Disney Unveils Elio Trailer — A Galactic Journey Begins!
Disney’s animated studio Pixar is gearing up for another emotionally deep and visually stunning storytelling adventure. It has always
Disney’s animated studio Pixar is gearing up for another emotionally deep and visually stunning storytelling adventure. It has always pushed boundaries in the world of animation and now crafted another imaginative world with its signature magic.
Disney might not be good at making live-action remakes, but Pixar is certainly brilliant at making animated originals. Pixar even excels at making their sequels, such as Inside Out 2, which earned an Oscar nomination in 2025.
Disney unveils Elio trailer, and here are all the details that you might want to know before fastening your seatbelts to the mesmerizing adventure into space.
Plot details of Elio
Elio is an 11-year-old boy (played by Kibreab) who, after his parents’ death, is a victim of loneliness. He is friendless and is on a hunt to find his new friend, which he couldn’t at planet Earth.
He stays with his aunt, a dedicated astronaut. Despite his aunt’s warnings, Elio stays adamant about getting abducted by aliens so that he can find a new friend on the other side of the galaxy.
Then the trailer takes us to another friendless slug-like alien named Glordon, whose father, Lord Grigon, wants to prepare him for the destruction of the worlds. However, he seems too sweet for it. He then meets Elio.
They both become close and set foot on a star-studded adventure. But fate has other plans for both of them. Have a sneak peek at the trailer.
Pixar’s chief creative officer’s vision for the film
According to Cartoon Brew, Adrian Molina started directing the film Elio, but due to scheduling conflicts and other reasons, Madeline Sharafian and Domee Shi took over the direction responsibilities. The director credits still remain with Molina alongside the other two new directors.
Sharafian has been a story artist for Pixar since Coco (2017), while Shi directed Bao (2018) and made Turning Red (2022), now been promoted to VP Creative for Pixar. The chief creative officer of Pixar, Pete Docter teased a bit about Elio.
“The character of Elio…They’ve made some major discoveries on him that really helped the audience to connect and to move forward with the character into the second act, which, of course, is where all the meat happens.” [Source]
Adrian was the one who instilled an amazing emotional core to the intergalactic adventure for which Docter has high expectations. He believes that it might break records that have been previously set by Inside Out and Inside Out 2.
He is of the view that after discussing in detail with the new directors, Docter knew that emotions are a great way to talk to the audience. Feelings of loneliness and anxiety are normal since we live in a world like this.
Everyone is going through these emotions a lot these days, and that is what made the core of the film, he explained. He was excited that the film would be able to speak to the viewers through this, “as we all are in the world right now”.
The same fact is corroborated by Kibreab, who voices Elio in the film, that the audience will be able to feel different emotions all at once. For example, they will be crying and laughing at the same time, while they will be excited and jolly at other times.
How does Pixar raise the bar as Disney unveils Elio trailer?
Disney has a list of several films lined up for release this year, such as Lilo and Stitch live-action remake, Zootopia 2, and Freakier Friday, etc. Will Disney be able to outshine with its super-emotional animated feature named Elio?
Disney’s live-action remake of Lilo and Stitch is also about friendship, just like Elio, who loves his alien friend, Glordon. We are fascinated to see which friendship will be strong enough to create memories for us.
Lilo and Stitch already has a nostalgic factor attached, but the emotional bonding we see in the trailer of Elio has our hearts. Pixar is already making waves with this one. This new classic might hit new horizons, possibly Pixar’s boldest move yet.
Why do we say ‘boldest’? Because Elio has some elements of horror. If successfully pulled off, Elio could potentially be a new project that could gain more success than its other films in the past.
Elio has all the color vibes that make it an attractive kids’ adventure film, a bit different from Wall-E and Toy Story. The latter films were released at the peak success time of the studio. However, since the trailer of Elio is created with love and care that we hope the story does not fall back amongst all the vibrant colors.
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Fans are already hyped for Elio
The comments section on the YouTube trailer for Elio has all the energetic netizens who cannot wait for the film. They are in full support of original animated films like these rather than Disney’s live-action remakes.
The majority of them commented that they already know that the first half of the film will be all fun and adventure while the second half will tear them up. They are even in love with Glordon even before the film’s release.
Fans are loving the combination of Lilo and Stitch and Wall-E, and they want to “consume every second of it”. The first impressions are already making waves.
When is Elio releasing?
Pixar is releasing Elio (rated PG) theatrically on June 20, 2025. It was initially scheduled for a release on March 1, 2024.
Genre: Alien invasion, space sci-fi, adventure, animation
Cast: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett, Remy Edgerly
Directors: Adrian Molina, Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi
Writer: Adrian Molina
Producer: Mary Alice Drumm
Release date: June 20, 2025
Movie runtime: 1 hour 30 minutes
Got your eyes on this Pixar adventure? Let us know in the comments below.
