Disney Animation’s Jared Bush on What’s Next: "Zootopia 2," Disney Parks, and the Power of Storytelling

At the 2025 Annecy Festival, Zootopia 2 co-director and newly appointed Chief Creative Officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios, Jared Bush, sat down with me to talk about the future of the studio, the return of legendary filmmaker Ron Clements, and the creative evolution of Zootopia 2. In our wide-ranging conversation, Bush opened up about balancing leadership with directing, pushing the boundaries of CG character animation, and what it means to see his work come to life in Disney Parks around the world.

Alex: Welcome to Annecy! When I last talked to you, the news hadn’t broken yet that you were taking over as head of the studio. When Jennifer Lee was here with Wish, one of the questions I asked her was about finding that balance between being a leader and still finding time to direct. I’m curious, did she give you any advice on how to thread that needle?

Jared: “Buckle up," I think that was the advice. Honestly, the benefit I have right now is that in the role of CCO, your number one job is to protect the next movie coming out. So, my number one job is to protect the movie that I’m currently writing and directing. So they’re actually aligned very much. Most of my job right now is focused on whatever movie is coming out, so Zootopia being that is great.

That said, I think the biggest challenge is—we do our best work when we’re questioning ourselves, when we’re making sure we’re leaving no stone unturned. In this new role, I’m finding myself asking others to take a very hard look at what we’re doing, and making sure this movie is as great as it can be. Because my opinion alone is not going to make this movie great. It’s all the brains collectively pushing it to be something excellent.

Alex: It certainly looks excellent. The big news today was the unretirement of Ron Clements. What are the plans for him? Obviously, he worked on Moana, and it felt like Moana 2 was asking for another. But also, he can do anything; he’s Ron Clements.

Jared: I’ve been very good friends with Ron for a long time, and he’s one of the most delightful human beings on the planet. He has this enormous wealth of knowledge and approach to storytelling that ties back to that Disney legacy. He has so much learned experience. So I think more than anything, it’s about making sure our up-and-coming storytellers—anyone at the studio—are hearing those things. Because certainly, as long as I’ve been there, you keep relearning lessons. Just having someone who’s been through it so many times saying: 1) risk-taking is important; 2) every single one of our movies is difficult. We’re trying to make something timeless—the best movie in the world—it’s always going to be hard. You’ll find moments that are extremely difficult, and when you’ve been through it a number of times, those moments continue to be scary, but you believe you’ll make it through—because you’ve made it through so many times before. To not panic, and to have that steady hand that’s able to say, “It’s all going to work out. Here are some things to think about. Here’s a true north." I think more than anything, my hope is that he’s writing with all of our stories moving forward, just helping filmmakers with that advice.

Alex: That’s awesome. Sounds like the next Burny Mattinson, in some ways. You showed a teaser trailer today with a song written by Byron Howard. Is he writing anything for the film, music-wise?

Jared: You know, I’m hoping that music finds its way into the movie itself. There are no plans as of yet, but I think you heard his stylings as a deer being strangled. So you will get that music from him.

Alex: That deer being strangled moment... Are you voicing Karen?

Jared: No, I was just the physical stand-in. I don’t know that Karen ever makes a noise that’s not a crazy honey badger yelp. So, no. I will say there are other characters I may be voicing in this one, but I’ll let everyone see those when they come out.

Alex: Now, Ginnifer Goodwin, she’s been an incredible ambassador for Judy Hopps since the first film. You revealed she always wears Judy ears when she records. There’s been a lot of collaboration on Judy, but because she’s the most “out there," how much of what you’re writing is for Ginny, versus Ginny inspiring the writing?

Jared: They’re one and the same. It’s funny—in the first film, we were so excited when she came in. Originally, I wrote Judy almost like a cool gunslinger type, before Jenny was cast. But when she came in, something felt off. We were like, “What would it sound like if it were just more like you talking?" The second she started being herself, it was immediately amazing.

This character, who is optimistic, believes in the good in the world, and wants to make a difference—that’s actually Ginny in real life. She’ll tell you herself—she’s a dork and she believes in all these things. And we share a lot of that.

So for me, it’s one of the easiest characters to write. It’s her sweet spot. I know exactly how she’ll say a line and how it’ll pop. Although sometimes she comes in and does it very differently than I expected, but still completely in character in a way that’s exciting.

Alex: Pushing animation forward—Gary the Snake—I don’t know that I’ve seen a snake as emotive since Sir Hiss. Some of the test animation you showed, he’s using his tail as a chin rest, and other parts of his body as a pseudo left arm. Can you talk about the exploration of snake animation?

Jared: Disney has a fantastic legacy of really fun snake characters. The Jungle Book is one of my favorite movies ever, and Kaa is one of my favorite characters. So having a snake was like—of course that’s a Disney snake—but then we wanted to surprise people.

This is really the first time we’re doing that in CG. So, how do you take those fun 2D shapes and bring them into 3D? But with Ke [He Quan]’s voice, the key difference is that Gary is such an empathetic character. He’s the emotional anchor of the entire movie. What’s likely to surprise people is that he’s going to make you cry. You’re going to fall in love with him. So it’s really pushing believability and authenticity. The team is doing such a great job.

Alex: One of the pieces of art you showed was for “The Snooter Rooter"—the tagline was “We snake your pipes." I’m assuming there’s some allusion to Zootopia’s perception of snakes?

Jared: [We wanted to ask the question,] “Why didn’t we see reptiles in the first film?" We didn’t want that to just be a convenience; we wanted there to be a story reason. You’ll find that out in this movie.

In the first film, we leaned into how humans relate to animals. You see a fox and think “sly," a big elephant seems blustery. So with this one, many people have snake phobias. Reptiles are often seen as creepy. And to be honest, during research, we found it’s hard to find deep research on reptiles. Humans, as mammals, donate far more to mammal research than reptile research, because they gross us out. So we leaned into that.

In a city that seemed like a mammal city, figuring out their opinion of reptiles—and especially snakes—is a big part of this. My hope is that for people with snake phobias, this movie might make them question that.

Alex: Since the first film, Disney acquired National Geographic. You talked about the research trip for the first film. Did you get to use Nat Geo for their expertise?

Jared: Not exactly. We’ve had a lot of conversations as the movie nears release about what that partnership might look like. For this movie, we spent a lot of time at wildlife centers and had animals brought into the building.

But our major development and research happened during the COVID years, so it was harder to do the kind of outreach we’ve done before. But Nat Geo is one of my favorite things ever—I’m a super nerd for it. So I’m just using this as an excuse to call them and hang out.

Alex: They did A Real Bug’s Life—I think A Real Zootopia would be a great pitch.

Jared: Agreed.

Alex: Since the first film came out, Zootopia has entered the Disney Parks, from the meet and greet at Disney California Adventure to a whole land at Shanghai Disneyland. What does it mean to you to see something that you helped start become a real physical place?

Jared: As you can imagine, it’s really emotional. Because certainly animation... the idea that that gets physicalized is not always something that happens. Very rare. Certainly not on the scale that is happening right now. So, I’d say that for me, as a storyteller, it's like a dream come true. I mean, you imagine as a little kid thinking you’re going to work on a story one day, and then one day you’re going to walk into a park and ride a ride based on that—that is just mind-blowing. I’m the biggest park nut in the world, as are my children, so I do get a lot of cred with them right now, which is very important.

But I’ll also say, specifically to the Shanghai part, about 70% of what you’ll see in that land is really based on the first film. An additional 30%, they just ran with the idea. And they created things that were not a part of the movie, but feel like, “Of course that’s here." That’s really exciting, because it’s not just sort of a one-for-one recreation, it is taking the spirit of something and wanting to expand it. And for me, being able to go there and geek out about something I didn’t anticipate seeing was an amazing experience.

Alex: Are there any pieces of the expanded theme park Zootopia that found a home in the sequel? Are there nods to the land?

Jared: Yeah, I literally wrote locations in. I’d say specifically, in the park, they have this store that is half a sheep barber shop and half a wool sweater store. And so as soon as the sheep gets sheared, it goes straight into that. So that’s in the movie, you’ll see that in the opening car chase. And then they have this crazy animal gym, and they have this giraffe on a treadmill, and that’s in the movie as well. So yeah, immediately I was like, “Oh, all that’s going right in."

Alex: Disney’s Animal Kingdom is getting a 3D movie, too. It used to be that Disney Animation didn’t necessarily do the animation that was in the parks, and that’s changed now. Are you involved in that project at all?

Jared: Deeply. Yeah, deeply. I mean, working with the Imagineering division is just candy. It’s like a dream come true. So it’s been really fun. I’ve gotten to work with them for that new show… [and] we’re working on the Encanto attraction that’s happening there as well. I can’t believe it, it is literally a dream.

Jared Bush is writing Zootopia: Better Together, with Byron Howard directing the animation, all of which is being done in-house at Walt Disney Animation Studios, including the stereoscopic 3D component. Walt Disney Imagineering Senior Creative Director Danny Handke is also involved.

As Zootopia 2 races toward its theatrical release, Jared Bush is not only shaping the film itself but also the future of Disney storytelling. Whether he's collaborating with theme park Imagineers, ushering Ron Clements back into the fold, or championing empathy through unexpected characters like a CG snake, Bush is blending heart, humor, and legacy in his leadership. If the sneak peeks at Annecy are any indication, the world of Zootopia is expanding in bold, emotional, and wonderfully unexpected ways—and Jared Bush is steering that future with curiosity and conviction.

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