“The common way a film starts is that you pitch something that hatches into a full story. This was a bit different,” says Alan Barillaro, director of Pixar’s latest short film, Piper. It’s another small but perfectly formed adventure from the studio, one that accompanies Andrew Stanton’s feature sequel Finding Dory.

Since Toy Story, each Pixar film has been accompanied by a short, dealing with everything from magician’s rabbits (Presto, with Wall-E) to lovelorn volcanos (Lava, with last year’s Inside Out). They’re as well-loved as the features themselves, and frequently a reason to go to the cinema in their own right.

And now Piper’s charming baby sandpiper lead, all fluffed feathers and high chirrups, arrives as the result of three years of hard work, and as the product of cutting-edge technology.

“Both films take advantage of the northern California coast,” says Stanton of the pairing of Piper to his Finding Dory, which is partially based at a lightly fictionalised marine life institute in California’s Monterey. “They feel so well-matched it’s almost too cute.”