Pixar Movie Was Canceled for Having Too Much ‘Girl Power,’ More Details Revealed

Pixar canceled one of the movies the company had in development because it had too much “girl power,” according to someone familiar with the project.

Pixar Animation Studios, which is a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, is known for putting out movies like 2003’s Finding Nemo, 2004’s The Incredibles, 2007’s Ratatouille, and more. The company released Elio in 2025, while Hoppers hit United States theaters just last month. Next up for Pixar is Toy Story 5, which arrives in June.

One Pixar movie that was previously in development that fans will seemingly never have the chance to see is Be Fri, stylized as BeFri and short for “best friends.” The project was in development for years before it was officially scrapped sometime around late 2023, according to The Wall Street Journal. Directed and inspired by the real-life experiences of Kristen Lester, the movie was supposed to be about two teenage girls who find themselves drifting apart after one of them sets out on a quest to save all of humanity. 

Why did Pixar cancel the Be Fri movie?

Per The Hollywood Reporter, new details have now come to light as to why Be Fri is no longer happening. The outlet notes that Disney asked for “a major retooling of the film” after one of several focus testing screenings, according to a former Pixar employee who worked on the project but wanted to stay anonymous.

Knowing that Disney was unhappy with the film following the screening, the creative team offered to “redo the entire film” in just six weeks, which they did. Disney and Pixar reportedly still weren’t happy with what they were given.

The anonymous staff member said, “[Be Fri] was on Hoppers’ level. It befuddles me why they passed on it, but with each round of notes, Disney just didn’t feel like little boys could see themselves in the film enough. Basically, Disney reps were like, ‘We can’t have a girl power movie.’”

It’s important to note that this is just coming from one person who was involved with the project, and that Pixar has recently had several films starring girls or young women as the main protagonist, including Hoppers and Inside Out 2. Having said that, this perhaps doesn’t come as too much of a surprise, as Pixar’s mandates for what is and is not allowed to be in the films have been receiving lots of press in recent years. There were reports that Pixar wanted Riley to be “less gay” in Inside Out 2, while Elio also had its LGBTQ themes and storylines censored. A transgender character in the 2025 show Win or Lose was cut out of the project entirely. Much of the blame for these decisions seems to fall on Pixar Animation Studios CCO Pete Docter.

“The joke around Pixar is that, for such a tall man, Pete has no spine at all,” a different, but still anonymous, former staff member told The Hollywood Reporter.

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