Pixar has this week released a brand new teaser trailer for their upcoming 2026 movie Hoppers. The story follows Mabel, a young girl whose consciousness is transferred into a robotic beaver, part of a revolutionary experiment to allow humans to communicate with animals. The trailer offers a hilarious glimpse at what could be Pixar’s next big hit.
Check out the trailer and read my first thoughts below.
A Promising Concept with Loads of Potential
Overall, I love the trailer and it’s got me even more excited to watch Hoppers next year! The concept looks brilliant and the potential for Mabel’s animal communication abilities feels immense. Whilst watching the trailer, I really felt some similarities to films like Open Season and The Wild Robot, mainly due to their setting. It will be interesting to see if more biomes and environments are explored in the movie.
Animation That Pops – and Contrasts
The animation too looks excellent, with the fur and hair department doing a great job at making the animals look extremely lifelike. One thing that did really strike me in the trailer was the contrast between the animation style in the human world, versus that of the animal world. In the human world, the characters, particularly Mabel, look like they have taken inspiration from Disney movies like Big Hero 6. In contrast, the animation in the animal world looks more atypical of Pixar movies. It’s great to see Pixar trialling different styles with their upcoming projects.
Subtle (and Not-So-Subtle) Easter Eggs
Of course, it wouldn’t be a Pixar trailer without a few Easter Eggs, and speaking of Big Hero 6, could there be an Easter Egg with Mabel? I’ve already mentioned that her artwork and animation look quite similar to what we see in BH6, but interestingly in one scene, we see the name “TANAKA” embroidered onto Mabel’s jacket. In the Disney+ original series, Baymax!, Baymax befriends an elderly lady named Kiko Tanaka – could this be a relation to Mabel? Pixar-to-Disney Easter Eggs are fairly rare to see, but they do exist.
One of the more obvious Easter Eggs (if you can even call it that!) in the trailer, is where Mabel describes the mind transfer concept “is like Avatar!”. Typically, Disney and Pixar references to other movies and franchises are much more subtle, so it’s super interesting to see a reference as on the nose as this!
All in all, the teaser trailer is a brilliant, first look at what we can expect to see from Hoppers – charm, humour and no doubt, a beautiful message at the heart of it all.
What do you think of the Hoppers teaser trailer? Let me know in the comments.
Steamboat Charlie 