Pixar’s flops since 2018, and what Disney said about Morris’ exit

By our math, Inside Out 2 alone outgrossed the eight Pixar movies since 2018 that didn’t reach $1 billion, combined. None of the outlets covering Jim Morris’ exit as Pixar president tied it to the flops.

Pixar announced Wednesday, Nov. 4, that Jim Morris will step back as president after 12 years, with general manager Jonathan Garson taking over on Jan. 4, 2027. Not one of the outlets that covered the move, from Deadline to Reuters, reported a link to the studio’s box office misses.

By our math, Pixar’s 12 features from 2018 through 2026 grossed $6.76 billion worldwide, according to The Numbers. Inside Out 2 made $1.7 billion of that by itself, more than the eight releases that didn’t reach $1 billion combined ($1.59 billion).

Four movies, all sequels, topped $1 billion. Three went straight to Disney+ during the pandemic. Three more, Onward, Lightyear and Elio, grossed less than or barely more than their reported budgets.

How much has each Pixar movie made since 2018?

Box office figures below come from The Numbers as of early November. Budgets are reported figures. Disney doesn’t usually confirm them.

• Incredibles 2 (June 15, 2018): $608.6 million domestic and $1.243 billion worldwide on a reported $200 million budget. Its $182.7 million opening was the biggest animated debut of all time, Disney said then.

• Toy Story 4 (June 21, 2019): $434 million domestic and $1.071 billion worldwide, on a reported $200 million. It also won the Oscar for best animated feature.

• Onward (March 6, 2020): $61.6 million domestic and $133.3 million worldwide on a budget reported around $200 million. Theaters shut down days later, and it went on sale digitally March 20.

• Soul (Dec. 25, 2020): Straight to Disney+ in the U.S. It made $120.1 million worldwide, mostly in theaters in places without Disney+, such as China. Its budget has been reported at $150 million to $200 million.

• Luca (June 18, 2021): Disney+ in the U.S. and $51.1 million worldwide from overseas theaters and a 2024 U.S. run. No budget has been reported.

• Turning Red (March 11, 2022): Disney+ again, and $21.5 million worldwide. The Numbers lists a $175 million budget.

• Lightyear (June 17, 2022): $118.3 million domestic and $226.4 million worldwide. Variety reported it cost “$200 million to produce and tens of millions more to market.”

• Elemental (June 16, 2023): Opened to just $29.6 million, then climbed to $154.4 million domestic and $496.4 million worldwide on a reported $200 million budget.

• Inside Out 2 (June 14, 2024): $653 million domestic and $1.699 billion worldwide on a reported $200 million. It’s Pixar’s biggest movie ever.

• Elio (June 20, 2025): A $20.8 million opening, $73 million domestic and $154.3 million worldwide. Variety reported a $150 million budget. TheWrap later put it around $200 million.

• Hoppers (March 6, 2026): A $45.3 million opening, $166 million domestic and $389.7 million worldwide on a reported $150 million budget.

• Toy Story 5 (June 19, 2026): A franchise-record $159.7 million opening, then $480.3 million domestic and $1.149 billion worldwide. Variety reported a $250 million budget.

Here’s how each movie’s worldwide gross compares with its reported budget:

Which Pixar movies flopped at the box office?

Three, by our math, comparing worldwide gross with reported budget. For a yardstick, TheWrap called Hoppers’ $389.5 million on a $150 million budget “slightly shy of break-even.” That’s about 2.6 times its budget. Theaters keep part of every ticket, and marketing isn’t in the budget.

• Onward, 0.67 times its budget: It opened March 6, 2020, days before the pandemic closed theaters. It’s the one flop with a real asterisk.

• Elio, 1.03 times: Its opening was the “worst start in Pixar’s 30-year history,” Variety reported. “By Pixar’s remarkable standard, this opening is weak,” analyst David A. Gross told the trade.

• Lightyear, 1.13 times: Gross called its $51 million start “a soft opening for a spinoff” in June 2022. Buzz’s origin story finished with about a fifth of Toy Story 4’s worldwide total. To infinity, and not much beyond.

We saw the Elio number coming, too: “Elio Will Likely Be the Worst Pixar Film Opening Ever” ran on June 21, 2025.

Two originals landed in the middle. Elemental finished at about 2.5 times its budget after that slow start. Hoppers reached 2.6 times, and its $88 million global launch was the biggest for an original animated movie since Coco in 2017, The Associated Press reported.

The four sequels weren’t close calls. By our math, Inside Out 2 made about 8.5 times its reported budget, Incredibles 2 about 6.2 times, Toy Story 4 about 5.4 times and Toy Story 5 about 4.6 times.

“Pixar sequels are in a league of their own,” Gross told Variety in June 2024. We counted in September: only six Pixar movies have hit $1 billion, and half are Toy Story.

Were Soul, Luca and Turning Red flops?

Not at the box office, because Disney never gave them a normal U.S. theatrical release. Soul, Luca and Turning Red debuted on Disney+ in December 2020, June 2021 and March 2022.

They played theaters only in markets without Disney+ until Disney gave all three U.S. runs in early 2024. So their totals, $120.1 million, $51.1 million and $21.5 million, don’t measure the same thing as the rest of the list.

In July 2026, Variety noted that Pixar has struggled to launch new original movies since the pandemic, when those three skipped theaters.

Why is Jim Morris stepping back as Pixar president?

Disney’s stated reason is retirement planning. Alan Bergman, chairman of Disney Entertainment Studios, said the move prepares for Morris’ “eventual retirement” and will “ensure a smooth succession for the team.” No retirement date was announced.

Morris, who joined Pixar in 2005 and became president in 2014, said he’ll be “stepping back from the day-to-day.” As president emeritus, he stays an executive producer on Incredibles 3 and moves to talent development, mentoring and technology work.

Deadline reported the transition “was always in the works” and isn’t part of the voluntary buyouts Disney offered longtime executives this year. Laughing Place reported the same, saying it was planned in advance.

Garson, at Disney for more than 30 years and at Pixar since 2010, will oversee production and operations. Pete Docter stays chief creative officer and keeps oversight of the films, Reuters reported. Jonas Rivera becomes executive vice president of creative.

Pixar says its movies grossed more than $12 billion worldwide during Morris’ tenure, Reuters reported. Our Nov. 5 story has more on Garson’s background.

Did Pixar’s flops lead to the leadership change?

No outlet has reported that. Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, TheWrap, Reuters, Cartoon Brew and Laughing Place all covered the announcement. None cited box office, Elio, layoffs or the sequel push as a reason. We found no Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal or Puck reporting on the move as of early Friday.

Cartoon Brew did note that Morris’ tenure included big hits and a difficult stretch of restructuring, as Disney rethought its streaming and theatrical plans. Here’s what happened at Pixar in the years before the announcement, all on the record:

• May 2024: Pixar cut about 175 jobs, roughly 14% of its staff, as it pulled back from Disney+ series, The Hollywood Reporter and Reuters reported. Morris called it “one of the hardest changes we’ve had to make” in a staff memo.

• June 2025: As Elio opened, Docter told a Fast Company summit, “It’s a rough time.” If Pixar only gave audiences what they already know, he said, “we’d be making Toy Story 27.”

• March 2026: In a Wall Street Journal profile published as Hoppers opened, Docter said, “I probably overindexed on, ‘Do whatever you want.'” He added that his job is “to make sure the films appeal to everybody.”

• March 18, 2026: Josh D’Amaro replaced Bob Iger as Disney CEO. In April, Disney cut about 1,000 positions, and D’Amaro called for “a more agile and technologically-enabled workforce.”

• July 21, 2026: Pixar cut 116 jobs, TheWrap reported, citing a person with knowledge. A WARN notice listed 108 positions in Emeryville. Disney called the changes “part of our continual evaluation of how we manage resources.”

• August 2026: Disney offered voluntary early retirement packages to longtime executives, Deadline reported.

The July cuts are the one place we found box office tied to a Pixar business decision. TheWrap reported they were “at least partially being blamed on the perceived underperformance of ‘Hoppers.'” That report covered the layoffs. It didn’t mention Morris.

A longtime employee also told Cartoon Brew that a new “long and lean” production model caps future films at 16,500 person-weeks of labor, down from 18,500 to more than 20,000 on earlier movies. We covered those cuts on July 21, as Toy Story 5 closed in on $1 billion.

What has Pete Docter said about Pixar’s original movies?

Docter has been Pixar’s creative chief since 2018, and the announcement leaves that job alone. THR reported that he and Rivera will executive produce every Pixar feature going forward.

In an August 2024 interview with Fandango, Docter defended the sequels: “we’re making these for the audience, not for ourselves.” In the March 2026 Journal profile, he drew a line on quality: “If we’re going to just crank crap out, let’s shut the doors.”

Docter brought up Elio in that profile, too. He had the movie heavily reworked after lukewarm test screenings, the A.V. Club reported, summarizing the Journal. “We’re making a movie, not hundreds of millions of dollars of therapy,” Docter said.

Toy Story 27 is not on the schedule. Five is as far as it’s gone.

What’s the next Pixar movie?

Two originals come first, then two sequels. We broke down Gatto and Ghost Market in August.

• Gatto, March 5, 2027: Enrico Casarosa’s original about a street cat in Venice. It will be the first Pixar release with Garson as president.

• Ghost Market, March 10, 2028: An original inspired by Asian myths about supernatural markets. Deadline has the March date; Pixar’s own listing says spring 2028.

• Incredibles 3, June 16, 2028: Peter Sohn directs from a Brad Bird script. Morris stays on as an executive producer.

• Coco 2, Nov. 21, 2029: Announced at D23 in August.

• Monsters, Inc. 3: In early development with no date, the Journal reported in March.

• Untitled Domee Shi musical: Pixar’s first full musical, also undated.

Pixar is also making a theatrical short. Loving Dory, a Finding Nemo spinoff, was revealed at the Annecy festival in June. TheWrap reported it “hasn’t officially been attached to any theatrical project yet.” Pixar’s last short in theaters ran before Elemental in 2023.

Article compiled and written by Kambrea Pratt (editor-in-chief), Derek Gibbs (beat editor) and the Pirates & Princesses newsroom. Pirates & Princesses is part of WebReef Media.

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Hat Tips:

• The Numbers (retrieved Nov. 6, 2026), domestic, worldwide and opening weekend grosses for all 12 films, release dates and The Numbers’ budget listings

• Deadline (Nov. 4, 2026), the Morris and Garson announcement, “always in the works” and the note that it isn’t part of Disney’s executive buyouts

• The Hollywood Reporter (Nov. 4, 2026), the Bergman and Morris statements and Docter and Rivera’s executive producer roles

• Reuters (Nov. 4, 2026), Garson’s duties, Docter’s film oversight and the $12 billion figure

• Variety (Nov. 5, 2026), the Bergman and Morris statements

• TheWrap (Nov. 4, 2026), Morris’ 21 years at Pixar, the Toy Story 5 and Hoppers totals and the slate

• Laughing Place (Nov. 4, 2026), the report that the move was planned in advance and isn’t tied to buyouts or layoffs

• Cartoon Brew (Nov. 5, 2026), the restructuring context and Ghost Market’s date

• Cartoon Brew (July 21, 2026), the “long and lean” model and the person-weeks cap

• Cartoon Brew (May 21, 2024), the 2024 layoffs and Morris’ memo

• TheWrap (July 21, 2026), the 116 Pixar layoffs, the Hoppers link, Elio’s budget and Disney’s statement

• Variety (July 21, 2026), the July cuts, D’Amaro’s April memo and the note on Pixar originals since the pandemic

• Variety (June 23, 2025), Elio’s record-low opening, budget and the Gross quote

• Variety (June 19, 2022), Lightyear’s opening, budget and the Gross quote

• Variety (June 16, 2024), Inside Out 2’s budget and the Gross quote

• The Walt Disney Company (June 18, 2018), Incredibles 2’s record animated opening

• Associated Press (March 8, 2026), Hoppers’ $88 million global launch and reported budget

• TheWrap (June 22, 2026), Toy Story 5’s opening records

• World of Reel and MovieZine (June 17, 2026), Variety’s $250 million Toy Story 5 budget report

• GamesRadar (June 24, 2025), Docter’s Fast Company summit comments

• The Wall Street Journal via Fox News and AV Club (March 2026), Docter’s quotes from the WSJ profile

• Empire (March 2026), the WSJ slate details for Monsters, Inc. 3 and the Domee Shi musical

• Fandango via Bleeding Cool (Aug. 25, 2024), Docter’s sequel quote

• Investing.com (Feb. 3, 2026), D’Amaro’s March 18 start date

• WDW News Today (March 16, 2026), Bergman’s title

• Deadline via Barrett Media (Aug. 25, 2026), Disney’s voluntary early retirement offer

• SFist and WARN Tracker (July 2026), the 108-position WARN notice and the April layoff count

• BuzzFeed and JoBlo (Aug. 15, 2026), the D23 dates for Coco 2, Ghost Market and Incredibles 3

• TheWrap (June 26, 2026), Loving Dory’s status

• Wikipedia (retrieved Nov. 6, 2026), Soul and Luca release details, Soul’s budget range and Pixar’s shorts history

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