Disney has several movies coming out over the next few years from its various branches. This includes the famed Disney Animation, the prestige animated movies from Pixar, the Fox-branded animated hits, as well as regular Disney live-action movies. This includes all the MCU releases and the Star Wars films for Lucasfilm.
This means that Disney might have more anticipated movies coming out than any other studio, thanks to the animated studios and the geek-friendly properties with superheroes and sci-fi favorites. However, what is most interesting is that the most anticipated upcoming movies are animation-heavy, although the MCU has a big two-movie event coming soon.
Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu
The next Star Wars movie is coming to theaters this year. Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu continue the story of the Mandalorian from the Disney+ series, but on the big screen. The movie arrives on May 22 and brings the cast of the series into a story with some big-name actors joining up.
Sigourney Weaver joins the cast as a former rebel pilot who now leads her own squadron of starfighters known as the Adelphi Rangers. Anyone who has seen the trailer also knows that we’ll face a familiar villain, who in this case is Rotta the Hutt (Jabba’s son), voiced by Jeremy Allen White.
This appears to be very different from past Star Wars movies, as it relies on the adventure and fun aspects of the franchise, but how fans react to that remains to be seen. Jon Favreau serves as the director with a script by Favreau, Dave Filoni, and Noah Kloor.
Toy Story 5
It seemed like the Toy Story franchise ended after Andy left for college, after Toy Story 3, since this was the story about his toys. However, Pixar knows this franchise is its bread and butter and released Toy Story 4, which seemed like the final one when Woody chose to leave and strike out on his own since his kid had grown up.
In 2026, Pixar is bringing Toy Story back for a fifth outing, proving there is never enough of the franchise as long as there is a good story to tell. Toy Story 5 is a look at what happens to toys when electronics come into the household and threaten to take kids away from playing with toys.
However, the toys fight back, and this looks to be a nice story about how, even in an era where video games and YouTube threaten to strip kids of their adventurous nature, the toys are still as important as ever. Toy Story 5 comes out on June 19.
Moana
In 2025, Disney released the live-action Lilo & Stitch and watched the remake make over $1 billion at the box office. It is no surprise that Disney wants to keep cashing in on its animated movies with live-action tales, and Moana comes next in 2026. The live-action Moana hits theaters on July 30.
Some fans believe there is no need for a live-action Moana, especially since the animated movie is only 10 years old this year. However, that didn’t stop Disney, even though the second animated Moana movie just came out two years ago. Even stranger is that Dwayne Johnson plays Maui in both versions.
However, this gives Disney a chance to maybe make another $1 billion by remaking a story it already did well, but with live actors and some heavy CGI for the water action. Thomas Kail is a first-time director working on this movie, and the script is by Jared Bush, who wrote the animated film.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day
The first trailer for Spider-Man: Brand New Day just arrived, and it looks like this MCU movie will deliver what comic book fans have been wanting to see from the Wall-Crawler. If there is one thing Marvel Comics has always done with Spider-Man, it is ensuring he is always depressed and insecure.
This film sees him four years after his last appearance, where he made everyone not only forget he was Spider-Man, but also forget who Peter Parker is at all. MJ and Ned moved on with their lives, and Spider-Man became a great hero for the city, while Peter started to disappear completely from the world.
The Hulk and Punisher are both in the movie, as is Sadie Sink in a mystery role. This is the last MCU movie before Avengers: Doomsday destroys the world, so it will be interesting to see how it sets up those events. Spider-Man: Brand New Day arrives on July 31.
Hexed
The next Disney animated movie coming in 2026 is Hexed. This is Disney’s animated Thanksgiving 2026 release, and the team of Josie Trinidad (Zootopia+) and Jason Hand (Moana 2) directs the new film. This is the third Disney animated film of the year, following its Pixar releases Hoppers and the upcoming Toy Story 5.
The logline reads that an awkward teenage boy and his Type-A mom learn that he has magical powers that turn their lives upside down. Disney has been up and down in its recent releases, with Moana 2 and Zootopia 2 hits, but Strange World and Wish as box office disappointments.
This looks more like Wish than it does Zootopia 2, but at the same time, it also seems a little like Encanto with its art design, so there could be something to look forward to here.
Avengers: Doomsday / Avengers: Secret Wars
These are two movies released a year apart, but like Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, this is part one and part two of one larger story. Avengers: Doomsday comes out this Christmas, and it features the X-Men and Fantastic Four showing up in the MCU to battle the Avengers before all the heroes team up against Doctor Doom.
This first movie should have an ending similar to Avengers: Infinity War, where Doctor Doom wins when the Earth is destroyed, but he is able to put things back together into a world made in his own image. This is in Avengers: Secret Wars, where Doom rules the world as its emperor, and heroes are variants of themselves.
These are the MCU’s biggest movies since Avengers: Endgame, and the audience has to turn out to make them worth the money. For fans of the MCU and superhero movies in general, the success of these films, with the second coming out in Christmas 2027, will make or break the genre’s future.
Ice Age: Boiling Point
Moving on to 2027, Disney Animation and Pixar are not the only animation studios under the Disney umbrella. The Ice Age franchise was from Blue Sky Studios, which was part of the Fox banner before Disney bought that studio. That means that Disney now owns the Ice Age movie rights.
Ice Age 6 is titled Ice Age: Boiling Point, and it will hit theaters on February 5, 2027, the first movie in the franchise produced by Disney, albeit through its 20th Century Studios banner. The story here sees the characters returning to the Lost World, the underground land of dinosaurs, for the first time since Collision Course.
The main cast are all returning, with Ray Romano as Manny, John Leguizamo as Sid, Denis Leary as Diego, Simon Pegg as Buck, and Queen Latifah as Ellie.
Gatto
The next original Pixar movie will also arrive in 2027, titled Gatto. This film just had its release date actually moved up to March 5, 2027, where it will come out around the same time as this year’s Hoppers. Pixar’s 32nd film will take place in Italy, and the main character is a cat named Nero.
The animation style looks very arty, with hints of Monet and other iconic painters, and the story is a mafia tale, as Nero finds himself at the mercy of a mob boss cat. The reason the movie moved was that Pixar didn’t want to compete with Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse.
The movie hopes to continue the critical success of Pixar’s past originals, with Hoppers a huge success story in 2026, and both Elio and Elemental great releases, albeit somewhat underrated by critics in 2023 and 2025.
Star Wars: Starfighter
In 2027, another Star Wars movie is coming out, following The Mandalorian and Grogu in 2026. This second movie doesn’t have the connection that the 2026 film has with past storylines, and it will have to sell itself on its action and cast. The movie is called Star Wars: Starfighter and stars Ryan Gosling, Mia Goth, and Matt Smith.
Star Wars: Starfighter is directed by Shawn Levy (Deadpool & Wolverine), and he hopes to find similar success with his debut in the Star Wars world. The story is set five years after the events of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. It will also be a standalone and will not set up any future films.
That makes the success here questionable since franchise fans want connections, but if the trailers can show impressive space battle action and highlight the characters, it could be a huge 2027 surprise. Star Wars: Starfighter comes to theaters on May 28, 2027.
Incredibles 3
One of the most exciting upcoming Disney movies is another Pixar sequel, as the third Incredibles movie is on the way in 2027. There are some interesting things to note about this movie, as director Brad Bird has said that things he wanted in the sequel were cut thanks to a reduced production period.
Bird said there were lingering plot lines from the second movie that could lead to a third film, and that will finally happen. According to Disney, Incredibles 3 will hit theaters on June 16, 2028, which will be 10 years after the release of the second movie.
Brad Bird will not direct the third film, although he will write the screenplay for Peter Sohn (Elkemental) to direct. Coco 2 is also coming in the future, but it is Incredibles 3 that has the official release date for Disney’s upcoming movie releases.