“Zootopia” Is Ready to Get Wild Again With a Third Disney Adventure

There are some animated worlds that simply feel like Disney.

Filled with colorful characters, imaginative locations, plenty of humor and a story with a little more underneath the surface, Zootopia has become one of those worlds over the last decade.

And we aren’t done exploring it just yet.

Following the massive global success of Zootopia 2, Disney is officially heading back to the bustling animal metropolis as Zootopia 3 is now in development.

Really, another adventure was only natural.

The original Zootopia arrived in 2016 and introduced audiences to the ever-optimistic Judy Hopps, a small-town bunny with some very big dreams of becoming a police officer. Her journey would eventually cross paths with street-smart fox Nick Wilde, creating one of Disney Animation’s most memorable modern duos.

But it wasn’t only Judy and Nick that helped make the movie such a hit.

Part of the charm of Zootopia has always been the world around them.

On the surface, this is a city populated entirely by animals. Yet the deeper we venture into Zootopia, the more familiar everything begins to feel. Different neighborhoods, jobs, social groups, transportation and everyday problems have all been reimagined around what life might look like if animals built a modern city of their own.

Even the character designs manage to walk that line between being incredibly endearing and still feeling at home within the more grounded world the movies have created.

It is a universe that feels both like and unlike our own.

And perhaps most importantly, it feels organically Disney without needing Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck or any of the company’s other mainstay characters to make it so.

That world only became larger with 2025’s Zootopia 2.

The sequel officially brought Nick into the Zootopia Police Department alongside Judy and opened another corner of the city’s history through Gary De’Snake and its missing reptile population. Audiences responded in a massive way, with the film earning $1.8 billion globally and becoming Disney’s highest-grossing animated movie to date.

So, where do you possibly go from there?

That is the big question hanging over Zootopia 3.

Disney announced the third movie during D23, with Ginnifer Goodwin and Ke Huy Quan confirming that both Judy and Gary will return for the next adventure.

While we don’t know what mystery will pull everyone back together this time, there is still an enormous amount of Zootopia left to explore.

The first two movies have shown just how much storytelling potential exists when Disney begins peeling back the layers of this city. Every new district, species and community offers another opportunity to expand what we understand about Zootopia — and perhaps introduce another part of the animal world we haven’t even considered yet.

There is also Nick and Judy themselves.

Their unlikely partnership has grown from adversaries, to friends, to fellow officers. With another film ahead, there is plenty of room to continue exploring how the pair work together now that they have firmly established themselves as one of Disney Animation’s defining modern duos.

And after reptiles took center stage in the second movie, we have to wonder what corner of the animal kingdom could be waiting next.

Whatever case lands on Judy and Nick’s desk, Zootopia 3 has the opportunity to do more than simply revisit a successful franchise.

It can make this already massive world feel even bigger.

Because after two movies, a Disney+ series and billions at the global box office, Zootopia isn’t simply one of Disney Animation’s biggest modern hits anymore.

It has become a world worth getting lost in.