Zootropolis & Moana Crossover Officially Addressed After Surprise Cameo

Viewers who stayed after the credits of Zootopia 2 may have noticed a feather that looked familiar, and now we know how it got there. It turns out the filmmakers of the Zootopia sequel had to borrow something from the movie Moana to make a key scene work. But what exactly did they borrow?

The post-credits scene of Zootopia 2 strongly suggests that birds are part of the Zootopia world – similar to how everyone thought snakes had disappeared. Interestingly, the feather used to hint at this was a last-minute addition. Because there wasn’t enough time to create new animation, the filmmakers actually used graphics borrowed from a different movie.

It Was a Last Minute Addition to Set Up Zootopia 3

Jared Bush, Chief Creative Officer at Walt Disney Animation and co-director of Zootopia 2, recently shared an interesting detail about a scene in the movie. He explained that the team didn’t have time to create a new bird character, so they borrowed a shadow and feather from Moana. Specifically, they used the shadow cast by the hawk form of Maui. Bush added that they couldn’t use a bird from elsewhere in Zootopia 2 because Dwayne Johnson, who voices Maui, is already a dik-dik in that world, and using another animal form would have been confusing for viewers.

This isn’t proof that Moana and Zootopia exist in the same world, or that Maui is a character in Zootopia. It’s just a fun detail showing different departments within Disney collaborating. However, a note found on the Zootopia Police Department’s modem – reading “P@Rt3izFr&BrdZr2” – seems to confirm that a third Zootopia movie is happening and that birds will be included. Just like the second movie introduced reptiles, Zootopia 3 will likely feature birds as new characters.

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2026-04-13 01:41

It Was a Last Minute Addition to Set Up Zootopia 3

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