9 movies and series that will make 2026 a big year for animation

Some think it’s been a difficult time for animation of late, but perhaps it’s more a period of change and renewal. Although major new IPs from giants like Disney and Pixar did badly at the box office, surprise hits – like KPop Demon Hunters becoming Netflix’s most-streamed show ever – demonstrate a strong appetite for animation, including among adult audiences.

The good news is that animation in 2026 is looking fantastic, with a strong bill of movies and series lined up. And while some of the biggest releases are sequels, there are also some original stories coming, including from giants like Pixar, Disney and DreamWorks. Could 2026 be the year of the animation revival? Here’s our pick of the best animated movies and series to look out for throughout the coming year.

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Production company: Bellnox Films
Release date: January 2026

Kicking of the best animation of 2026 in January, The Darwin Incident is a hotly anticipated series based on Shun Umezawa’s award-winning manga. It follows the story of a 15-year-old “humanzee” hybrid called Charlie as he battles through the tribulations of US high school life and gets mixed up with an extremist eco-terrorist group that wants to take advantage of him.

The series should be one of the most intellectual animations in 2026, exploring themes like identity, discrimination and moral limits as well as biotechnology. If Bellnox manages a faithful adaptation of the manga, it should be a gripping but thought-provoking animated thriller, and a great start for animated series in 2026.

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Production company: Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures Animation, Unanimous Media, Modern Magic
Release date: 13 February, 2026

ZooTopia 2 hits the big screen this month, but Sony Animations is hoping it can steal Disney’s glory and become the GOAT of new animated movies with anthropomorphic animals. This sports comedy directed by Tyree Dillihay applies a Spider Verse-like animation style to basketball action in the tale of a goat called Will Harris who gets a shot at the big time in ‘roarball’, a high-intensity contact sport where only the fastest and fiercest animals can shine.

With KPop Demon Hunters, Sony has boosted its reputation for animation. GOAT will show whether it can now deliver at the box office outside of the Spider-Verse.

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Production company: Pixar Animation Studios
Release date: 6 March, 2026

Pixar’s Elio failed to set box offices on fire in 2025. Can Hoppers make up for that and bring back Pixar’s former glory for quirky original animations? Directed by Daniel Chong (We Bare Bears) from a screenplay by Jesse Andrews, the science-fiction comedy looks quite different from other Pixar movies.

It could be helped by the featuring an older protagonist: 19-year-old animal lover Mabel Tanaka, whose uses technology to transfer her mind into a robotic beaver to join the animal world. Piper Curda, Bobby Moynihan and Jon Hamm are some of the voices.

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Production company: Illumination, Nintendo
Release date: 3 April, 2026

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie reunites the cast from the 2023 film, with Chris Pratt as Mario alongside Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Day and Keegan-Michael Key. Some fans are concerned about the leap from Super Mario Bros to Super Mario Galaxy, which means skipping a bunch of Mario lore in Super Mario World, but we’re looking forward to seeing what’s in store for Bowser, whose personality is being explored more than in the games.

In The Super Mario Bros. Movie, we saw King Koopa shrunken by a Mini Mushroom and imprisoned in a cage. It seems he’s now been transferred into a magnificent castle where he’s been ‘working through his demons’ and using art as a creative outlet.

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Production company: Bones Film
Release date: April 2026

After Fullmetal Alchemist and Silver Spoon, Hiromu Arakawa’s Daemons of the Shadow Realm is hugely anticipated in the world of manga anime. The series looks set to deliver a return to high-concept fantasy storytelling. The story will explore the strength of sibling bonds, following two twins, Yuru and Asa, who were separated and tied to daemons.

Arakawa has a reputation for developing complex moral themes in convincing worlds, and the upcoming animated series’ looks like another perfect example. The rural world looks intriguing and mysterious, promising the perfect backdrop for a clash between ordinary lives with powerful supernatural forces. I’m hoping that Daemons of the Shadow Realm will be a modern fantasy classic.

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Production company: Pixar Animation Studios
Release date: 19 June, 2026

Our team has been a bit torn over Toy Story 5. For many of us, the franchise feels like it’s been part of our lives forever, so we have to include it in our list of animated movies to watch in 2026.

Some fans have questioned the consistency of the timeline. Some also fear that the fifth installation sounds very similar to the first, but the premise of toys worried about being replaced feel more relevant than ever in this AI era. What we can agree on is that the animation in the trailer looks wonderfully polished (see the news on the release of RenderMan 27 if you want to try Pixar’s rendering advances for yourself).

Forgotten Island

Production company: DreamWorks
Release date: September 25, 2026

While Pixar has Hoppers and Disney has Hexed, Forgotten Island is DreamWorks’ contender as a major studio original animated movie for 2026. We’ve not seen anything of this movie yet, but the concept sounds enticing, and curiously dark for a DreamWorks movie

Forgotten Island will tell the story of two best friends trapped in a magical world with the only way home requiring them to forget each other forever. There’s a star-studded voice cast lined up, with Lea Salonga, Dave Franco, Jenny Slate, Manny Jacinto, H.E.R. and Liza Soberano, and the movie will be directed by Joel Crawford, who did Puss in Boots.

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Production company: Warner Bros. Pictures Animation
Release date: 6 November, 2026

The Cat and the Hat looks like it could be the closest Warner Bros has got yet to a Pixar-level animated movie. The Dr Seuss story will return to the big screen with a combination of stylised 2D animation and CG animation that should please fans who grew up with the book much more than that 2003 live-action movie with Mike Myers.

The movie’s being directed by Alessandro Carloni and Erica Rivinoja, with Bill Hader leading the voice cast and DNEG providing the animation. Some parts of the trailer remind me of the animation style of Nimona and also Max’s Gremlins TV series. It looks like the style will change in the different worlds, veering towards CG realism in the real world while using cel shading in The Institute of Imagination.

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Production company: Walt Disney Animation Studios
Release date: 25 November, 2026

We don’t yet know much about Disney’s Hexed, so perhaps it’s a bit too early to say that it’s one of the animated movies to watch in 2026, but we any new, original Disney movie is worth keeping an eye out for.

All the studio has said is that Hexed will follow an awkward teenage boy and his ‘Type A mom’ as they discover that the lad might have magical powers. It sounds like the action will take place in the real world as well as a “secret world of magic”, both of which are turned upside down by the realisation. Disney’s take on Harry Potter? We’ll see, but it’s notable that like Pixar’s Hoppers this will see an teenage protagonist rather than a child, which could help the movie’s fortunes.

We’re looking forward to the trailers to see what the animation style looks like. Fans of 2D animation are hoping that the movie will look like the beautifully stylised Hexed concept art that Disney released back in September, but will Disney really take a break from 3D?

Baahubali: The Eternal War Part 1 looks stunning with its Arcane-like art style mixing 2D and 3D animation.

Want to work in animation yourself? Make sure you’re familiar with the Disney principles of animation.

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