The San Francisco Zoo has announced that in celebration of this Friday’s release of Disney and Pixar’s “TURNING RED” on Disney+, they will be naming their female red panda Mei Lee after the star of the new film. Rosalie Chiang, San Francisco Bay Area native and the voice of Mei Lee, will join “TURNING RED” Director Domee Shi and Producer Lindsey Collins at the special event.

Since research is always important to Pixar, Turning Red director Domee Shi and members of the production team traveled to the San Francisco Zoo to study red pandas. Artists took photos, drew sketches, and observed their actions and behavior. The collected research helped the filmmaking team design and animate Red Panda Mei in the film.

The naming of the red panda will give visitors to the zoo a memorable opportunity to learn more about the beautiful animal that served as the inspiration for Red Panda Mei. Visitors to the exhibit will be able to learn about red pandas while also seeing images of Pixar artists on their research trips to the zoo.