Pixar Heads Back to Italy With Enrico Casarosa’s New Original Film GATTO with a New Animation Style

Pixar is returning to Italy, and this time, it’s through the eyes of a black cat with a debt to the feline mob.

At the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, Pixar’s Chief Creative Officer Pete Docter surprised fans with the reveal of Gatto, a brand-new original film from Luca director Enrico Casarosa, and producer Andrea Warren.

The announcement was made during what was supposed to be a preview of the upcoming film Elio, but quickly turned into a celebration of Pixar’s future slate.

Calling Annecy “the greatest festival in the world,” Docter introduced Gatto as Pixar’s next Italian-set adventure, this time exploring the alleys, canals, and secrets of Venice. The film is slated to hit theaters in Summer 2027.

The story centers on a black cat named Nero who lives in Venice, “a partial music-lover — at least, his tail is — and non-swimming feline who is indebted to a local feline mob boss.”

Nero begins to wonder if he’s lived the right lives, and things take a turn when he’s reluctantly adopted by Maya, a young street artist. What starts as a mismatch might just become the beginning of Nero’s true purpose, assuming Venice’s mysterious underworld doesn’t get to him first.

Visually, Gatto marks a striking new direction for Pixar. The studio showed off early animation tests featuring a hand-painted look, a mix of 2D textures and CG animation that hasn’t been seen from the studio before. The Venetian setting pops with color, detail, and atmosphere, setting Gatto apart from anything else in Pixar’s catalog.

It’s great to see that Pixar is finally experimenting an utilizing a new art style for animation. Their signature style has been feeling stale, and I’ve been saying for a long time that Pixar needs to start mixing things up.

Casarosa, who made his feature directorial debut with Luca, is once again drawing from his Italian heritage. While Luca captured the magic of a sun-drenched seaside village, Gatto looks to explore a moodier, more mysterious version of Italy through the eyes of a cat who might just be on his ninth life.

With a new, painterly style and a quirky premise involving feline mob bosses and reluctant friendships, Pixar seems ready to deliver something refreshingly different.