Disney Animation Returns to Stitch With New Short "Lilo & Scratch"

Disney Animation has a new short, and it brings Stitch back into the studio's work. "Lilo & Scratch" is the studio's first short in five years, and the first Lilo & Stitch project from Disney Animation since the 2002 original feature, Variety reported on 13 November 2026.

The story starts with a new pet. Lilo brings home a cat named Scratch, then leaves him in Stitch's care. Stitch, the blue alien from the 2002 film, is the one who has to keep the newcomer out of trouble.

The short will play before Disney's feature "Hexed," which is set for release on 25 November. That gives audiences about twelve days from the date of this report to see it, if they are already planning a trip to the cinema for the feature. Disney Animation's website also lists "Hexed" as a 2026 release.

The film is directed by Malcolm Pierce and Fawn Veerasunthorn, with Nathan Curtis as producer. Variety reported that the short blends the hand-drawn look of the studio's Disney Renaissance films, a run of 1990s hits, with the studio's modern computer-generated pipeline. Computer-generated imagery, or CG, is the 3D animation method used for most recent animated features.

The backgrounds are a mix of methods. Some were digitally painted in Photoshop to look like watercolour, while others were painted by hand on paper. Mixing the two lets the artists keep the soft, painted feel of older films while building the scenes with newer tools.

For the wider studio, the short arrives in a busy stretch. Disney Animation's website lists "Frozen 3" for 2027 and "Clay" for 2028. The studio, which dates its first fully animated feature to "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" in 1937, works from offices in Burbank, California, and Vancouver, Canada.

No further release details for "Lilo & Scratch" have been announced.