Pixar Reveals First Look At ‘Coco 2’ As Teen Miguel Faces Ernesto’s Revenge In November 2029

Pixar unveiled the first concept art and story details for “Coco 2” at Disney’s D23 fan event Friday night, confirming a November 2029 release date and revealing that the film’s young hero, Miguel, will return as a teenager nearly 12 years after the original movie’s 2017 debut.

The new artwork shown at the event depicted an older Miguel walking alongside his dog, Dante, sporting a new haircut but still carrying his signature guitar. Actor Benjamin Bratt took the stage to confirm he will reprise his role as Ernesto de la Cruz, the celebrated musician whose fraudulent legacy Miguel exposed at the end of the first film. Bratt offered a playful summary of his character’s motivations in the sequel. “Miguel is a little menace who ruined a career and destroyed a legacy,” Bratt said, describing Ernesto’s return as driven by revenge, with the plot sending Miguel back to the Land of the Dead where he must team up with the very man whose reputation he shattered years earlier.

The sequel reunites much of the creative team behind the original film. Lee Unkrich, who directed the first “Coco,” is returning to direct alongside Adrian Molina, who co-wrote and co-directed the 2017 film. Mark Nielsen, a Pixar veteran whose producing credits include “Toy Story 4” and “Inside Out 2,” is attached to produce the new movie. The songwriting team behind the original film’s music, including Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, is expected to contribute new songs for the sequel as well.

The original “Coco,” released over Thanksgiving weekend in 2017, followed a 12-year-old boy named Miguel who dreams of becoming a musician despite a generations-old family ban on music. On the Mexican holiday of Día de los Muertos, Miguel is accidentally transported to the Land of the Dead, where he uncovers long-buried secrets about his family history and ultimately exposes Ernesto de la Cruz as having stolen his musical legacy, and his life, from a forgotten songwriter. The film became both a critical and commercial success, grossing more than $800 million worldwide and winning two Academy Awards, for best animated feature and for best original song, “Remember Me.”

“Coco 2” was first announced in March 2025, when then-Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger revealed during the company’s annual shareholder meeting that a sequel was in early development, with a target release window of 2029. At the time, Iger offered only limited detail about the project, saying the film would be “full of humor, heart and adventure,” while cautioning that the movie remained in its initial planning stages.

More than a year later, Friday’s D23 presentation offered fans their first real look at how the story will unfold. According to reporting from the event, Miguel’s return trip to the Land of the Dead will find him navigating both his musical ambitions and his family relationships years after the events of the first film, while Ernesto’s reappearance suggests the sequel will directly address unresolved questions about the villain’s fate following his public downfall. Hector, Miguel’s great-great-grandfather and closest ally from the first film, is also expected to return for the sequel, according to reporting on the announcement.

“Coco 2” is scheduled to open in theaters November 21, 2029, positioning its release to coincide with the Día de los Muertos holiday, which falls on November 1 and 2 each year, mirroring the thematic timing of the original film’s Thanksgiving-season release. The sequel will mark Pixar’s 35th animated feature film and will make “Coco” the seventh Pixar franchise to receive a sequel, following in the footsteps of “Toy Story,” “Cars,” “Monsters, Inc.,” “Finding Nemo,” “The Incredibles” and “Inside Out.”

Friday’s D23 presentation also included new details on several other upcoming Pixar projects. The studio unveiled fresh concept art for “Incredibles 3,” confirming a June 16, 2028 release date and revealing that the film will shift its focus toward the Parr family’s three children, Violet, Dash and Jack-Jack, rather than centering primarily on patriarch Bob Parr as the earlier films did. Pixar also previewed a new original film called “Ghost Market,” slated for 2028, centered on a teenage content creator from Chicago who stumbles upon a hidden marketplace connecting the worlds of the living and the dead, and gave fans an updated look at “Gatto,” an original film about an unlikely animal duo set to arrive in theaters next March.

Beyond the new film itself, Disney is also expanding the “Coco” franchise into other parts of its business. The company confirmed it is currently constructing a new “Coco”-themed ride at Disney California Adventure park in Anaheim, with an opening targeted for sometime next year, and announced that “Coco” will be featured as part of the upcoming video game “Kingdom Hearts IV,” expected to launch in 2027.

With “Coco 2” still more than three years from release, Pixar has not yet announced additional cast members beyond Bratt, nor has the studio released a trailer or further plot details. For now, fans of the original film have a confirmed release date and a first glimpse of a teenage Miguel to anticipate as the sequel continues moving through production.