Layoffs Hit Storied Animation Studio (Exclusive)

The gates to the Pixar campus in Emeryville, California.

Frankie Taggart/AFP via Getty Images)

The long-awaited layoffs at Pixar Animation Studios have begun.

Today, executives of the famous company whose origins date back to the late Steve Jobs and which was acquired by Disney in 2006 will inform employees of the reductions, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. This is the largest restructuring in Pixar history, although senior management is not affected.

About 14 percent of Pixar’s workforce, or about 175 employees, will be laid off. Before the cuts, about 1,300 people worked at the animation studio.

The layoffs are part of Disney chief Bob Iger’s overall mandate to refocus on quality, rather than producing content for streaming, which was a priority for his successor, Bob Chapek. Disney executives have talked about a renewed focus on quality on numerous earnings calls this year, saying the company’s creative teams are overstretched in the arms race to power streamers.

Pixar employees have known since January that layoffs are coming. If there is any comfort to be had, it is that the reductions are less than the 20 percent reported in January by some media outlets. Pixar is not left out either.

There were layoffs across Disney last year, but cuts at Pixar were delayed due to production schedules, according to sources. Pixar, led by Pete Docter, will no longer focus on direct-to-streaming series, but on its feature films. This excludes Win or losewhich is expected to debut later this year.

The once invincible animation studio suffered a major setback during the pandemic period when the Chapek regime decided to send Lucas, coconut And Turn red directly to Disney+ even though theaters had started to reopen or were in full recovery mode. And then its first post-COVID theatrical release, Light year was widely dismissed by critics and audiences, exposing Pixar to continued scrutiny.

Pixar received some good news last year with the release of Elementarywhich grossed nearly $500 million worldwide to become the biggest original animated film since Pixar’s. coconut in 2017. It was also a streaming sensation.

And cinema owners have high hopes for Inside Out 2, which opens June 14 in North America (the trailer was the most-watched animated trailer in the company’s history). Other upcoming films include next year’s Elio And Toy Story 5 in 2026.