Upcoming films include the return of beloved franchises such as Toy Story, Frozen, and Star Wars. This year and the next two are going to be exciting for fans.
Good news, Disney fans! We have much to look forward to in the next few months until 2026—and maybe even beyond.
This year, we have the highly anticipated Inside Out 2 which will come to theaters on June 14. Produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures, the sequel to the 2015 hit will see us returning to the mind of Riley alongside Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust, with some new emotions thrown in (I can’t wait to meet Anxiety!).
Then there’s the Lion King prequel, Mufasa: The Lion King, where Timon, Pumbaa, and Rafiki will tell the story of how Mufasa went from orphan cub to King of the Pride Lands. Release date is on July 25.
2025 will see the live-action remake of Snow White, with Rachel Zegler playing the titular princess and Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen. The SAG-AFTRA strike pushed the film’s release from March 2024 to March 21, 2025.
Also in 2025 is Elio, a new Pixar film which sees the titular young boy transported to space where he becomes Earth’s ambassador. America Ferrera voices Elio’s mother, Olga, a decoder at a top-secret military organization. The film has also been delayed from its original 2024 release date to 2025.
Aside from the films which have already been announced earlier, Disney CEO Bob Iger made some huge announcements during the company’s Q1 2024 earnings call last Feb. 7—from surprise sequels to returning franchises. It’s indeed a great time to be a Disney junkie.
Moana 2 hits theaters in November
Disney’s Q1 2024 earnings call saw Iger’s surprise announcement of a Moana sequel alongside a teaser trailer. Moana 2 was supposed to be a series on Disney+ but the company opted for a theatrical release instead because according to Iger, the original Moana was “the most streamed movie on any platform in the U.S. in 2023.”
The movie is so popular on Disney+ that it has already crossed 1 billion streams on the streaming platform. “This was originally developed as a series, but we were impressed with what we saw and we knew it deserved a theatrical release,” Iger said.
Moana 2 will hit theaters on Nov. 27.
Star Wars returns to the big screen
The beloved franchise is set to make a big screen comeback with The Mandalorian & Grogu arriving in theaters in 2026, seven years after The Rise of Skywalker. This will be the first in a new lineup of Star Wars movies planned by the studio. The film was confirmed earlier this year and will star Pedro Pascal as Din Djarin, with direction by Jon Favreau, and with Kathleen Kennedy and Dave Filoni producing.
The Mandalorian was a flagship show of Disney+, with the first episode premiering alongside the streaming service’s launch.
Zootopia 2 in 2025, Toy Story 5 and Frozen 3 in 2026
Zootopia 2 is coming! The adorable 2016 animated movie follows police officer Judy Hops, a bunny voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin, who strikes up an unlikely friendship with con artist fox Nick Wilde, voiced by Jason Bateman. No casting information or plot details have been confirmed yet, but we do now have a release date—Nov. 26, 2025.
In the same event, Iger announced the release window for Toy Story 5 which is in 2026. Little is currently known about the beloved franchise’s fifth installment, but while release windows are tentative, Disney usually delivers on its expected deadlines.
Photo from Walt Disney Studios
Frozen is also set to add a third movie to its wildly popular franchise. The follow-up to 2019’s Frozen 2 will see Josh Gad and Idina Menzel reprising their roles as Olaf the Snowman and Elsa, respectively.
Taylor Swift heads to Disney+
Iger also announced that the Eras Tour (Taylor’s Version) concert film will head to Disney+ on Mar. 15 in an exclusive streaming debut. The film will include the song “cardigan” and four acoustic songs that Iger mentioned “were not in the theatrical or digital purchase release of the film.”
Here’s the full upcoming lineup of films confirmed by Iger:
Alien: Romulus – Aug. 16, 2024
Moana 2 – Nov. 27, 2024
Zootopia 2 – Nov. 26, 2025
Toy Story 5 – 2026
Frozen 3 – 2026
The Mandalorian & Grogu – 2026
In the pipeline
There are other new Disney films that are anticipated but still don’t have a release window. Among those are Tron 3 which will star Jared Leto, Cameron Monaghan, Evan Peters, Jodie Turner-Smith, Gillian Anderson, and Greta Lee. Production shut down during the WGA writers’ strike and SAG-AFTRA actors’ strike, but filming resumed in January.
Photo from the Everett Collection
We should expect live-action adaptations of Lilo & Stitch, The Aristocats, and Hercules. Cruella 2 is also said to be in the works, with Emma Stone anticipated to be back as the titular villain.
Photo from Photofest
Whoopi Goldberg and Wendy Makkena, meanwhile, are returning for Sister Act 3. Well-loved ‘80s hit Three Men and a Baby is having a reboot, with Zac Efron confirmed to star in the Disney+ release with Mo Marable directing.
