Walt Disney Animation Studios Versa Now Streaming on Disney+

Versa is Now Streaming Exclusively on Disney+

Disney fans, get your tissues ready. Walt Disney Animation Studios has just released its latest short film, Versa, exclusively on Disney+. While the studio is known for its technical wizardry and colorful worlds, Versa stands out as one of its most emotionally courageous and deeply personal stories to date.

Directed by 16-year Disney veteran Malcon Pierce (whose credits include Frozen, Moana, and Raya and the Last Dragon), Versa is a profound reflection on love, loss, and the resilience of the human spirit. The film was inspired by a tragic personal experience: while Pierce was serving as an animation supervisor on Moana in 2016, he and his wife, Keely, lost their infant son, Cooper.

The short is dedicated to Cooper, and Pierce has shared that the imagery was inspired by his son’s baby shower theme, “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.”

Versa follows two celestial beings—one cast in warm gold and the other in cool blue—as they navigate an ethereal “cosmic dance of life.” In a unique stylistic choice, the film features no dialogue. Instead, the narrative is carried entirely by a sweeping orchestral score by Haim Mazar (recorded with a 65-piece orchestra) and fluid, lyrical animation.

One of the most striking visual metaphors in the film is inspired by Kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold lacquer. In Versa, the characters don’t simply “heal” and return to exactly who they were before; instead, they carry their fractures in gold, showing that while they are changed by grief, they are still beautiful and whole.

Not only is Versa a milestone for its storytelling, but it also marks a major achievement for the studio’s technical team. It is the first production completed entirely at Disney Animation’s Vancouver studio, where Pierce has served as Artistic Director since 2022.

To capture the “weightless but grounded” feel of the characters, the animation team worked with Olympic silver medalist ice dancers to choreograph the movements, giving the celestial beings a stunning, gliding fluidity that feels both magical and real.

Versa is a rare, direct look at grief from a studio that usually focuses on fairy tales, but it ultimately delivers a message of hope. Whether you are a fan of Disney’s experimental shorts like Paperman or simply looking for a meaningful story that celebrates the power of love, Versa is a must-watch.

As Malcon Pierce puts it: “Grief isn’t something you finish—it’s something you live with, a way to keep love present.”

Versa is now available to stream on Disney+.

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