D23 is chipping in for the promotional campaign of Pixar’s next film, Hoppers, as it reveals new info on the movie’s inspiration on Instagram.
What Inspired the Premise of “Hoppers”?
In a new post to the official D23 Instagram account, Pixar staff discussed some of the inciting inspiration for their next film, Hoppers.
Hoppers follows an animal lover named Mabel whose mind is transferred into a lifelike robotic beaver capable of communicating with animals. In the course of the experiment, Mabel learns of an impending danger to the animals’ environment and ultimately works together with them to save their habitat from destruction.
In the new D23 post, Margaret Spencer, story lead on the film, described the real-world inspiration for the film’s premise:
Famously, Daniel (Daniel Chong, Hoppers director and creator) is fascinated by how actual scientists would try to infiltrate nature by dressing up as animals. That was kind of the original inspiration for “what if you could go undercover in the animal world?”
John Cody Kim, story supervisor on Hoppers, added:
And the wish-fulfillment was also: “what if you could understand these animals; what are they talking about?”
As Margaret explained, scientists sometimes study animals by disguising themselves—or using lifelike robotic surrogates similar to Hoppers—in order to minimize the observer effect and capture natural behavior.
In conservation work with species such as the whooping crane, researchers wear full-body bird costumes and use crane-shaped puppets to prevent chicks from imprinting on humans, improving their chances of successful release into the wild.
Similar principles apply when deploying camouflaged blinds, scent masking, or robotic “spy” animals to integrate into social groups without causing stress. A well-documented example of these techniques in action can be seen in the BBC series Spy in the Wild, which used robotic animals to film close-range wildlife behavior unobtrusively.
Yesterday, Disney shared an exclusive special look at Hoppers on Disney+. Theater-goers can also get a sneak peek at the limited-time Hoppers merchandise available at various theater chains during the film’s premiere period.
Meanwhile, a Hoppers concept art exhibit was installed at Pixar Place Hotel in Disneyland. At Walt Disney World, Walt Disney Presents at Disney’s Hollywood Studios also has multiple displays and a preview in the theatre.
Pixar’s Hoppers will premiere on February 28, 2026, at the New York International Children’s Film Festival and will be released in U.S. theaters nationwide on March 6, 2026.
You can check out the original post on Instagram below:
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