Best Animation Studios in London (2026)

Introduction

London is home to most of the UK's leading animation studios, and the 13 below cover the main kinds of work: commercials and music videos, motion design for brands, title sequences, pre-school television and feature films. They were chosen for recent work, 2025 and 2026 recognition, and the strength of their client and commissioning lists.

The past year was a busy one for the city's studios. Studio AKA won a News and Documentary Emmy in May 2026 for its animation in the Netflix documentary In Waves and War. Lupus Films' hand-drawn feature Kensuke's Kingdom, nominated for a BAFTA, reached BBC One in August 2025. Blinkink made the BBC's 2026 World Cup trailer, and Nexus Studios opened Google I/O 2026 with a puppet and AI film. There were departures too: Animade, a Shoreditch fixture for 16 years, closed and its team moved to Duolingo.

Every studio here has an active London base in 2026. Aardman is left out because it is based in Bristol, and studios whose main work is visual effects are covered on our VFX page. The list is in no order of merit, since the right studio depends on the technique, the budget and whether the project is a 30-second spot or a 52-episode series.

The best animation studios in London

1. Blinkink

Independent · Holloway · blinkink.co.uk

Blinkink is an animation production company for advertising, music and broadcast, working from Tramways House on Camden Road in Holloway alongside its sister company Blink Industries. It represents a roster of directors across stop-motion, 2D, 3D and mixed media, and has recently added stop-motion animator Kevin Parry and 3D director Liam Archibald.

In June 2026 it produced "Let's Make It Iconic", the BBC's World Cup trailer, directed by BAFTA winner Nicos Livesey with BBC Creative, which turns scarves, badges and bobbleheads into animated sets. Earlier, in March 2025, director Daniel Quirke made four shorts for Burberry's Winter 2025 collection from 120 cross-stitched frames, working with London Embroidery Studio.

2. Nexus Studios

Independent · London · nexusstudios.com

Charlotte Bavasso and Chris O'Reilly founded Nexus in 2000. It now describes itself as a studio in film and experience design, with bases in London and Los Angeles, and its record includes BAFTA and Emmy wins and an Academy Award nomination for the short This Way Up. Recent hires include executive producer Hugh Ip and the directing trio Coup de Foudre, both in April 2026, and director Devin Crane in September 2026.

Recent work includes the opening film for Google I/O 2026, an animated kit launch for adidas and Arsenal in August 2026, and hand-drawn animation for a McDonald's and Crayola collaboration. Its experience work runs from ABBA Voyage to The Lion King at Outernet, so it suits briefs that cross screen, live and immersive formats.

3. Passion Animation Studios

Part of the Passion Pictures group · London · passion-animation.com

Passion Pictures is a full-service animation and documentary company with offices in London, Paris, New York and Barcelona. The group counts three Academy Awards, 15 Emmys and five BAFTAs across its divisions, and its documentary arm won a BAFTA in 2025 for Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story. The animation studio is long associated with Gorillaz's animated videos.

Recent animation work shown includes Apple's "Fuzzy Feelings", LEGO Horizon Adventures and LEGO Friends, Diablo x Korn and Life360. The group also owns Strange Beast, so ask which roster and which team will lead the job.

4. Strange Beast

Part of the Passion Pictures group · London · strangebeast.tv

Strange Beast is a design-led animation production studio working in 2D, stop-motion and CG. It says it has the first gender-balanced roster of directors in Europe, and the list includes Anna Ginsburg, Sacha Beeley, Jimmy Simpson, Ly Leova, Baz&Ben and RUDO.

Commercial clients include McDonald's, Instagram, Facebook and Atlassian, and in March 2025 it animated "Speakie Snackie" for J.M. Smucker Co. It also produces music videos, such as for Troye Sivan and Saint Etienne, and independent shorts including HAG and Two Black Boys in Paradise.

5. Studio AKA

Independent · Clerkenwell · studioaka.co.uk

Studio AKA started in 1989 as Pizzazz Pictures and works from Compton Street in Clerkenwell. Partners include director Marc Craste, creative director Philip Hunt and head of production Sue Goffe. Its short Lost and Found won a BAFTA in 2009, and in May 2026 it won a News and Documentary Emmy for the animated sequences in Netflix's In Waves and War.

Hey Duggee, made for CBeebies, turned ten in 2025 with 1.36 billion streams on BBC iPlayer, and new series are planned. The studio is also a leading title sequence house, with recent titles for Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, Chief of War and Eyes of Wakanda, the last nominated at the 2025 RTS Craft and Design Awards. In August 2025 it launched ACTIVATE, a children's fitness series with Joe Wicks.

6. Blue Zoo

Independent, certified B Corp · Camden · blue-zoo.co.uk

Oli Hyatt, Adam Shaw and Tom Box founded Blue Zoo in 2000. It describes itself as creator-owned, has more than 200 artists, and in 2021 became the first major animation studio to gain B Corp certification. It has won BAFTAs for Independent Production Company and two Daytime Emmys for The Adventures of Paddington, and its London studio is on Parkway in Camden, with a second studio in Brighton.

Its best-known series are Numberblocks and Alphablocks. Current work includes LEGO Bluey shorts for BBC Studios, LEGO and Ludo, Supertato and Mojo Swoptops for the BBC, and Disney Lets Play for Disney Junior, alongside advertising for Supercell and Clarks. It appointed Claire Horseman as head of people and talent in June 2025.

7. ManvsMachine

Part of WPP's Landor · De Beauvoir Town · mvsm.com

Mike Alderson and Tim Swift founded ManvsMachine in 2009, and Landor bought a majority stake in 2015. The studio calls itself a multi-dimensional creative company in design, film and visual arts, with a London studio on Hertford Road and a second in Los Angeles. It lists more than 60 awards.

Its strength is high-finish 3D and motion design for product launches and brand films, much of it for sportswear and technology clients such as Nike and Apple. Being part of Landor gives it access to brand strategy teams, which helps when motion work has to sit inside a wider identity system.

8. Golden Wolf

Owned by Doodles · Hoxton · goldenwolf.tv

Stef Falconer founded Golden Wolf in London in 2013, and it later opened in New York. Doodles acquired the studio in 2022. In January 2025 it promoted Henry Purrington to studio director and Falconer to executive creative director, and said it would refocus on motion and design. The London studio is on Bevenden Street in Hoxton.

Recent work includes Instacart's Super Bowl campaign, a McDonald's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Hello Kitty promotion, a Fortnite activation in Times Square for Epic Games, and ITV's Rugby World Cup titles. Its short Dullsville and the Doodleverse premiered at TIFF in September 2024.

9. Moth

Independent · Wapping · moth.studio

Moth is an independent animation studio specialising in character, branding and motion, based at Metropolitan Wharf in Wapping. Its 2026 showreel collects around ten years of work, and it builds a team for each project around a collaborative directing approach.

Recent projects include 3D work for Discord's rebrand, a launch film for ustwo games' Monument Valley 3, idents for Sky Kids and 2D films for Zoe. Editorial clients such as CNN, The New York Times and The Guardian make it a good fit for explainer and data-led animation.

10. Lupus Films

Independent · Islington · lupusfilms.net

Camilla Deakin and Ruth Fielding founded Lupus Films in 2002, and it works from Upper Street in Islington. It specialises in family animation adapted from well-known books, including The Snowman and the Snowdog, We're Going on a Bear Hunt and The Tiger Who Came to Tea, which won an International Emmy Kids Award, as well as the feature Ethel & Ernest.

Its hand-drawn feature Kensuke's Kingdom, directed by Neil Boyle and Kirk Hendry from Michael Morpurgo's novel, was nominated for a BAFTA for Children's and Family Film, won three British Animation Awards and premiered on BBC One in August 2025. Features in development include Molesworth and an animated film about Frida Kahlo.

11. Locksmith Animation

Part of Sister · London · locksmithanimation.com

Sarah Smith and Julie Lockhart, both formerly of Aardman, founded Locksmith with Elisabeth Murdoch in 2014. It is a CG feature studio of around 100 people, with an office in Los Angeles since 2023. Its first film was Ron's Gone Wrong (2021), and its second, That Christmas, adapted from Richard Curtis's books, was released by Netflix in 2024.

Next come Bad Fairies, an original musical comedy due from Warner Bros. Pictures in 2027, and The Lunar Chronicles in 2028. Locksmith works on its own slate, so it is the London option for studios and streamers looking for a feature partner, not for advertising.

12. Karrot

Independent · Walworth · karrotanimation.com

Karrot is a BAFTA and Emmy-winning London animation company best known for Sarah & Duck. It works from Morecambe Street in Walworth, and has also animated Peppa Pig for its producers.

In September 2024 it delivered 26 new episodes of My Friend Maisy for Sky Kids. In October 2025 it announced broadcast and distribution deals for MaeBee, a new series made with Kavaleer, and it has launched a Karrot Kids label for its own pre-school content.

13. Jelly

Independent · London · thisisjelly.com

Jelly is a creative studio and artist roster working in 3D, animation and illustration, with offices in London, New York and Barcelona. It has added several directors and artists in 2026, among them the duo Ben&Julia in April and Raissa Pardini in March.

Recent work includes IKEA's "Reimagine Your Space" by Charlie Toqué and KFC's "Bucketverse" by Boomranng and Eva Cremers. Its model, where the studio matches an illustrator or director to the brief, suits brands that want a distinctive illustrative style carried into motion.

What to look for in a London animation studio

Start with the model. Some London names, such as Blinkink, Strange Beast and Jelly, are production companies that represent a roster of directors and assemble a crew for each job. Others, such as Blue Zoo, Moth and Studio AKA, keep large in-house teams and pipelines. A roster gives you a wider choice of styles. An in-house studio gives more continuity across a long series or a campaign with many deliverables.

Match the technique to the brief, and ask to see finished work in it. Stop-motion, cel-style 2D, CG and mixed media each have different schedules and costs, and stop-motion in particular needs time for builds and shoots. If the job is a title sequence, an ident package or a pre-school series, look for studios that have delivered that format to a broadcaster before.

Check ownership and who will direct. Several studios here sit inside larger groups: ManvsMachine within WPP's Landor, Golden Wolf within Doodles, Strange Beast within Passion Pictures. That can bring wider services. For roster-based companies, the director is the creative decision, so confirm the named director and their availability in writing.

Agree the production process early. Animation runs through scripts, boards, animatics, style frames and render passes, and each stage has its own review round. Ask how many rounds are included, how feedback is gathered and timestamped, where project files and renders will be kept, and what you receive at handover, including source files and music licences.

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Frequently asked questions

What is the best animation studio in London?

There is no single answer, because it depends on the format. For commercials, Blinkink and Nexus Studios made two of the most visible London pieces of 2026, the BBC's World Cup trailer and the Google I/O opener. For television, Studio AKA's Hey Duggee and Blue Zoo's Numberblocks are among the most watched British pre-school shows, and Studio AKA won an Emmy in May 2026.

Is Aardman in London?

No. Aardman is based in Bristol, so it is not on this list. Locksmith Animation, a London CG feature studio, was founded by two former Aardman collaborators, Sarah Smith and Julie Lockhart.

Which London studios make children's television?

Blue Zoo (Numberblocks, Alphablocks), Studio AKA (Hey Duggee), Karrot (Sarah & Duck, My Friend Maisy) and Lupus Films (The Snowman and the Snowdog, The Tiger Who Came to Tea) all make children's series and specials. Blue Zoo and Karrot also take on service work for other producers.

What happened to Animade?

Animade, the Shoreditch motion studio, closed after 16 years of independent work, and its team moved to Duolingo. Moth and ManvsMachine are among the London studios doing similar brand and product animation.

Where can I find studios for visual effects instead of animation?

Studios focused on compositing, CG for live action and creature work are covered in our list of the best VFX studios in London.

Related lists

Animation studios in other cities: New York · Los Angeles · Toronto · Berlin · Sydney

More in London: Creative agencies · VFX · Video production · Post-production · Sound design · Design agencies

Run your studio on Fabric: Fabric for creative teams · Fabric for video editors · Review and approval on Fabric