FILM · 2017 · USA
Coco
- Directed by
- Lee Unkrich
- Runtime
- 105 min
- Studio
- Pixar
40 archived facts 5 topics 1 source Last reviewed Sep 2026
Despite his family’s baffling generations-old ban on music, Miguel dreams of becoming an accomplished musician like his idol, Ernesto de la Cruz. Desperate to prove his talent, Miguel finds himself in the stunning and colorful Land of the Dead following a mysterious chain of events. Along the way, he meets charming trickster Hector, and together, they set off on an extraordinary journey to unlock the real story…
Summary: TMDB
15 Facts From the Making of Coco
- #001
Lee Unkrich first pitched an idea for Coco in 2010, the year Toy Story 3, which he also directed, was released.
- #002
Coco was initially conceived around an American child who learns about his Mexican heritage while coping with his mother's death, but the team later judged this approach wrong and reworked the film to center on a Mexican child.
- #003
Lee Unkrich said the original version of Coco reflected that none of the filmmakers at the time were from Mexico.
- #004
Depicting a real culture in Coco caused Lee Unkrich anxiety, and he said he felt an enormous responsibility to do it right.
- #005
The Pixar team behind Coco traveled to Mexico several times to help define the film's characters and story.
- #006
Director Lee Unkrich said the juxtaposition of skeletons with bright, festive colors in folk art captured his imagination and led him down a winding path of discovery.
- #007
According to Unkrich, the more he learns about Día de los Muertos, the more it affects him deeply.
- #009
In 2013, Disney sought to trademark the phrase "Día de los Muertos" for merchandising, drawing criticism from the Mexican-American community in the United States.
- #010
Mexican-American cartoonist Lalo Alcaraz responded with a poster titled Muerto Mouse, showing a skeletal Godzilla-sized Mickey Mouse and the byline "It's coming to trademark your cultura."
- #011
More than 21,000 people signed a Change.org petition calling the trademark "cultural appropriation and exploitation at its worst," and Disney withdrew the filing a week later, stating that the film's title would change.
- #012
Lee Unkrich described writing the script for Coco as "the toughest nut to crack".
- #013
In earlier drafts of Coco, the rules of the film's universe differed over how Miguel, then named Marco, would return from the land of the dead; one version required him to physically run across the bridge.
- #014
One version of Coco's story cursed Miguel's family with singing whenever they tried to speak, a device added to bring music into a story where music is banned.
- #027
On April 13, 2016, Lee Unkrich announced that work on the animation for Coco had begun.
- #028
Coco's writer, Adrian Molina, was promoted to co-director in 2016.
Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
Sources for the entries on this page
- Wikipedia Coco (2017 film) — Wikipedia
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