"Turning Red" themed plane celebrates Disney Pixar film set in Toronto (VIDEO)

It’s a bird, it’s a plane — it’s giant red pandas on a plane!

Air Canada has unveiled a Turning Red themed airplane in celebration of the new Disney Pixar film set to release in March.

The highly anticipated feature film from Academy Award winning filmmaker and Toronto native Domee Shi takes place in Toronto, so it’s fitting that the Canadian airlines showcase the Canadian talent.

You might also like:
• Pixar released a new trailer for its animated film set in Toronto
• Pixar's new animated movie "Turning Red" is set in Toronto
• Toronto-based Pixar film Bao wins Best Animated Short at Oscars

“I’m absolutely stoked about this collaboration with Air Canada,” said Shi in statement released on Tuesday.

“I made Turning Red a love letter to Toronto and everything Canadian, and now to see the film celebrated on the airline that literally brought my family and me over from China when I was little is especially meaningful to me. I cannot wait for Canadian audiences and people around the world to see the film, and hopefully fall in love with Canada just like I have.”

Air Canada also released a video documenting the characters coming to life on the aircraft.

It shows workers carefully cutting, peeling and placing the giant red pandas on a Canadian built Airbus A220.

The film follows Meilin Lee, a confident and dorky teenager experiencing the chaos of adolescence. Her protective mother, Ming, is always on her tail — quite literally. As if changes to her interests, relationships and body weren’t enough, whenever Meilin gets too excited, she “poofs” into a giant red panda.

If you haven’t yet, you can watch the trailer here. From the CN Tower, Rogers Centre, to the TTC streetcars, Meilin isn’t the only star of this movie. It showcases the city of Toronto in all of its glory.

Turning Red will premiere on Disney+ across Canada on March 11.

In the meantime, you can catch Domee Shi’s debut short film with Disney Pixar, Bao, on Disney+.