Studio confirms the job losses to AWN as part of Disney’s staff cuts earlier this week that include ESPN and National Geographic.
The recent box office success of Toy Story 5 notwithstanding, Pixar has been hit particularly hard as part of Disney’s companywide layoffs announced this past Tuesday, with Variety reporting that the media giant is cutting several hundred jobs.
Affected company groups include ESPN, where many cuts are tied to the integration of NFL Network; Disney Entertainment Television; and Disney’s studios. The majority of layoffs on the studio side are within Pixar, while most of the cuts in the TV group are at National Geographic. Disney employees losing their jobs were informed Tuesday morning.
Confirming the Tuesday layoffs to AWN, a Pixar spokesperson said:
“Pixar eliminated a number of roles on Tuesday, concentrated in production and operations. There are also strategic reductions that happened in some other areas across Disney. This is part of our continual evaluation of how we manage resources and reinvest across the company as our industry continues to evolve. These changes reflect Pixar’s evolving needs as it relates to production volume and the projects that are in process at the studio. Pixar has refocused its efforts on theatrical storytelling and a production model that aligns its workforce, resources, and cost structure with the needs of its feature film slate. More broadly, The Walt Disney Studios has evolved its production strategy over the past three years — reducing overall volume, prioritizing quality, and focusing on theatrical releases that fuel its broader entertainment ecosystem, including streaming, with less produced directly for streaming.”
The company also told AWN, “Pixar was not part of the reductions that took place in April 2026.”
April cuts included around 1,000 employees across marketing functions at its studios, TV networks, ESPN, product and technology, and corporate groups. At that time, newly appointed Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro told employees in a memo that the company had been looking for ways to streamline operations and build a more agile, technologically enabled workforce.
Pixar’s staff reductions come during a busy theatrical year for the animation studio. They’ve released two films this year: Hoppers, which opened strongly and scored well with critics but did not reach the box-office levels of the studio’s biggest hits, and Toy Story 5, which is nearing the billion-dollar mark at the global box office and expected to become the franchise’s highest-grossing installment.
Dan Sarto is Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network.
