the world-class creativity and innovation that our fans appreciate and expect from Disney. “Given the rapid pace of change in our industry, we must constantly evaluate how to develop a more agile, technology-enabled workforce to meet tomorrow’s needs.”
Pixar’s job cuts are concentrated in production and operations. A person familiar with the layoffs said the changes reflect evolving needs related to Pixar’s production volume and the studio’s ongoing projects. More broadly, Walt Disney Studios has evolved its production strategy over the past three years to reduce overall volume and prioritize quality. Its focus is on theatrical productions that feed into the company’s broader entertainment ecosystem, including streaming, with fewer productions produced directly for streaming.
Pixar has released two movies in 2026. One was this spring’s original adventure “Hoppers,” which opened well but fell short of the box office success of Pixar’s past masters. And this summer’s Toy Story 5 will soon surpass the $1 billion mark and ultimately become the series’ highest-grossing movie.
Pixar’s sequels, including 2024’s Inside Head 2, have been big box office hits, but animation studios have struggled to launch new productions since the pandemic. Several films, including Soul, Luca and Turning Red, were sent directly to Disney+ during the coronavirus outbreak, and executives felt audiences were being incorrectly trained to watch Pixar movies at home.
Rebecca Rubin contributed to this article.
