Pixar has notified California state officials of permanent layoffs impacting 108 employees, with their last day of employment set for September 26. The notice was filed under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, which requires employers to disclose mass layoffs. The filing, obtained by SF Gate, notably featured a stylized Mrs. Incredible character replacing the 'i' in Pixar on the letterhead.
The majority of the affected employees, 71 out of 108, worked in arts, entertainment, and recreation at Pixar's Emeryville studios in California. This round of job cuts is part of a broader restructuring initiative at The Walt Disney Company, which owns Pixar. Disney CEO Josh D'Amaro has been implementing a "One Disney" strategy aimed at streamlining operations across various company divisions.
In a memo earlier this year, D'Amaro informed employees of the need to "streamline our operations in various parts of the company to ensure we deliver the world-class creativity and innovation our fans value and expect from Disney." He further explained that the company must "constantly assess how to foster a more agile and technologically-enabled workforce to meet tomorrow's needs," leading to the elimination of roles.
These layoffs follow a mixed performance for recent Pixar releases. While Toy Story 5 has been a significant box office success, grossing approximately $1 billion, other films have underperformed. A source indicated to TheWrap that the perceived underperformance of the film Hoppers, released earlier this year, contributed to the decision. The 2025 film Elio also generated $154 million worldwide against a $200 million budget, making it Pixar's second-lowest-grossing film.
A Disney spokesperson told TheWrap that "These changes are part of our continual evaluation of how we manage resources and reinvest across the company as our industry continues to evolve." The current layoffs are a continuation of earlier cuts that resulted in approximately 1,000 job losses across Disney, affecting divisions such as National Geographic, ABC News, and ESPN.