Pixar Reveals ‘Hoppers,’ a Beaver Body-Swap Movie Starring Jon Hamm, Bobby Moynihan, Piper Curda

If you heard loud hooting and hollering from the vicinity of Martinez yesterday it was because of the awesome announcement that Pixar is now revealing a new movie “Hoppers” written and directed by Daniel Chong. It feature a young girl who ,manages to put her brain inside a robotic beaver to stop the evil mayor’s development project.

And, before you ask, no I’m not kidding.

According to Pixar, Hoppers tells the story of a girl who transfers her brain into a robot beaver in order to live among real beavers. Avatar but with beavers? The film stars Bobby Moynihan, Piper Curda, and Jon Hamm, who plays a mayor trying to destroy the beavers. Delightful.

Here’s a story board for the evil mayor Jon Hamm

A smarmy mayor who looks like a shiny hero for the cameras and makes devil deals behind off camera? Be still my heart.

The girl winds up befriending a regal beaver, King George, and uniting the animals to fight off the plans of a real estate developer. The movie is targeted for release in spring 2026.

Okay her name is Mabel and not Heidi but do you HONESTLY think that a man working 25 miles away in Emeryville until 2012 never ever heard anything or saw a news clip about the famous Martinez Beavers? Honestly?

Chong, who posted with giddy excitement in the hours before the panel to say he’s “been holding this secret for 4 years,” is no stranger to feature animation. His previous credits include storyboard work on Disney’s Bolt, Pixar’s Cars 2 and Inside Out, and Illumination’s The Lorax. Chong left Pixar to pursue his own projects, creating We Bare Bears and its movie-sized finale for Cartoon Network. Shortly after, the animator moved on from the series to begin work on Hoppers.

Hey you know what is right across the street from Pixar? ,Folkmanis puppet company who has been donating to our beaver festival since 2008. And you know where Daniel Chong went to college? That would be Cal Arts the same school where our buddy Ian Timothy Boone of the famed “Beaver Creek” claymation series went.

So Yeah. It could be a coincidence, And he might not have read Ben’s book either. But I prefer to think otherwise.

Welcome to the beaver believers club, Daniel!