Pixar’s ‘Gatto’ Teaser Trailer: Ruffalo, Fishburne as Mobster Cats

Pixar has revealed the first teaser trailer and poster for its 32nd animated feature, Gatto, starring Mark Ruffalo and Laurence Fishburne as feline mobsters prowling the canals of Venice, Italy.

The film, directed by Enrico Casarosa (Luca) and produced by Andrea Warren, introduces a painterly animation style that marks a new visual direction for the studio. Gatto is scheduled for a theatrical release on March 5, 2027.

A Venetian Cat Noir

Ruffalo voices Nero, a scrappy black cat who begins questioning whether he has lived his nine lives correctly after years of maneuvering the superstitious, canal-ridden city.

Fishburne plays Rocco, a ruthless cat mob boss to whom Nero is indebted. According to the official synopsis, Nero finds himself in a quandary and is forced to forge an unexpected friendship that may finally lead him to his purpose—unless Venice gets the better of him first.

Pixar previously revealed at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival last year that this friendship is with a young human girl.

The teaser trailer offers a glimpse of Nero and Rocco interrogating a fellow cat about missing tuna inside a shadowy building.

The three felines quickly become distracted by a dangling lightbulb and string, pawing at the light and fighting over it until Rocco crushes the bulb.

The sequence showcases the studio’s new painterly aesthetic, which first drew gasps at Annecy when an animation test appeared to be a piece of watercolor concept art that suddenly began moving.

Pixar’s Painterly Evolution

Casarosa, an Italian-born filmmaker, previously directed the Oscar-nominated short La Luna (2011) and the feature Luca (2021), which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

He has been a member of Pixar’s Senior Creative Team—the Brain Trust—since 2015, advising on all of the studio’s films. Luca debuted directly on Disney+ during the pandemic but remains one of Pixar’s most beloved features.

Casarosa and Warren aim to bring a similarly warm, handcrafted feel to Gatto, with Venice’s canals rendered in watercolor-like waves that blur the line between concept art and finished animation.

The film continues Pixar’s hot streak following Hoppers earlier this year and last year’s Inside Out 2, which earned nearly $1.7 billion globally.

Gatto will be the studio’s first original theatrical release of 2027, arriving a week after Toy Story 5 hits theaters.

With its mobster-cat premise and groundbreaking visual style, the film is poised to be one of the most anticipated animated offerings in years.