Pixar has officially unveiled Loving Dory, a brand new theatrical short set in the world of Finding Nemo, marking the first time Dory and the gang have returned to the big screen in years. The announcement came during a presentation at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, where director Lou Hamou-Lhadj and producer Mary Alice Drumm walked the audience through early footage and plot details for the first time
In Loving Dory, Dory mistakes a drifting plastic bag for a gentle jellyfish and is instantly charmed by what she thinks is its curious, free floating nature. She falls head over fins in love, but the relationship doesn’t stay sweet for long. What starts as an endearing dalliance quickly turns clingy and then outright toxic, leaving Dory’s friends to step in before things get out of hand. Hamou-Lhadj has described it as a love story with an environmental gag at its center, since the bag Dory adores is, of course, exactly the kind of ocean trash that real sea life often mistakes for food or friends.
Ellen DeGeneres is confirmed to return as the voice of Dory, with other members of the original Finding Nemo cast also expected back for the short.
For anyone who needs a refresher, Dory is the forgetful but endlessly optimistic blue tang fish who first swam into hearts in 2003’s Finding Nemo, directed by Andrew Stanton. That film became a billion dollar adjacent box office hit and won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, following a clownfish father’s journey across the ocean to find his missing son with help from Dory along the way. Thirteen years later, Dory got her own spotlight in 2016’s Finding Dory, also directed by Stanton, which sent her on a quest to find her long lost parents and went on to gross more than a billion dollars worldwide.
Loving Dory doesn’t have an official release date yet, and Pixar hasn’t said whether it will play in theaters or land on Disney+. Given the studio’s history of pairing shorts with theatrical releases, there’s a strong chance it could be attached to Pixar’s upcoming film Gatto, which is set to open in March 2027.
Pixar Announces Loving Dory a New Short Set in the World of Finding Nemo
