The Option

Pixar Animation Studios announced a planned presidential succession: Jonathan Garson, the studio's current general manager and a 30-year Disney veteran, will become president effective January 4, 2027. Jim Morris moves to president emeritus, continuing as executive producer on Incredibles 3 (June 2028). The restructuring also expands Jonas Rivera's role to creative EVP, working alongside Chief Creative Officer Pete Docter. For agents, producers, and executives navigating the Pixar relationship, this reshapes who holds operational authority and how creative decisions get made.

Show Notes

Pixar Animation Studios announced a planned presidential succession: Jonathan Garson, the studio's current general manager and a 30-year Disney veteran, will become president effective January 4, 2027. Jim Morris moves to president emeritus, continuing as executive producer on Incredibles 3 (June 2028). The restructuring also expands Jonas Rivera's role to creative EVP, working alongside Chief Creative Officer Pete Docter. For agents, producers, and executives navigating the Pixar relationship, this reshapes who holds operational authority and how creative decisions get made.

Key Takeaways:

  • Jonathan Garson officially becomes Pixar's third president on January 4, 2027, reporting to Disney Entertainment chairman Alan Bergman.
  • Jim Morris served as president for 12 of his 21 years at Pixar; his tenure generated over $12 billion in global box office across Pixar feature films.
  • Toy Story 5 crossed $1 billion globally under the current regime — Garson inherits a performing studio, not a turnaround.
  • Upcoming Pixar pipeline includes original films Gatto and Ghost Market, plus Incredibles 3 (theatrical June 2028), on which Morris remains executive producer.
  • Jonas Rivera — Pixar's first production intern (1994), Oscar winner for Inside Out and Toy Story 4 — steps into an expanded creative EVP role, formally institutionalizing creative leadership depth below Docter.
  • Garson's operational background is in general management and marketing/franchise — not production — making his partnership with Docter and Rivera structurally important to watch.
  • Production leadership under Garson will be led by Katherine Sarafian and Lindsey Collins, the key operational layer for anyone packaging projects aimed at Pixar.

This is a planned, well-structured succession — not a crisis response. But leadership transitions at a studio of Pixar's scale always create a window of institutional repositioning. Agents and producers with active Pixar relationships should map the new org chart now, before Garson's first full quarter. The January 4 effective date gives you roughly two months to understand who the new decision-makers are before the new structure is fully load-bearing.

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