Outgoing Disney CEO Bob Iger officially confirmed that Zootopia 2 will debut on Disney+ sometime in 2026. While the update doesn’t lock down an exact date, it firmly places the animated sequel on Disney’s streaming service within the calendar year.
The confirmation came during The Walt Disney Company’s First Quarter 2026 earnings call in early February, with Iger speaking alongside Disney Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Hugh Johnston. The comment reinforces long-held expectations that Zootopia 2 would follow Disney’s modern theatrical-to-streaming pipeline.
While discussing Disney’s streaming strategy, Iger explicitly stated Zootopia 2 alongside Avatar: Fire and Ash as upcoming Disney+ additions before the end of the current fiscal year, which concludes on September 26, 2026. His comments also highlighted the engagement of prior installments in both franchises.
“Hugh, let me just add that both Zootopia 2 and Avatar: Fire and Ash will also be on the streaming service at some point between now and the end of the year. I referenced this earlier, but first streams on Disney+ for the prior Zootopia and Avatar movies approached 1 million first streams. Second, the number of hours consumed of the first Zootopia movie and first and second Avatar movies is in the hundreds of—I think it's almost a couple of hundred million—hours consumed. So when you look at putting those two films on Disney+ between now and the end of the fiscal year, obviously, that's going to have significant value for the streaming service.”
Zootopia 2's Projected Disney Plus Premiere
The critically-acclaimed sequel, which has grossed over $1.7 billion at the box office, is currently the highest-grossing animated film in Hollywood history. The animal-centric film will likely continue Disney’s now-standard release model for major animated features.
The gap between theatrical release and Disney+ availability has varied across recent Disney Animation titles. Elio made the jump to streaming after 89 days, while Inside Out 2 and Moana 2 followed at 104 and 105 days, respectively. By contrast, Wish took a notably longer path, with audiences waiting 133 days—more than four months—after its theatrical debut before it arrived on Disney+.
If recent history is any indication, Zootopia 2 will likely hit Disney+ roughly three to four months after its theatrical run began on November 26, 2025. That would place the film’s projected Disney+ debut sometime in early-to-mid-March 2026.
More broadly, this update underscores how central marquee animated sequels like Zootopia 2 are to Disney+’s success. Its substantial success with families at the box office suggests the film could be a streaming juggernaut as well, especially given its predecessor’s performance on the platform.
Disney clearly sees the sequel not just as a box-office event but as a streaming cornerstone capable of driving engagement well beyond its theatrical run.
Zootopia 2 is the record-breaking follow-up to Walt Disney Animation Studios’ 2016 hit, which became both a critical and commercial success. The original film introduced audiences to the mammal metropolis of Zootopia and followed rookie cop Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) and con artist Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman) as they unraveled a city-wide conspiracy.
