Disney Layoffs Include Largest Pixar Job Cuts in a Decade

The restructuring arrives after 2022’s Lightyear barely earned its budget back

The recent Disney layoffs that shed 7,000 employees company-wide included 75 positions at Pixar, marking the animation studio’s largest jobs cut since 2013.

The restructuring plan originally announced by Disney CEO Bob Iger in February to consolidate the company’s film and television divisions and save $5.5 billion in costs was executed on May 23rd. According to Reuters, Lightyear director Angus MacLane and long-time producer Galyn Susman — who was credited with rescuing 1999’s Toy Story 2 after nearly every file of the film was accidentally deleted during production — were among those eliminated from the animator’s 1,200-member staff.

The decision follows the troubled release of 2022’s Toy Story spin-off film Lightyear, which barely broke its $200 million budget with a worldwide gross of $226.7 million, along with less-than-stellar reviews and at least one case of existential crisis. Similarly, Disney’s last round of Pixar layoffs was initiated in 2013 following the delayed production and creative overhaul of 2015’s The Good Dinosaur.

Aside from their recent personnel moves, Disney has also begun to purge a considerable amount of content from Hulu and Disney+ in order to address the loss of 2.4 million subscribers on the latter streamer. The two platforms are set to combine into a “one-app experience” later this year.

Despite the relatively significant changes at the animation studio, Pixar has several high-profile projects still on the way, including this summer’s Elemental, an Inside Out sequel, Toy Story 5, and Frozen 3.