Disney has lifted the lid on its next Pixar film after Toy Story 5, and it's confirmed to feature two Marvel stars. In March 2027, the studio will release Gatto, a feline-focused tale with a revolutionary new art style for Pixar. Gatto has been kept in the shadows for months, but the first teaser has revealed some of the characters in the new animated film, along with the voices behind them.
The first teaser for Gatto confirms the Pixar film's Italian setting, with the action taking place in the iconic canals of Venice. The film also leans heavily on Italian mob iconography, with the teaser using a rendition of The Godfather's theme and following an interrogation scene in the Venetian underground.
Pixar confirmed with its release of the Gatto trailer that Mark Ruffalo will voice the black cat, Nero, and he'll be joined by fellow MCU star Laurence Fishburne as the cat mob boss, Rocco. In the trailer, Nero and Rocco team up to interrogate another cat about the missing tuna, with Rocco acting as an intimidating, ruthless interrogator while Nero is distracted by the dangling light above. Eventually, the interrogation dissolves into chaos as all three cats are taken in by the swinging light.
This teaser is the first news of any cast in Gatto, and the fact that it will feature not just one, but two, Marvel stars is exciting - particularly as they've never crossed paths in the MCU before.
Ruffalo is well known for playing one of the core Avengers, Bruce Banner, aka the Hulk, and is still frequently involved in the MCU, with his next appearance coming this summer in Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
Fishburne is known for many roles, including Morpheus in The Matrix franchise, but he also had a turn in the Marvel universe, playing Dr. Bill Foster in Ant-Man and The Wasp, and returned to voice variations of him in What If...?. Ruffalo has also had voice roles in What If...? but the two actors never featured in the same episodes.
Pixar describes Ruffalo's character, Nero, as a "scrappy black cat," while Fishburne's Rocco is said to be a "ruthless mob boss cat." The trailer also provided a brief synopsis of the story, revealing that Nero is "[questioning] whether he's lived the right lives" and is "indebted to Rocco."
In 'Gatto', after years of maneuvering the canal-ridden, superstitious city of Venice, Italy, Nero begins to question whether he’s lived the right lives. Indebted to Rocco, the local feline mob boss, Nero finds himself in a quandary and is forced to forge a truly unexpected friendship that may finally lead him to his purpose—unless Venice gets the better of him first.
Gatto is directed by Enrico Casarosa (Luca) and will be Pixar's next film after this summer's Toy Story 5, as well as its latest original. The movie will be released in theaters on March 5, 2027.
Pixar's New Film Features A Major Marvel Duo
The inclusion of Ruffalo and Fishburne in the cast of Gatto is significant for several reasons, including that it's the first time either actor has appeared in the voice cast of a Pixar movie. The Disney studio has recently expanded its voice cast, including Meryl Streep and Dave Franco, for this year's Hoppers. Gatto will now do the same by recruiting more top talent for its original feature, and particularly two actors with a Marvel pedigree.
Ruffalo and Fishburne never had the chance to share the screen in the MCU, and it seems unlikely they ever will, seeing as Fishburne's Bill Foster is canonically in hiding after the events of Ant-Man and The Wasp, and it doesn't seem like Marvel has intentions of bringing him back (although his protege, Ava Starr, is featured in Avengers: Doomsday).
The relationship between Nero and Rocco will seemingly be very important throughout Gatto, which gives Ruffalo and Fishburne an interesting dynamic to play with for their first movie together. Nero appears to be playing a henchman to Rocco in the teaser and is described as "indebted" to him. While they seem to be united in the Gatto teaser, Rocco seems like he may be the secret villain of the film, and could be especially antagonistic to Nero if he is looking for a way out of his debts.
The casting of such iconic actors in the parts of these new cat characters should help Gatto make a strong splash when it debuts in 2027, and will hopefully make it stand out as a new Pixar original.
