Pixar debuts the studio's first ever gay character in short film 'Out'

Pixar has debuted the first openly gay character in the studio's history in a new short film.

Entitled Out, the short has been released on Disney's streaming platform Disney+, and has been directed by Steven Clay Hunter, who worked on Pixar's Finding Nemo and WALL-E.

The plot pivots on Greg, a young man who's moving house, but is yet to come out to his parents.

Read more: Onward director Dan Scanlon ‘moved’ by fan messages

He's going to live with his boyfriend Manuel in the city, but when his folks turn up unexpectedly to help him move, he's suddenly faced with trying to cover up evidence of his sexuality – like pictures with him with his boyfriend and a sexy firemen calendar.

Wishing himself out of the situation, he finds himself swapping places with his dog, Jim.

There's also kiss between the two men featured in the short, a first for Disney too.

The move is a step forward for the animation studio, which has danced around the use of same-sex characters in the past.

Its last movie, the fantasy Onward, found a reference to a character a gay character.

Read more: Chris Pratt on Onward as a guy-cry movie

Female police officer Spectre, a purple female cyclops, refers to her girlfriend in a scene, saying 'It’s not easy being a new parent, my girlfriend’s daughter got me pulling my hair out'.

Voiced by gay actress Lena Waithe, and though a brief moment, it was hailed by the studio as being its first gay character.

A same-sex couple was also alluded to, though rather less obviously, in the background of a scene in Toy Story 4.

Out is streaming now on Disney+.