Pixar boss finally explains the controversial decision to cut the queer storyline from Elio

Pixar’s Chief Creative Officer, Peter Docter, has given an interview to the Wall Street Journal to discuss some of the company’s creative decisions.

Pixar, part of Disney, is known for creating franchise juggernauts such as Toy Story, The Incredibles and Cars. It continues to do big business. However, over the last decade, it has generated more money from sequels than from original material.

Its last new content to achieve major box office profit was Coco in 2017. Since then, titles such as Soul, Lightyear, Elemental, and Turning Red have struggled (albeit some were released simultaneously online during 2020-2021 when many people stayed away from theaters).

Then there was 2025’s Elio. The movie included scenes alluding to its young star potentially being queer. However, after a test screening, Pixar axed them, to the dismay of LGBTQ audiences and some of the creatives who worked on it.

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Docter, 57, has been with Pixar for 36 years. He took over as CCO in 2018, following the departure of John Lasseter (who directed Toy Story).

Some insiders say Docter is less confrontational than Lasseter and allows directors more leeway.

Buoyed by the huge success of movies such as Finding Dory, Incredibles 2 and Toy Story 4 in the late 2010s, the WSJ article suggests Docter felt in a position to take some risks. He encouraged directors to make movies that were based on their autobiographical experiences.

However, when Lightyear hit theaters in 2022, complete with a same-sex couple of moms, it performed poorly at the box office.

Making movies “not therapy”

And then there was Elio. Original director Adrian Molina based the character on his own childhood experiences. When a test screening drew a lacklustre response, Pixar cut the segments about Elio being different from other boys.

One completed scene included Elio imagining raising a child with his male crush. He also had a pink bicycle.

After scrapping those scenes, Pixar replaced director Molina with Domee Shi (Turning Red) and Madeline Sharafian (Burrow).

Elio eventually made $150 million, which sounds like a terrific figure until you realize it cost the same amount to make. Given the cut that goes to theaters and the cost of promotion, Disney lost around $100 million.

Docter says his attitude going forward is, “We’re making a movie, not hundreds of millions of dollars of therapy.”

Cuts to trans representation

Elio is not the only Disney animation to see its queer content cut in recent years. In December 2024, Pixar reportedly scaled back a trans character in its kids’ TV show, Win or Lose. The character remained, but references to their gender identity were cut.

At the time, a spokesperson for Disney told EW in a statement, “When it comes to animated content for a younger audience, we recognize that many parents would prefer to discuss certain subjects with their children on their own terms and timeline.”

Some people who have worked for Disney have suggested the changes have also come about due to the return of Donald Tr*mp to the White House.

Derrick Malik Johnson, a storyboard artist who worked on Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, says an episode of the Marvel show was pulled from airing on the Disney Channel because it featured a trans girl competing in sports. He said the decision was made following the US election in November 2024.

Disney disputes this, saying it decided to pull the episode a year in advance of the election, and “in this case, this decision was based on this specific episode, not because of the character being trans.”

Pixar’s latest movie, Hoppers, opened Friday and took around $88 million at the worldwide box office over the weekend. That’s Pixar’s best for an original work since Coco. Forthcoming releases include Toy Story 5 (this summer), Incredibles 3 (2028), a Coco sequel (2029), plus a newly confirmed Monsters, Inc. 3.

Pixar remains under pressure to create original content that might lead to future new franchises.

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