Zootopia 2: 5 Things We Learned About Disney's Long-Awaited Sequel

When Walt Disney Animation Studios released "Zootopia" back in 2016, it's unlikely that anyone could have predicted that it would go on to become one of the biggest original films ever made. A sequel seemed inevitable, but it wouldn't be until 2022 that the Disney+ series of shorts, "Zootopia+," would arrive on the streamer. Nearly a decade later, "Zootopia 2" is finally set to hit theaters. Despite the long wait between films, the story picks up not long after the first film's ending, with Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman) becoming official partners on the ZPD. Their first big obstacle is to learn how to work with each other in a professional capacity (including a high-speed car chase), but their relationship is tested when a blue pit viper named Gary (Ke Huy Quan) disrupts the fragile balance of Zootopia.

Reptiles were previously left out of the original "Zootopia" film, and the story for the sequel seemingly proves that keeping reptiles out of their animal utopia was by design. The sequel film will once again utilize the stereotypes and tropes associated with animals as allegories for how humans interact with one another. What assumptions do the warm-blooded mammals make about the "cold-blooded" Gary? How did these assumptions come to be? And more importantly, who benefits most by believing that reptiles have no place in their beautiful city? New lands, new characters (the hunky horse Mayor Winndancer, voiced by Patrick Warburton, will certainly be a standout), and new adventures await, but the important message at the center remains the same.

Continuing the franchise's legacy of challenging assumptions through empathy and a sharp sense of humor, here are five things we learned about "Zootopia 2" from the special preview event /Film attended, and the interviews I conducted with the creative team behind the movie.

Jared Bush has served as the chief creative officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios since 2024, with his breakthrough at the House of Mouse working on "Zootopia." According to co-director Byron Howard, "It's funny because Jared did a drawing probably five or six years ago when we were on 'Encanto' that said 'Zootopia 2,' and the '2' was a snake." Immediately, Howard knew Disney had to make this happen. As fans can see from the film's trailer and poster, that initial idea is what would become the film's official title stylization. "It's such a treat because we absolutely love working together, and it's so easy for us to collaborate because I think we recognize each other's strengths," Howard tells me. "And we also recognize that we're surrounded by world-class people who are all virtuosos at what they do."

For Bush, he was already brainstorming "Zootopia 2" before the first film had even hit theaters, long before the entertainment industry at large started fixating on releasing built-in franchise films. Rather than jump right into another "Zootopia" movie, Howard and Bush went on to co-direct the Academy Award-winning "Encanto," giving them plenty of time to really iron out what their return to the animal world would entail. "I think a really critical part of this is that you have to set out to make a great movie regardless," Bush tells me. "And I think there are very high expectations of this film that are daunting, but we like the idea that people are going to be expecting a lot from this film and we want to deliver that." How to pull that off? Bush says the key is Nick and Judy. "When you get down to the bottom of it, this is a relationship story about the two of them with a bunch of other things going on, but at its core, it's these characters that I think people have kind of fallen in love with, and we want to honor that in the story."

Much of the marketing of "Zootopia 2" has been about the shocking introduction of a snake into this mammalian world, but Gary De'Snake is not the only reptile audiences will see in "Zootopia." In fact, Judy and Nick will even venture into a reptile speakeasy, complete with shells of molted skin, tails that pop off (but grow back), and a full-on reptile bar band. Disney Animation Head of Story Carrie Liao tells me that creating this new world was the most fun for the team because of how specific the story artists were allowed to get with what the speakeasy would entail:

"That was really like, 'Okay, you have a bar, you have reptiles ... Go!' How would this space be designed for reptiles? Are there heat lamps because they need to stay warm? Since they have really unique animal characteristics, how can we utilize that in the bar?"

Judy and Nick are completely out of their element at the reptile speakeasy, and even seek the assistance of a plumed basilisk lizard named Jesús, who, yes, can run across water. While Disney would not confirm who voices Jesús, if you listen carefully in the trailer, he sounds an awful lot like one of the greatest and most recognizable action stars of all time.

While the rural small-town vs. urban big city dynamic was at play in the first "Zootopia" film, the sequel will continue its exploration of themes of class. For instance, there's a wealthy family of Lynxes, Cattrick (Macaulay Culkin), Kitty (Brenda Song), Pawbert (Andy Samberg), and patriarch Milton (David Strathairn), who add a little "Succession" element to the city's dynamic. According to Disney Animation Head of Story Carrie Liao and story supervisor David VanTuyle, diving into the world of Zootopia's most wealthy posed some of the production's biggest challenges.

"I'd say the most challenging was probably like the gala, because we're exploring the upper crust of Zootopia society," Liao tells me. "So it is new in the sense that it's like, 'Oh, we haven't seen our characters in this situation before, and what kind of like vibe are we trying to create because we're introducing this very important family [...] what is the way in which we can show kind of like it's a little more fancy, a little more, a little more posh while still maintaining like the animal specificity?" VanTuyle tells me that in figuring out the look of the big gala, the creative team looked at ice sculptures to help capture the look of excessive wealth and power.

The Lynxleys are one of the most important families in Zootopia, arguably even moreso than Mr. Big's "Godfather"-esque mafia family of shrews seen in the first film. With reptiles seemingly systemically kept out of Zootopia by design, what secret could the elite be hiding that Gary De'Snake is trying to reveal?

Prolific composer Michael Giacchino is once again returning to Disney to score "Zootopia 2," and has pulled out all the stops in making it sound as unique as possible. During the press event, Giacchino conducted an incredible band to give us a preview of the sounds of the Reptile Speakeasy, including horn mutes he crafted out of kazoos to give the trumpets and trombones an entirely new sound. "This might be the most insane score I've ever written in my entire life," he explains to the crowd. "And when I say insane, I mean, in one cue, you're going from down-home banjo, into a left turn into a '70s cop show, right turn into a French bistro restaurant, and then a slight left into heavy metal with screaming. It was just that kind of, 'Oh my gosh, we're all over the map here,' but when you watch it, it never feels wrong."

Giacchino incorporated as many unique sounds as humanly possible into the score, including the seldom-used percussion instrument called a flapamba, and instruments his own children have made as fun projects over the years. "There is no such thing as 'No' on this score. It was always, 'Yes, use that!' Or if someone did something weird, Jared [Bush] would just go [demonic voice] 'Yesssss,'" he explains.

And fans will be thrilled to know that the singular Gazelle, voiced by Shakira, is back with a new song to follow up the addictive "Try Anything," called "Zoo." Written by Ed Sheeran, Blake Slatkin, and Shakira, "Zoo" will be available as a single on October 10, 2025, and will be stuck in your head until the sun burns out. Ed Sheeran and Blake Slatkin will also appear in "Zootopia 2" in special cameos as a pair of sheep named Ed Shearin and Baalake Lambkin, because nothing beats a good pun name.

One of the most famous pieces of music in the Disney Animation songbook is Elton John, Hans Zimmer, and Tim Rice's "Circle of Life" from "The Lion King," a song that beautifully reminds us all that there's more to see than can ever be seen and more to do than can ever be done ... because we're all going to die someday. Of course, the song is nowhere near that blunt with its messaging, but that's the truth at the heart of it all. We are all part of the circle of life, and part of that circle means dying.

In the world of "Zootopia," that unfortunately means that bugs and some types of fish are not friends, and they are food. "Zootopia 2" sees Judy and Nick visiting a new community called Marsh Market, which is home to beavers like Nibbles Maplestick (Fortune Feimster), seals, sea lions, hippopotami, and walruses. And yes, they do eat fish and even have a full-on fish market with a literal fishgrinder turning dead fish into chum. Have fun wrapping your head around the horrifying implications of that, y'all.

"Zootopia 2" arrives in theaters on November 26, 2025.