Disney+ is expanding its relationship with Pokémon, securing global distribution rights to a new stop-motion series from Aardman alongside the franchise’s earliest animated adventures. The deal gives Disney a potentially significant piece of Pokémon programming without, at least for now, making the streamer the definitive home of the franchise’s sprawling animation library.
Pokémon Tales: The Misadventures of Sirfetch’d & Pichu is scheduled to arrive on Disney XD and stream exclusively on Disney+ in 2027. Produced by Aardman for The Pokémon Company International, the series shifts away from the familiar trainer-focused formula by telling its story entirely through Pokémon, with no human characters involved.
The setting is Galar, the region introduced in 2019’s Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield. Sirfetch’d, the knight-like evolved form of Galarian Farfetch’d, takes the lead alongside Pichu. Their adventures revolve around helping other Pokémon, although Sirfetch’d’s enthusiasm and less-than-perfect execution apparently ensure those good intentions regularly create complications.
It is an unusually natural pairing for Aardman. The British animation studio behind Wallace & Gromit, Chicken Run and Shaun the Sheep has spent decades building comedy around expressive characters, physical mishaps and detailed stop-motion environments. Pokémon, meanwhile, offers hundreds of creatures capable of carrying stories without relying on lengthy dialogue or human protagonists.
Tom Parkinson is directing the project, with Aardman’s creative team also including IP development creative director Nat McKay and model-making creative lead James Young. The Pokémon Company International is overseeing the production, with Aardman handling the animation.
Disney’s agreement goes beyond the new series. Pokémon the Series: The Beginning, which packages the original adventures of Ash Ketchum and Pikachu from the 1997-98 era of the anime, began airing on Disney XD in August and is available through Disney+ in the US and selected international markets.
That addition gives Disney something arguably as valuable as a new spin-off: nostalgia. The earliest Pokémon episodes remain closely associated with the franchise’s first explosion in global popularity, making them an easy entry point for parents who grew up with Ash and Pikachu as well as younger viewers encountering the series for the first time.
There are still important limits to what has been announced. Disney and The Pokémon Company International have not disclosed the agreement’s financial terms or duration, and only The Misadventures of Sirfetch’d & Pichu and The Beginning have been identified as included titles. There is no confirmation that the wider Pokémon animation catalogue is moving exclusively to Disney+.
That distinction matters. Pokémon has accumulated decades of television series, films and spin-offs across different platforms and distribution arrangements. For Disney+, landing an exclusive Aardman production and the anime’s original episodes is already a useful franchise win. Whether this becomes the start of a much broader Pokémon streaming strategy is the considerably bigger question.
