--- description: Piper tells the story of a young sandpiper whose fear of the sea poses a challenge in finding food title: Watch a Bird Fight Fear in Pixar's Adorable Short Film 'Piper' image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [movies](/tag/movies/) ## movies Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Watch a Bird Overcome Fear in Pixar's Heart-Melting New Short Film _Piper_ by [Mahita Gajanan](/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Nov 7, 2016 6:35 PM CUT by [Mahita Gajanan](/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Nov 7, 2016 6:35 PM CUT _Piper_, an adorable Pixar short showing in theaters along with [ _Finding Dory_](http://time.com/4485367/tom-hanks-ellen-degeneres-pixar-video/ "undefined"), tells the story of a young sandpiper who fears the sea so much that it makes finding food especially challenging. In the computer-animated film, the hungry young bird attempts to be independent and join her fellow sandpipers on the shoreline to scavenge for scraps, but it becomes afraid when a large wave crashes on top of her. Not to be vanquished, the bird learns to lean in to the sea—and discovers the riches it has to offer. Now that _Finding Dory_ is available to rent, _Piper_ has found its way online. Check out the film below. > [](https://twitter.com/CinephilAnonyme/status/793399417613221889) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4561217/pixar-piper-short-film/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4561217/pixar-piper-short-film/"},"headline":"Watch a Bird Overcome Fear in Pixar's Heart-Melting New Short Film Piper","datePublished":"2016-11-07T18:35:27.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:38:27.557Z","description":"The young sandpiper tries to become independent","url":"https://time.com/4561217/pixar-piper-short-film/","keywords":["movies","Newsfeed"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4561217/pixar-piper-short-film/","name":"Watch a Bird Overcome Fear in Pixar's Heart-Melting New Short Film Piper"}}]}] ```