EMERYVILLE, CA -- Disney and Pixar's "Elio" is about a lonely kid whose dreams of adventures in outer space come true when he's beamed up to the "communiverse," a sort of United Nations for aliens.

For many artists, Pixar represents the gold standard for cinematic animation, and that's a dream writers Kat Likkel, and John Hoberg achieved when they signed on to collaborate with director Peters ...