Fox Aligns With Toonstar to Streamline and Scale Digital-First Animated Series

Fox Advertising has struck a partnership with Toonstar Animation Studio that gives brands a new entry point into creator-led animation — and gives Toonstar’s creators a significantly larger advertising operation behind their work.

The deal works in both directions. For creators already in Toonstar’s orbit, access to Fox’s advertising sales infrastructure means a materially better shot at meaningful monetization. For brands looking to move beyond traditional sponsorship and into original animated content, the partnership offers a structured path: Fox and Toonstar will match them with independent creators to develop new series, with the potential for some projects to find distribution through Fox’s broader network.

The engine behind the model is Toonstar’s proprietary production technology, Ink & Pixel, which is designed to produce animation faster and at greater scale than conventional studio pipelines allow. The company also runs SPOT, an audience intelligence tool that feeds real-time data directly into the creative process — a capability Fox sees as central to the appeal of the arrangement.

“Toonstar’s animation production engine and digital distribution technology will enable brands to respond to audiences and trends in a way that wasn’t possible before,” said Katrina Cukaj, EVP of Advertising Sales at Fox, in a press release. “This gives our advertising partners something genuinely new — content that moves at the speed of culture, with the creative quality audiences expect from FOX.”

Toonstar was founded by Disney and Warner Bros. veterans John Attanasio and Luisa Huang and is backed by Founders Fund, Greycroft, Snap and GFR. The company is preparing to launch a slate of new digital-first animated series beginning this year, including a project from comedian Nigel Ng called Fried.

“We’re excited to partner with a company that understands both the power of storytelling and the evolving needs of brands,” said Attanasio. “We see an animation renaissance on the horizon, and together we can help creators build the next generation of global franchises while creating meaningful ways for advertisers to participate in those communities.”

The two companies announced the partnership ahead of Cannes Lions, where they plan to showcase the collaboration. Toonstar is represented by WME and Hansen Jacobson.

Information sourced from Toonstar.