Which Pixar film features a musician named Miguel? The answer is Coco.
Coco is Pixar’s 2017 animated fantasy film about Miguel Rivera, a 12-year-old boy who dreams of becoming a musician. His family has banned music for generations because Miguel’s great-great-grandmother, Imelda, believed her musician husband abandoned the family. Miguel secretly idolizes the famous singer Ernesto de la Cruz and teaches himself to play guitar.
During Mexico’s Día de los Muertos celebrations, Miguel enters the Land of the Dead after taking de la Cruz’s guitar from his mausoleum. There he meets deceased relatives and discovers that his family history is more complicated than he believed. The journey connects music, memory, and the importance of remembering ancestors.
The film is often confused with other Pixar stories centered on artists or performers, but Miguel is specifically a guitarist and aspiring singer. Coco’s title refers to Mamá Coco, Miguel’s elderly great-grandmother, whose memories become crucial to the family’s story. The film won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song.