The head of Disney-Pixar has waded into Hollywood’s equal rights debate, stating that the studio plans to release more films starring ‘female and ethnic characters’.

Studio chief John Lasseter told reporters at the Cannes film festival that, ‘It is important for us, both at Pixar and at Disney, to have female, ethnic characters. That’s grown in importance over time.’

He made his comments after the world premiere of the studio’s new film, Inside Out – which does not feature such a heroine, but is set in the mind of a young girl – when questioned about diversity a reporter.

To date, Pixar has never made a feature with a non-white character in a leading role.

Lasseter added, ‘Animation, when we got started, by and large was mostly guys. But we have more and more women and more people from all over the world starting to work in it, which is very exciting.’

We hope other studios follow suit, stat.