Pixar chief creative officer Pete Docter said the reason LGBTQ+ plot elements were removed from the company’s 2025 film, Elio, was because Pixar is “not (doing) therapy.”
Docter spoke to the Wall Street Journal following the successful release of Pixar’s latest film, Hoppers, which opened at number one at the North American box office this weekend.
Rumors of internal dissent over LGBTQ+-related content emerged in 2022 after the publication of a letter signed by “Pixar’s LGBTQIA+ employees and allies” claiming that studio executives had “banned” moments of gay affection in films before their release.
The letter said: “We at Pixar have personally witnessed beautiful stories, filled with diverse characters, returning from Disney’s corporate reviews reduced to crumbs of what they once were.” He added: “Almost every moment of openly gay affection is removed at Disney’s behest… Even if creating LGBTQIA+ content was the answer to fixing discriminatory legislation in the world, we are prohibited from creating it.”
The letter came after the lukewarm response from Disney, Pixar’s parent company, to Florida’s “don’t say gay” legislation, which bans teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity through fourth grade, which passed in 2022.
When asked about the issue, Docter responded: “We’re making a movie, not hundreds of millions of dollars in therapy.”
The WSJ suggested that Elio’s deleted scenes, inspired by co-director Adrián Molina’s childhood, implied that the main character was gay. They included a pink bicycle and a scene in which Elio “imagined herself raising a child with the man she liked.” According to the WSJ, they were removed after test screenings suggested audiences weren’t excited enough to pay to see it. Molina left the film and was replaced by Madeline Sharafian and Domee Shi, who oversaw the changes. Ultimately, Elio was a flop when it was released in 2025, posting the worst box office in Pixar’s history and losing more than $100 million.
Win or Lose, which came to Disney+ in 2025, was also hit by claims that a trans character and plotline were cut during the development process. A statement from Disney at the time said: “When it comes to animated content for a younger audience, we recognize that many parents would prefer to discuss certain topics with their children on their own terms and schedules.”
Docter, who directed Monsters Inc, Up and Inside Out, was named Pixar’s chief creative officer after the company’s co-founder, John Lasseter, resigned in 2018 following allegations of inappropriate behavior.
Because its films are very expensive to make and often require costly last-minute revisions, Docter said Pixar would focus on making more commercially attractive films. After a string of “autobiographical” movie flops, including titles like Luca and Elemental, Docter told the WSJ, “As time went on, I realized that my job is to make sure the movies appeal to everyone.”
