Disney Announces Zootopia 3 at D23, With Birds Headed to the Animal Metropolis
Disney has announced that "Zootopia 3" is in development, revealing the news on 15 August at its D23 fan event in Anaheim, where voice actors Ginnifer Goodwin and Ke Huy Quan took the stage to confirm the return of their characters. Goodwin declared, "The bunny and the snake will be back!" — referencing her rabbit officer Judy Hopps and Quan's pit viper Gary De'Snake from "Zootopia 2" (The Hollywood Reporter).
Jared Bush, chief creative officer of Walt Disney Animation and co-director of the Zootopia films alongside Byron Howard, made the announcement and offered one concrete detail about the new story: "Zootopia 3" will introduce a bird-centred storyline (The Hollywood Reporter). The seeds were already planted. A post-credits scene in "Zootopia 2" hinted at birds joining the franchise (Walt Disney Studios Canada, Facebook, 17 January 2026).
The franchise's commercial footprint is vast. "Zootopia 2" grossed $1.87 billion at the worldwide box office (global — all territories combined), making it the biggest Hollywood animated film of all time, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Disney's own CinemaCon presentation in April 2026 rounded the figure to nearly $1.9 billion and noted that the three biggest Hollywood films of 2025 all came from the studio (Walt Disney Company, 16 April 2026). "Zootopia 2" also delivered the largest global opening weekend ever for an animated film, and the fourth-biggest global opening of any film at the time (Variety, 15 August 2026). It was nominated for best animated feature at the Academy Awards ceremony held on 15 March 2026 (Reuters, 10 March 2026).
The original "Zootopia" arrived in 2016, introducing Judy Hopps (Goodwin) and con-artist fox Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman). It crossed $1 billion globally and spawned the Disney+ spinoff series "Zootopia+" (Variety). In the 2025 sequel, Nick joins the police force as Judy's partner; together they investigate the city's missing reptile population with help from Gary De'Snake. The ensemble cast also included Fortune Feimster as Nibbles Maplestick, Andy Samberg as Pawbert Lynxley, David Strathairn as Milton Lynxley, Macaulay Culkin as Cattrick Lynxley, Brenda Song as Kitt Lynxley, Quinta Brunson as Dr. Fuzzby, Robert Irwin as Robert Furwin, and Patrick Warburton as Brian Winddancer (Variety).
For the filmmakers, a third instalment is the continuation of an openly stated ambition. Bush and Howard had previously expressed interest in keeping the franchise going, with Bush saying they would spend the rest of their careers in the world of Zootopia if the films performed well (The Hollywood Reporter). At the November 2025 premiere of "Zootopia 2," Goodwin told The Hollywood Reporter she hoped a third film would come after a shorter gap than the nine years between the first two.
The Zootopia world is expanding beyond cinema, too. Shanghai Disneyland has been announced as the home of the world's first Zootopia-themed land, an expansion first unveiled by then-Disney CEO Bob Chapek in January 2019 (Walt Disney Company, 22 January 2019).
No release date for "Zootopia 3" has been announced.
