Disney announced this morning that its Pixar film for next summer is Soul. The studio already had June 19 RSVP’ed on the 2020 calendar for an untitled Pixar movie, and this is it.

Soul will be the second original Pixar film next year after Onward, which bows March 6.

The tagline for Soul: Ever wonder where your passion, your dreams and your interests come from? What is it that makes you … you?” Directed by two-time Oscar winner Pete Docter (Up, Inside Out), the film takes place between New York City and the cosmic realms. Dana Murray, an Oscar nominee for her animated short film Lou, is producing.

Soul will open against Universal’s untitled Judd Apatow/Pete Davidson comedy next year.

In recent summers, a Pixar movie often has neighbored aside another big rival live-action tentpole like Jurassic World or Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. Next year, Soul precedes Paramount’s long-awaited Top Gun: Maverick. Warner Bros also has its feature adaptation of Tony-winning Broadway musical In the Heights opening on June 19, 2020.

This Friday, Disney/Pixar opens Toy Story 4, which will end a three-week drought of sequel failures at the box office as the film is expected to gross $160M-$200M domestically.

Before Disney’s D23 expo, we had only a ghost of a notion of just what was going on with their new animated feature, Soul. The brand new, original feature arriving in theaters on June 19, 2020 was described as tackling “life’s most important questions” on a journey that travels from New York City to the “cosmic realms.” Things have solidified a bit since then.

We now know that the movie will follow Joe Gardner, a middle school band teacher and jazz aficionado who gets a big break to play at a high-class jazz club. The problem is, Joe apparently dies before he can get there and finds himself newly arrived in the “You Seminar.” And while that may sound decidedly dark, the core of the story is that Joe’s soul will get an opportunity to commune with a multitude of other souls that are awaiting a chance at consciousness. Thankfully, we have some concept art (and some casting details) to help wrap our heads around that.

Joe will be played by Jamie Foxx (Ray) while Tina Fey (30 Rock) voices a spritely soul-in-training named 22 who has an unexpected encounter with Joe when he accidentally finds his way to the “You Seminar.” Together, the two are going to find a way to get Joe back to Earth, making him think again about what it truly means to have soul.

But that’s not all! Ahmir Questlove Thompson (Detroit), Phylicia Rashad (The Cosby Show), and Daveed Diggs (Blindspotting) also star as a drummer, Joe’s mother, and Joe’s neighbor, respectively. And the musical hits keep on coming because Trent Reznor (The Social Network) and Atticus Ross (The Social Network) are composing the score while Jon Batiste (Red Hook Summer) is writing new music for the movie. Two-time Oscar-winner Pete Docter (Up, Inside Out) directs with co-director/writer Kemp Powers (Star Trek: Discovery), writer Mike Jones, and Oscar-nominee Dana Murray (Lou) producing. This is really shaping up to be something special.

Next summer, Joe Gardner will discover his brilliant, passionate self. Watch the new trailer for Disney & Pixar’s Soul now.

About Soul:
Directed by two-time Academy Award®-winner Pete Docter, co-directed by Kemp Powers and produced by Academy Award®-nominee Dana Murray, Disney and Pixar’s “Soul” opens in theaters on June 19, 2020. According to Docter, the idea for the story is 23 years in the making. “It started with my son—he’s 23 now—but the instant he was born, he already had a personality,” says Docter. “Where did that come from? I thought your personality developed through your interaction with the world. And yet, it was pretty clear that we’re all born with a very unique, specific sense of who we are.”

“Soul” introduces Joe Gardner, a middle-school band teacher whose true passion is playing jazz. “I think Joe is having that crisis that all artists have,” says Powers. “He’s increasingly feeling like his lifelong dream of being a jazz musician is not going to pan out and he’s asking himself ‘Why am I here? What am I meant to be doing?’ Joe personifies those questions.”

In the film, just when Joe thinks his dream might be in reach, a single unexpected step sends him to a fantastical place where he’s is forced to think again about what it truly means to have soul. That’s where he meets and ultimately teams up with 22, a soul who doesn’t think life on Earth is all it’s cracked up to be. Jamie Foxx lends his voice to Joe, while Tina Fey voices 22. “The comedy comes naturally,” says Murray. “But the subtle emotion that reveals the truth to the characters is really something special.”

Everybody has a soul. Joe Gardner is about to find his. Disney and Pixar’s Soul, in theaters June 19.

About Soul:
Joe Gardner is a middle-school band teacher who gets the chance of a lifetime to play at the best jazz club in town. But one small misstep takes him from the streets of New York City to The Great Before – a fantastical place where new souls get their personalities, quirks and interests before they go to Earth. Determined to return to his life, Joe teams up with a precocious soul, 22, who has never understood the appeal of the human experience. As Joe desperately tries to show 22 what’s great about living, he may just discover the answers to some of life’s most important questions.

Featuring the voices of Jamie Foxx, Tina Fey, Phylicia Rashad, Angela Bassett, Ahmir Questlove Thompson, Daveed Diggs, “Soul” is directed by Academy Award® winner Pete Docter (“Inside Out,” “Up”), co-directed by Kemp Powers (“One Night in Miami”) and produced by Academy Award nominee Dana Murray (Pixar short “Lou”). Globally renowned musician Jon Batiste will be writing original jazz music for the film, and Oscar®-winners Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (“The Social Network”), from Nine Inch Nails, will compose an original score that will drift between the real and soul worlds.