Best Animation Studios in Vancouver (2026)

Introduction

Vancouver is one of the largest animation centres in North America, and the 10 studios below cover the range: feature animation for Netflix and Sony, television series for most of the major streamers and children’s broadcasters, and commercial and motion design work for brands. They were chosen for recent productions, 2025 and 2026 recognition, and evidence of an active Vancouver studio this year.

The city had a strong 2026. KPop Demon Hunters, animated largely at Sony Pictures Imageworks’ Vancouver and Montreal studios, won Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song at the Academy Awards in March. In April, Netflix opened a 110,000 square foot Netflix Animation Studios facility in the city for more than 450 artists, building on its purchase of Animal Logic. Series studios have kept busy too, and the workforce has continued to organise: ICON Creative Studio and the Canadian Animation Guild reached a tentative first contract covering more than 800 workers this year.

Every studio here has a working Vancouver studio in 2026. The list is unranked, since the right partner depends on format, budget and how much of the pipeline you need.

The best animation studios in Vancouver

1. Sony Pictures Imageworks

Sony Pictures Entertainment · Vancouver · imageworks.com

Imageworks is Sony’s animation and visual effects studio, with offices in Vancouver, Montreal and Los Angeles. Its Vancouver and Montreal teams led the animation on KPop Demon Hunters, which became Netflix’s most-watched film and won two Oscars in March 2026. Netflix has since confirmed a sequel with the original directors returning.

The studio is also closely tied to the Spider-Verse films for Sony Pictures Animation. Its work is mostly studio features and visual effects, so it suits producers working at feature scale.

2. Netflix Animation Studios

Netflix · Vancouver · netflix.com

Netflix opened its Vancouver facility in April 2026: more than 110,000 square feet for over 450 artists working on feature animation and visual effects. It builds on Netflix’s acquisition of Animal Logic, whose Vancouver team made Leo and Thelma the Unicorn, and Animal Logic has since been folded into Netflix’s in-house pipeline. The site also connects to Eyeline, Netflix’s VFX studio.

Current work includes Steps, a feature directed by Alyce Tzue. Amir Nasrabadi, formerly head of Disney Animation’s Vancouver studio, joined Netflix in 2025 as chief operating officer of its feature animation division, which spans Burbank, Vancouver and Sydney.

3. Atomic Cartoons

Blue Ant Studios · Vancouver · atomiccartoons.com

Atomic Cartoons is one of Canada’s largest series studios, with teams in Vancouver, Ottawa and Los Angeles. It was previously part of Thunderbird Entertainment and now operates as a Blue Ant Studios company. It is a certified B Corp.

Recent and current shows include Super Team Canada, Mermicorno: Starfall, LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy and The Last Kids on Earth, alongside licensed work for LEGO, Star Wars, My Little Pony and CoComelon. It covers preschool, comedy, action-adventure, adult and commercial animation, and was hiring CG production staff in Vancouver this year.

4. Bardel Entertainment

Privately held · Vancouver · bardel.ca

Bardel was founded in Vancouver in 1987 and has since added studios in Kelowna and Montreal. The Emmy-winning studio is best known for Rick and Morty, The Dragon Prince, Teen Titans Go! and the Diary of a Wimpy Kid films, working in 2D, 3D and hybrid styles.

In August 2025 it hired Naomi Stopa, previously head of studio at Framestore Vancouver, as VP of production to run animation and a new visual effects division. Job postings through spring 2026 show feature and TV featurette work in progress at the Vancouver studio, which makes Bardel a fit for clients who want both animation and VFX under one roof.

5. ICON Creative Studio

Independent · Gastown · iconcreativestudio.com

ICON is a CG animation studio with more than 30 years in television, offering script-to-screen production from Vancouver and Los Angeles. Its original theatrical feature, Charlie the Wonderdog, has reached cinemas, and its more than 800 workers reached a tentative first union contract with the Canadian Animation Guild in 2026.

Service work includes The Search for WondLa with Skydance Animation for Apple TV+, Monsters at Work for Disney+, Batwheels and Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures. It also produced animation for Monstropolis, the Monsters, Inc. land, with Pixar and Walt Disney Imagineering, and lists Cars Lightning Racers and Dragoons among current productions.

6. WildBrain Studios

WildBrain (TSX-listed) · Vancouver · wildbrain.com

WildBrain runs its animation studio in Vancouver, where it produces 2D and CG series and has expanded into higher-end production; the studio is now integrated with House of Cool. Its workers unionised with the Canadian Animation Guild in 2023.

Recent series include Sonic Prime, Ninjago: Dragons Rising, LEGO DREAMZzz and The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder, along with WildBrain’s own Peanuts shows such as Camp Snoopy and The Snoopy Show. Because WildBrain also owns brands like Peanuts, Teletubbies and Strawberry Shortcake, the studio balances in-house franchises with work for hire.

7. Titmouse

Independent · Mount Pleasant · titmouse.net

Titmouse is a Los Angeles-founded studio with locations in Burbank, Hollywood, New York, Paris and Vancouver, where it works from West 3rd Avenue in Mount Pleasant. It is known for adult animation and action series.

Recent work includes The Legend of Vox Machina season four for Prime Video, Golden Axe for Paramount+, and Mating Season and Dang! for Netflix. Ask which parts of a production the Vancouver team would handle, since the studio splits work across its locations.

8. Kickstart Entertainment

Privately held · Vancouver · kickstartent.com

Kickstart has produced animation and live action since 1999, with Vancouver alongside studios in Los Angeles, Arkansas, Hong Kong, Suzhou and Mumbai. It counts more than 600 episodes and 20 feature films, mostly for kids and family audiences.

Releases over the past year include Star Trek: Scouts (September 2025), Barbie and Chelsea: The Birthday Do-Over (February 2026) and Hot Wheels Monster Trucks (August 2026), plus Barney’s World for Mattel. Kickstart is a strong option for toy and brand franchises that need long-form content at volume.

9. Giant Ant

Independent · Strathcona · giantant.ca

Giant Ant is a design-led animation studio on East Hastings Street, working across brand films, campaigns, explainers and short films. It describes itself as a creative studio, design shop and animation house.

Recent clients include OpenTable, with a 2026 brand campaign about why people gather, Duolingo (“Misunderstood”), HoYoverse (a cel-animated segment for a Genshin Impact trailer), Microsoft Copilot and Rover. It has also made Super Bowl broadcast spots for Tennessee Valley Federal Credit Union two years running.

10. Ordinary Folk

Independent · East Vancouver · ordinaryfolk.co

Ordinary Folk is a motion design and animation studio on Commercial Street, making polished brand and product motion work.

Clients include Google, Webflow and TED, and the studio animated the “Salsa Salsa” Google Doodle. It suits tech companies and product teams that need explainers, launch films or animated brand systems rather than broadcast series.

What to look for in a Vancouver animation studio

Start with format. Vancouver’s largest studios are built for features or long-running series, with pipelines, schedules and minimum budgets to match. A 60-second launch film or a set of social cutdowns usually fits better with a commercial or motion design studio such as Giant Ant or Ordinary Folk, which work in shorter cycles.

Ask what the studio will own and what it will only service. Some studios here develop and produce their own IP, some take work for hire, and many do both. That affects who leads creative decisions, how rights are split and how much influence you have over the look of the show.

Check how incentives and crew affect the budget. British Columbia’s tax credits are a large part of why US producers bring work to the city, and several studios have Canadian Animation Guild contracts. Ask the studio to set out what is eligible, who claims the credits, and how union terms affect overtime and scheduling.

Look at review and approvals early. Animation moves through boards, animatics, layout, animation, lighting and comp, and every stage produces versions that need sign-off. Studios that keep notes against the frame and track which ones are resolved spend less time reconciling feedback across email threads, and they are easier to work with across a full season.

How Fabric helps animation teams

Fabric gives an animation team one workspace for its files, reviews and production knowledge, with AI search across all of it. Studios that run several shows or campaigns at once can keep one space per production, with scripts, boards, animatics, renders and call notes together. The motion design setup shows how that works for studio teams.

Renders, caches and image sequences sit in Fabric’s cloud drive, which streams files on demand so they take no local disk space, and heavy video files open without a full download. There is more on this in your rendering files need a home. Search works by meaning across documents, images and transcribed recordings, with colour search for visual assets, and similar search finds frames and references with a matching composition or palette.

For review, share a cut, board or still with the client as a commenter. Shared links work without sign-up. With annotations, reviewers leave timestamped comments on video and audio, draw on a video frame to show exactly what needs to change, and draw on images with a comment attached. Text files and PDFs such as scripts take highlights and comments. The team marks each comment completed as it is addressed, so a round of notes works like a checklist, as described in how to mark client feedback as done. Published links are view-only, which suits a final delivery page.

Early development has a place too. Canvas is an infinite whiteboard for style frames, character sheets and storyboards, with Figma, YouTube and Vimeo embeds. Any folder can become a Kanban board whose cards are the files themselves, which suits a shot or episode pipeline.

Password protection and link analytics are included on Pro and Team plans. See plans for teams.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best animation studio in Vancouver?

It depends on the project. For studio features, Sony Pictures Imageworks led the animation on the 2026 Oscar winner KPop Demon Hunters. For series, Atomic Cartoons, Bardel, ICON and WildBrain all have long track records with major streamers. For brand and product work, Giant Ant and Ordinary Folk are the more natural fit.

What happened to Animal Logic Vancouver?

Netflix acquired Animal Logic in 2022 and has folded it into Netflix Animation Studios. In April 2026 Netflix opened a new Vancouver facility for more than 450 artists, where the former Animal Logic team works on Netflix features.

Which Vancouver studios make commercial animation?

Giant Ant and Ordinary Folk focus on brand campaigns, explainers and motion design. Atomic Cartoons and ICON also list commercial and branded work, though most of their output is series and features.

Are Vancouver animation studios unionised?

Several are. Workers at WildBrain’s Vancouver studio unionised with the Canadian Animation Guild in 2023, and ICON Creative Studio reached a tentative first contract with the guild in 2026. Ask each studio about its own arrangements when planning a schedule.

Do Vancouver animation studios also do visual effects?

Some do. Bardel launched a VFX division in 2025, and Netflix’s Vancouver facility handles both feature animation and VFX. For live-action effects work, see the best VFX studios in Vancouver.

Related lists

Animation studios in other cities: New York · London · Los Angeles · Toronto · Chicago

More in Vancouver: Creative agencies · VFX · Post-production · Video production · Sound design · Content studios

Run your studio on Fabric: Fabric for creative teams · Fabric for motion design teams · Fabric for video editors