Pixar is back with its next big adventures, and this time it’s thinking big…beavers? At the 2025 Annecy Animation Festival, the studio unveiled its all-new look for its upcoming lineup, Hoppers. It is a part of Pixar’s upcoming slate that includes the sci-fi adventure Elio, the long-awaited Toy Story 5, and the newly announced feline-led adventure Gatto.
Let’s just say the audiences were charmed and maybe got a little déjà vu. Starring Jon Hamm as one of the central roles, Hoppers is packed with the studio’s trademark heart, humor, and talking animals. With the Pixar charm and a plot that feels surprisingly similar to James Cameron’s Avatar, the movie is raising many questions. And described by the studio’s Pete Docter as “Avatar but cute,” is turning the most heads.
Pixar’s Hoppers draws surprising but “cute” comparisons to James Cameron’s Avatar
Directed by Daniel Chong (We Bare Bears), Pixar‘s Hoppers follows Mabel, a nature-loving college student voiced by Disney star Piper Curda. Raised near a glade threatened by highway development, Mabel discovers a scientific lab that has created a technology to “hop” human consciousness into robotic animal bodies.
With the forest facing destruction from a new highway project, Mabel hijacks the tech and becomes a beaver to rally the local wildlife and stop the construction. She did all of these while bonding with another beaver, even if it is a little too chill about being eaten by a bear. Her mission? Save the glade, unite the animals, and confront the town’s well-meaning but misguided mayor, Jerry Jo (Jon Hamm), who’s leading the construction.
If that arc sounds familiar, it’s because it mirrors Avatar beat-for-beat. An outsider infiltrates a native community, learns their ways, switches sides, and ultimately fights for them against human expansion. Jake Sully enters the world of the Na’vi, bonds with them via a biological avatar, and becomes their champion against industrial destruction. Mabel’s journey is strikingly similar, though in this case, it’s cute animals instead of towering blue aliens.
The parallels don’t stop at the general plot structure. Both protagonists embody other forms to engage with a native population. Both movies focus on environmental destruction at the hands of corporate interests. Both explore the friction between technology and nature, even secondary story elements, like cultural immersion and animal hierarchies with their own sets of rules and regulations.
Both stories are driven by empathy, transformation, and standing up against ecological destruction. Even King George, a lazy, crown-wearing beaver voiced by Bobby Moynihan, echoes Avatar’s tribal leaders, gathering allies from across the pond in a scene reminiscent of Na’vi clan unification. Pixar is anything but subtle in acknowledging the inspiration. The comparisons seem intentional, not a rip-off.
Should James Cameron sue Pixar? The studio has plausible deniability
Despite these similarities, Pixar has plausible deniability, at least for now. While the studio’s Chief Creative Officer, Pete Docter’s addressing “Avatar but cute” nod openly to the inspiration, no one involved in Hoppers has formally acknowledged Avatar as a direct source.
Until they do, Pixar can lean on the fact that themes like environmentalism, transformation, and fighting for the underdog are as old as storytelling itself. Docter stated (via ScreenRant),
So what happens next is a little 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.
Copyright law does not protect general ideas, only specific expressions, and Hoppers wraps its tale in talking animals in a lighter tone. Hoppers is a family-friendly spy comedy full of unexpected animal politics and humorous tension, such as beavers using voice apps to communicate with humans or a lazy beaver shrugging off being eaten because those are the rules.
It’s hardly a clone; more like a remix filtered through Pixar’s signature heart and humor. So, should James Cameron sue? Almost certainly not. But should he raise an eyebrow? Absolutely. Pixar seems more than happy to wink at its source material while creating something distinctly its own.
With Elio and the newly announced Gatto in Pixar’s pipeline, Hoppers feels like a breath of slightly borrowed forest air. It’s fine, though. Whether or not Cameron sues, Pixar fans will likely hop straight into theatres when Hoppers lands.
Hoppers is scheduled for a theatre release on March 6, 2026.
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