Disney Jr launches preschool series on YouTube in partnership with Animaj

Ozzy Fox made its debut this week

Disney Jr has launched a preschool series on YouTube after developing it in partnership with France- and UK-based AI animation studio Animaj.

Created by Jennifer Oxley (Peg + Cat) and developed by Guillermo García-Carsí (Pocoyo), Ozzy Fox premiered this week on YouTube and YouTube Kids, with the first two episodes now available. A broader rollout across additional platforms will follow in the coming months.

The series follows a five-year-old fox, his little sister and their family as they turn everyday moments into big adventures through music, imagination and play.

It comes after Animaj was last year selected by Disney Jr parent The Walt Disney Company (TWDC) to join its business development programme.

Participating companies in the Disney Accelerator scheme receive an undisclosed amount of investment capital, as well as mentorship from Disney’s senior leadership and the opportunity to explore collaborations with leaders across TWDC.

Animaj said it has been selected due to its innovative AI-driven production pipeline and digital-first approach to building global children’s and family franchises.

Animaj, whose flagship IP is preschool brand Pocoyo, which it acquired from Spain’s Zinkia Entertainment in 2023, uses an AI-driven, digital-first approach to children’s content and has been launching its own AI tools that aim to speed up animation production.

The Paris- and London-based animation studio was co-founded by former YouTube Kids exec Gregory Dray in 2022 and last year received US$85m investment in a funding round led by New York-based investment firm HarbourView Equity Partners and French national investment fund Bpifrance.

More recently it received US$1m from Google and defended its use of AI to make children’s content, urging other studios to do the same to combat “AI slop being made in unregulated content farms.”

With Ozzy Fox, Animaj and Disney have emphasised that the series is a creator-led project, with technology supporting artists rather than replacing them.

They said: “The project equips artists with AI tools from Animaj that accelerate production workflows while ensuring creative teams continue to drive the storytelling and quality.”