Pixar's Layoffs Came Days After Receiving a $26 Million Tax Credit. So I Wrote California Officials.

State tax incentives should create and retain jobs for Californians, not subsidize corporate layoffs.

Every so often, an issue comes along that deserves more than an angry social media post.

While I’m not someone who typically writes to elected officials, this time I felt I had to. Today I mailed letters to California Governor Gavin Newsom, several state legislators, and members of the California Film Commission calling for stronger oversight of the state’s film and TV tax credit program. I did so because I am outraged by Pixar Animation Studios’ announcement of another huge round of layoffs just days after the state awarded the studio a $26.2 million tax credit.

The purpose of California’s film tax credit is to encourage studios to create and retain production jobs in the state. Awarding a substantial tax credit to a company that immediately reduces its California workforce raises serious questions about whether the program is fulfilling that mission and whether stronger safeguards are needed to ensure taxpayers receive the public benefit these incentives are intended to provide.

As someone who spent years covering the animation industry, I've watched studios steadily dismantle California's animation production base. These were private business decisions, and while I often disagreed with them, they were ultimately decisions for those companies to make.

This situation is different. By awarding Pixar a major state tax credit, California has made this a matter of public policy. As a resident of the state, I have a legitimate interest in how public resources are allocated and whether they achieve the public purpose for which they were intended. Every dollar the state devotes to a tax credit is a dollar that cannot be invested in the public services and infrastructure that affect my daily life and the lives of other Californians.

I sent letters to:

• Governor Gavin Newsom

• State senators and assemblymembers who authored AB 1138 and SB 630 (the bills for the revised film and TV tax credit that made Pixar eligible for this funding): Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur, State Senator Ben Allen, Assemblymember Isaac Bryan, Assemblymember Sharon Quirk-Silva, Senator Caroline Menjivar, Senator Sasha Renee Perez, and Senator Henry Stern

• The legislators who represent Emeryville, where Pixar is headquartered: Senator Jesse Arreguín and Assemblymember Mia Bonta

• Colleen Bell, Executive Director, California Film Commission

• The Board Members of the California Film Commission

The full text of my letter to Governor Newsom appears below. Letters sent to others contain minor changes tailored to each recipient.

If you’re a resident of California and believe this issue deserves attention, I encourage you to contact these officials and urge them to strengthen oversight of the state’s film and TV tax credit program.

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July 28, 2026

Dear Governor Newsom,

I am writing regarding the administration of California’s Film and Television Tax Credit Program and its role in supporting long-term employment in the state’s animation industry.

I write not only as a concerned California resident, but also as the co-founder and former publisher of Cartoon Brew, where for more than two decades I covered the animation industry. I have also authored two books for Pixar Animation Studios — The Art of Pixar Short Films and The Art of Pixar: The Complete Colorscripts and Select Art from 25 Years of Animation — and have followed the studio closely throughout its history.

I was deeply troubled to learn that shortly after California awarded Pixar $26.2 million through the state’s expanded Film & Television Tax Credit Program, the studio announced layoffs affecting 116 people, roughly ten percent of its workforce. The timing has compounded the frustration already felt throughout California’s struggling animation community.

The purpose of the state’s film tax credit is clear: to encourage studios to keep production and employment in California. It is therefore difficult to reconcile the award of a substantial state tax credit with the immediate reduction of the very workforce those incentives are intended to support. Even if Pixar has satisfied the technical requirements of the program, these layoffs appear fundamentally at odds with the rationale for awarding the credit in the first place.

What makes this especially troubling is that Pixar isn’t a struggling studio. Its latest release, Toy Story 5, is the highest-grossing film of 2026 to date, with over $1 billion in global box office receipts. Its parent company, The Walt Disney Company, reported more than $94 billion in revenue during its most recent fiscal year.

Since the 1995 release of the original Toy Story, Pixar has produced its feature films in California from pre-production through post-production. Indeed, it is the only major American feature animation studio that has consistently maintained its feature production pipeline in the United States for every single film — a distinction that neither DreamWorks Animation nor Walt Disney Animation Studios can still claim. More importantly, Pixar accomplished this for decades without state subsidies.

If California is now providing state tax incentives to retain animation jobs, those incentives should come with meaningful accountability. A company receiving tens of millions in tax credits should not be able to reduce its California workforce almost immediately afterward without consequence. Pixar also carried out significant layoffs in 2023 and 2024, making this part of a broader pattern rather than an isolated event.

I respectfully urge your administration to work with the Legislature and the California Film Commission to strengthen the safeguards attached to these tax credits. Companies receiving state tax credits should be required to demonstrate meaningful workforce retention over an extended period, with clawback provisions if employment declines substantially after the credit is awarded.

Public dollars should produce a measurable public benefit. Tax incentives can be an effective economic development tool, but only when they achieve their stated objective. Otherwise, they risk undermining public confidence in how taxpayer resources are used. That said, I strongly support California’s efforts to preserve its entertainment industry and keep creative jobs in this state. But if the public is asked to subsidize major corporations, those corporations must be held accountable for delivering on the promises those subsidies are meant to secure.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Respectfully,

Amid Amidi