Pixar’s Hoppers director says Damon Lindelof spent a day helping shape the story

Daniel Chong, director of Pixar’s upcoming Hoppers, told MovieWeb that Damon Lindelof spent a day with his team in 2020 to help work through plot ideas; Lindelof is credited in the film’s "Special Thanks." Hoppers is set to debut in theaters on March 6, 2026. Chong said the session took place early in the pandemic over Zoom, when the project didn’t yet have a writer and the story "didn't at all look like this version" — at one point it even included beavers.

Chong said Lindelof walked the team through how he thinks about story and "brought me all the way to the end of the movie," even if that wasn’t the final version they made. "I think the thing that I learned the most from Damon was seeing how he worked," Chong told MovieWeb, praising Lindelof for modeling a succinct, clear story process and saying he never forgot the lesson.

The MovieWeb piece notes Lindelof’s extensive TV and film résumé, including co-creating Lost and work on Watchmen, The Leftovers and other projects — context Chong and the outlet highlighted when discussing why his input was notable. Hoppers — Pixar’s 29th original feature and the studio’s first new film since Elio (June 2025) — centers on scientists who discover how to put their minds into lifelike robotic animal bodies and features voices including Piper Curda, Jon Hamm, Bobby Moynihan and Meryl Streep.

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