Whenever you hear the name “Pixar” you usually think of landmark animated films like Toy Story, A Bug’s Life, Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, Wall-E and many more. Ever since 1995 the studio has amazed audiences with 3D animated films full of life an wonder.



But unfortunately within the last couple of years the studio doesn’t seem to have the same effect it once did before.

In 2020 the COVID-19 Pandemic began, around that time Pixar’s film Onward released theatrically. The film’s performance was affected by the shutdown, grossing only $161 Million on a $200 Million budget. Since then most of their films had been relegated to releasing on Disney Plus, beginning with Soul in December of that year.



In 2021 Pixar’s Luca was released directly to streaming with no paywall while Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon was released theatrically and was made part of the premium access plan. And in early 2022 Turning Red also skipped theaters and went directly to streaming. Lightyear is the studio’s first major theatrical release in two years and as of writing this it has failed to turn a meaningful profit, underperforming at the box office.

Not to mention many people believe ever since former Pixar Head, John Lasseter, “Stepped Down” in 2018 the quality of the films haven’t been quite the same.

With animation being very expensive these days and Disney trying to do what they can to save money while also attempting to increase subscribers to their streaming service Pixar could be relegated to making films/content exclusive to Disney Plus while Disney Animation Studios proper releases their films theatrically.



Back in the day Disneytoon Studios was the company that made the vast amount of direct-to-video sequels, but were eventually closed in 2018. With Disney possibly relegating the studio to direct-to-streaming in a way Pixar could become the next Disneytoon Studios.

What do you think? Could Pixar be relegated to making content for Disney Plus?