"Cars: Lightning Racers" Presentation At Annecy Film Festival Unveils Redesings, Partnership With Pixar Animation Studios And Walt Disney Imagineering
The Annecy International Animation Film Festival's Work In Progress series gave audiences an early look at Cars: Lightning Racers, the new Disney Television Animation series produced in association with Pixar, debuting in 2027 on Disney Jr. and Disney+.
The panel brought executive producers Travis Braun and Frank Montagna, supervising director Nathan Chew, and Pixar producer Mary Alice Drumm discussed the upcoming preschool series where they unveiled the following details:
-The series is slated for a July, 2027 debut
-Audiences got a WIP progress of the series third episode
-Story editor Dana Starfield wanted to showcase Lightning's life beyond the races for the series.
-Redesings where done by Disney Television Animation veteran Jose Zelaya
-Translating Radiator Springs meant applying what the team called the "Disney Junior paintbrush," simplifying shapes and colors, and "toonifying" the town while preserving its charm
-The series also introduces new locations, chief among them the Race Shop, the Lightning Racers' headquarters. Inspired by 1940s and '50s gas stations, diners, and parking garages, it's anchored by a giant tire centerpiece.
-The board team numbers roughly eight artists and three revisionists, with assistant director Julius Aguimatang, a veteran of the original Cars, on board.
-At its heart, the producers said, the series leans into the franchise's core values of friendship, teamwork, and community, a message Braun called timely.
-Pixar's Jay Ward, who is Cars brand ambassador who knows every character inside and out showcased the crew the "treasure trove" of material: abandoned storylines, unbuilt sets, and uncompleted shorts for the series.
-The crew recently visited Walt Disney Imagineering to see the work for the upcoming "Piston Peak National Park" for Disneyland and was a surreal experience to study their work for the show. Disney TVA and Imagineering have a good relationship.