Hoppers (2026)
A Pixar original story by Daniel Chong & Jesse Andrews.
After a dispute with her elementary school principal over whether or not class pets should be confined to small artificial habitats, 6-year old Mabel Tanaka is ultimately suspended. Frustrated, Mabel's mother leaves her with her grandmother, who lives near a glade. Inspired by her grandmother, Mabel develops a deep appreciation for nature. 13 years later, after her parents leave town and her grandmother has died, A 19 year old Mabel continues watching over the glade. Beaverton's mayor, Jerry Generazzo, announces plans to route part of his beltway through the area, claiming the animals have already left. Mabel campaigns against the project but gains no support.
Mabel learns from her biology professor Dr. Sam that the animals left the glade when the resident beaver, which is a keystone species, left. While trying to lure a beaver back to the glade, Mabel discovers that Dr. Sam and her colleagues, Nisha and Conner, have secretly developed the "Hoppers" program, which uses a proprietary mindcasting apparatus to “hop” or inhabit a lifelike replicant body, in this case, robotic animals. Despite Sam's warning that interfering with wildlife could have disastrous consequences, Mabel sees an opportunity to save the glade, hops into a robotic beaver, and escapes the lab.
Mistaken for a real beaver and accidentally preventing a bear named Ellen from eating a beaver named Loaf and thus breaking “pond rules”, Mabel is brought before Mammal King George, a beaver monarch sheltering the glade's displaced animals in an overcrowded dam known as the Superlodge. Mabel learns from George that the reason all the animals left the glade is because of an artificial tree emitting sound waves audible only to animals that Jerry secretly installed to drive them away. Mabel destroys the device, prompting many animals to return to the glade. As she grows closer to George, George makes her “Paw of the King” however she prepares to reveal her identity. Before she can, Jerry destroys part of the glade with explosives and installs additional sound-emitting trees.
Mabel and George convene a meeting of the Animal Council, attended by monarchs representing the Insects, Amphibians, Fish, Reptiles, and Birds. Initially indifferent, the Council agrees to intervene after Mabel warns that Jerry will eventually threaten all their habitats. However, her speech inadvertently inspires its members to plan assassinating, or “squishing” him by summoning an apex predator. When Mabel tries to change their minds, she accidentally kills the Insect Queen. She and George flee while the animals destroy the robotic bodies Nisha and Conner used to spy on the meeting, exposing the humans' deception. The Insect Prince, Titus, crowns himself king and takes control of the Council.
Initially upset with Mabel, George forgives her and agrees to help protect Jerry. Joined by Loaf, Ellen, and Tom the lizard, the group locates Jerry and forces him to drive to the glade in hopes of stopping the beltway project. Seagulls working for the Council attempt to kill him by dropping the apex predator, a shark named Diane, onto his car. Although they escape, Jerry refuses to abandon the project. Frustrated, Mabel reveals their location to both the Council and the scientists, who arrive and disconnect her from the robotic beaver, causing her to faint, and revealing to George that she is not a beaver.
Mabel awakens to find the Council has taken everyone hostage and forced the scientists to build a robotic clone of Jerry for Titus to inhabit. Titus plans to impersonate the mayor and use the sound trees to massacre the humans attending Jerry's re-election rally at the glade. Before leaving, Titus accuses Mabel of being exactly like Jerry, pointing out her actions of stealing the technology and lying and using the animals for her own desires, while Jerry calls Mabel out for causing the animals to try and kill the humans. Realizing her desire to save the glade clouded her judgment and caused more harm than good, Mabel chooses to patch things up with Jerry, who reluctantly hops into the robotic beaver to help them escape.
At the rally, Mabel attempts to reason with Titus, but he refuses to abandon his plan. Jerry, the animals, and the scientists try to unhop him, but the effort fails and destroys the robotic beaver. During the struggle, Mabel knocks Jerry's phone onto a sound tree and climbs it to retrieve it. She tears off the latex mask covering Titus's robotic face, preventing him from using facial recognition to unlock Jerry's phone and activate the trees. Enraged, Titus tears down the tree and reveals his intention to have the insects exterminate every other species, horrifying the Council. The falling tree destroys the robotic body and sparks a wildfire that spreads toward the city. After Titus is eaten by the Amphibian King, the Council joins Mabel, George, and the other animals in dismantling the dam, flooding the glade and extinguishing the fire.
Jerry agrees to reroute the beltway and the glade becomes a protected wildlife preserve. Mabel graduates from college, and although the Hoppers program is discontinued because of her actions, Sam hires her as an assistant. Dr. Sam’s other ideas include a cleaning robot and robot with polishing tool (“WALL-E”), a talking dog collar (“Up”), etc. Mabel and George remain friends, communicating through text-to-speech software (“Save The Day”).
TRIVIA
Pond Rules
Rule 1: Don’t be a stranger
Rule 2: When you gotta eat, eat
Rule 3: We’re all in this together
Visual Style
The team wanted to depict nature in a way that looks beautiful and recognizable but isn’t distracting. There was a lot of coordination across departments to stylize and simplify the shapes and the overall look while making it feel natural. Ultimately, they wanted to immerse the viewer in the beauty of nature.
For the Superlodge and environments, the team drew inspiration from nature in many forms—including research trips to Yellowstone, Colorado, Fort Collins, and Oakland Zoo. They consulted beaver expert Dr. Emily Fairfax, PhD. They even got to go inside an abandoned beaver lodge to experience intricate corridors and areas—almost like separate rooms. They also had the chance to swim in actual beaver ponds.