Walt Disney Animation Studios has officially announced a brand-new animated short titled Lilo & Scratch, set to debut in theaters this November attached to the studio’s upcoming feature film Hexed. The announcement was made on June 26, 2026, at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, a date Disney chose deliberately: June 26 is 626 Day, a fan celebration named for Stitch’s experiment number.
What Lilo And Scratch Is About
Set immediately after the events of the beloved 2002 original, Lilo & Scratch finds Stitch happily settled into his new family when Lilo brings home a mischievous new cat named Scratch as the latest member of their ‘ohana. Lilo then runs off to handle some errands, leaving Stitch in charge. What follows is a chaotic chain of destruction as Stitch quickly discovers he may have met a creature even more unhinged than himself. Scratch has her sights set on Pudge the fish, who now lives in a fishbowl in the family home, and Stitch must stop her at every turn. At one point both characters reveal alien forms, with multiple arms and antennae, before the short’s screened footage cut off.
The Cast And Creative Team
Chris Sanders, who co-created and co-directed the original 2002 film and has voiced Stitch ever since, returns to the recording booth for the short. Maia Kealoha, who played Lilo in the 2025 live-action Lilo & Stitch, voices Lilo here, making her the first actress to play the character in an animated production. The short is directed by Fawn Veerasunthorn and Malcon Pierce, who presented the first two minutes of footage to an enthusiastic crowd at Annecy. Original supervising Stitch animator Alex Kupershmidt has also returned, animating on paper by hand.
A Technical Marvel In Animation
One of the most remarkable aspects of Lilo & Scratch is its visual approach. The team set out to replicate the hand-drawn watercolor look of the 2002 original, blending traditional hand-drawn animation with CG in a way that makes the two indistinguishable. At Annecy, the directors showed six backgrounds from the short, only two of which were actual watercolors painted on paper. Audience members, most of them animation professionals, could not reliably tell the difference. The short also drops directly scanned original background art from the 2002 film into new shots alongside freshly created work.
Disney’s First Theatrical Short In Five Years
Lilo & Scratch marks Disney Animation’s first new theatrical short in five years and will play in front of Hexed, the studio’s 65th animated feature, when it opens exclusively in theaters on November 25, 2026. Both are expected to arrive on Disney+ in early 2027. For more on Hexed, it follows teenager Billie, voiced by Hailee Steinfeld, who discovers secret magical abilities that pull her into a vast witch realm called Hexe. For more Disney Animation news, check out our coverage of Pixar’s new short Loving Dory, also announced at Annecy.
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