Pokémon Comes to Disney+: New Stop-Motion Series From Aardman in 2027

Pokémon Comes to Disney+: A New Stop-Motion Series and a Huge Global Deal

If you’re a Pokémon fan who has been juggling multiple services to watch your favorite trainers, things are about to get simpler. Disney+ has inked a global distribution deal with the Pokémon Company International that opens the door for the franchise across Disney’s streaming and broadcast platforms — and it’s bringing a brand-new Aardman stop-motion series along for the ride. Titled “Pokémon Tales: The Misadventures of Sirfetch’d & Pichu,” the show arrives in 2027, a fresh entry in a franchise that already includes the acclaimed Pokémon Concierge on the streamer.

The announcement, made during a panel at Pokémon XP in San Francisco, positions Disney+ as the new global home for Pokémon animated content. The first title to land under the agreement is already streaming: “Pokémon the Series: The Beginning,” the classic anime following Pokémon‘s Ash and Pikachu, began airing on Disney XD earlier this month and is now available on Disney+ in the U.S. and select international markets. For longtime fans, that’s the nostalgic Original Series era, kicking off the partnership with the material most people fell in love with in the first place.

What Is ‘Pokémon Tales: The Misadventures of Sirfetch’d & Pichu’?

The headline project is a stop-motion comedy-adventure from Aardman, the celebrated studio behind Wallace and Gromit and Chicken Run. Official descriptions say Sirfetch’d and Pichu “embark on an epic journey through the Galar Region,” helping and protecting Pokémon along the way. Their missions, naturally, rarely go as planned — which is exactly what you’d expect from a studio that turned clay, stubbornness, and slapstick into an art form. Expect peril, alliances, rivalries, extraordinary Pokémon, and the kind of tactile, handmade charm that only stop-motion can deliver.

Aardman’s creative team on the series includes director Tom Parkinson, creative director of IP development Nat McKay, and model-making creative lead James Young. If you’ve seen the studio’s recent work — including the Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget sequel — you know the level of craft behind the scenes. This is Aardman’s first full dive into the Pokémon world, and the matchup of their handcrafted animation with Pokémon’s bright, cozy universe seems almost too good to be true.

Why This Deal Matters

This is a genuinely big moment for the Pokémon franchise’s TV presence, which has historically bounced around networks. For the first time, the Pokémon Company is committing to a single global streaming partner for its animated output, and it’s Disney. That gives the franchise the massive reach of Disney+ (plus broadcast homes on Disney XD) and ties the world’s most valuable media IP to the Mouse House’s kids-and-family engine. For Disney, it’s a major win: Pokémon remains one of the few franchises with recognition levels that rival their own, and having it exclusive changes the competitive math against rivals like Netflix and Max.

Disney Kids and Family president Ayo Davis framed it as a natural fit, calling Pokémon “a rare ability to mean something to longtime fans while continuing to feel completely relevant to young audiences today.” That dual appeal — nostalgia for adults who grew up with Ash, freshness for kids discovering Pikachu now — is exactly why the IP has stayed culturally dominant for decades and why Disney is betting on it as a tentpole.

What It Means for Streaming Viewers

For viewers, the practical effect is consolidation. Instead of tracking down wherever Pokémon currently happens to be hosting its archives, fans in the U.S. and the deal’s international markets will have one place to go. The partnership starting with the original “The Beginning” series is a smart bait-and-catch: it hooks the nostalgic crowd immediately while the 2027 stop-motion series gives current kids something genuinely new to look forward to.

The stop-motion angle deserves its own spotlight. Aardman’s claymation is a rare thing in modern animation — genuinely handmade at a time when most kids’ shows are fully digital. The team behind Wallace and Gromit, Shaun the Sheep, and Chicken Run has spent decades proving that stop-motion can be both warm and wildly funny, and bringing that craft to Pokémon’s Shinx, Pichu, and friends is a visually distinctive choice no other streamer is currently offering. It’s the kind of series that stands out in a crowded release calendar, and it might be the first time a Pokémon show has ever looked quite this warm and tactile.

The Bigger Picture for Disney and Pokémon

Stepping back, this deal is a statement of intent from both sides. For Disney, locking down Pokémon’s global distribution rights fills a real gap in its family animation lineup. Pokémon has a cultural footprint most rival franchises can only dream of, and having it aboard gives Disney+ a reliable, evergreen draw that appeals to viewers across generations. For the Pokémon Company, it ends a period of unpredictability where the anime’s home seemed to shift with each licensing agreement — Disney brings scale, marketing muscle, and a streaming destination with global reach built in.

The franchise has traveled a long way from its debut as a Game Boy companion to the anime. Over the decades it has become one of the most recognizable and enduring properties on the planet, and its ability to stay relevant through generational shifts is almost unmatched. That’s precisely why a company as large as Disney wants it under its roof, and why older fans who caught the original series in the late nineties will feel a pull toward the new stop-motion adventure even if they’ve long since drifted from the games.

It’s also a reminder of just how competitive the streaming landscape has become. Exclusive franchises are the new currency — the deal that keeps a beloved IP accessible only on one platform is a powerful retention tool when churn rates keep climbing. Disney Plus grabbing Pokémon signals that the big streamers are willing to make ambitious global plays for content they believe will keep subscribers around for years, not just months.

If you’ve never watched the classic Pokemon anime or are curious how Pikachu and the gang hold up today, this could be the nudge to finally start. The move means the franchise now has a stable, high-profile home for years to come — and with Aardman bringing its signature stop-motion magic, 2027 can’t come soon enough.

Are you excited for a stop-motion Pokémon series from Aardman? And will Disney+ become your go-to for the franchise? Tell us in the comments.