Halle Bailey teams up with Oscar winner Diane Warren on new song for sci-fi animated film

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• 🔥 Quick Facts
• A Powerhouse Songwriting Partnership Elevates Animated Epic
• The Little Mermaid Star Brings Fresh Energy to Voice Acting
• The Crystal Planet’s Story of Discovery and Compassion
• Diane Warren’s Legendary Career Reaches New Heights at Berlin Film Market
• Why This Partnership Signals Animation’s Comeback at the Global Box Office
  • Sources

Halle Bailey has joined forces with legendary songwriter Diane Warren on an original song for the upcoming animated film The Crystal Planet. The collaboration marks Warren’s latest project following her record-breaking 17th Academy Award nomination earlier this year.

A Powerhouse Songwriting Partnership Elevates Animated Epic

Diane Warren continues her legendary run as one of Hollywood’s most prolific songwriters. Her collaboration with Halle Bailey, the 25-year-old star of Disney’s The Little Mermaid, pairs Warren’s emotional composition skills with Bailey’s crystalline vocal performance. Director Ostojic praised the partnership, noting how Warren’s music “captures the emotional heart” while Bailey’s voice adds “timeless, universal quality” to the film’s message about compassion and belonging.

The Little Mermaid Star Brings Fresh Energy to Voice Acting

Halle Bailey rose to prominence as Ariel in the 2023 live-action remake of The Little Mermaid, captivating audiences worldwide. Beyond acting, Bailey is a Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter as part of the R&B duo Chloe x Halle, making her the perfect vocalist for this animated feature. Her upcoming role in The Crystal Planet showcases her versatility across both live-action and animated cinema. The collaboration allows her to contribute her musical talents to a project designed for family audiences globally.

The Crystal Planet’s Story of Discovery and Compassion

The Crystal Planet tells the intimate story of 11-year-old Rea, a young girl who has relocated to a distant colonized planet in outer space. Rea’s life transforms when she befriends Burgy, a dinosaur-like creature separated from his mother by a mutant monster. As Rea attempts reuniting Burgy with his family, she confronts a ruthless industrialist attempting to transform the creature into a robotic prototype. The film explores themes of connection, courage, and finding where you belong. The production budget reaches 3.5 million euros, with animation supervised by Jakub Pištecký, whose credits include Rango, Pirates of the Caribbean, and The Avengers.

Detail	Information
Release Date	2026 (TBA)
Director	Arsen Anton Ostojic
Animation Studio	Alkay Animation Prague
Original Screenplay By	Dušan Vukotić

“Diane Warren’s new song captures the emotional heart of The Crystal Planet in a truly powerful way. Her music, combined with Halle Bailey’s voice, adds a timeless, universal quality that deepens the story and strengthens its message about compassion, coexistence, and finding where you belong.”

— Arsen Anton Ostojic, Director of The Crystal Planet

Diane Warren’s Legendary Career Reaches New Heights at Berlin Film Market

Diane Warren stands as one of the entertainment industry’s most decorated songwriters, with her 17 Oscar nominations representing the highest number of nominations in the Best Original Song category in Academy history. Despite never winning a competitive Oscar, Warren received an honorary Academy Award in 2022 recognizing her extraordinary contributions to cinema. Her most recent nomination came in January 2026 for “Dear Me” from her documentary Diane Warren: Relentless. News of “Somewhere We All Belong” was unveiled at the Berlin Film Market by German sales company Sola Media, continuing Warren’s international presence in animated entertainment.

Why This Partnership Signals Animation’s Comeback at the Global Box Office

The collaboration of Halle Bailey and Diane Warren on The Crystal Planet demonstrates Hollywood’s renewed commitment to family-oriented CGI animation featuring A-list talent. With support from major European film bodies including the Croatian Audiovisual Centre, Czech Audiovisual Fund, and Creative Europe, the film positions itself as a contender for international recognition. Animation supervisor Jakub Pištecký‘s previous success with Alkay Animation Prague on My Sunny Maad earned both the Annecy Jury Prize and a Golden Globe nomination, suggesting The Crystal Planet could achieve similar accolades. Will this animated adventure become one of 2026‘s most celebrated family films across multiple continents?

Sources

• Deadline – Award-winning songwriter Diane Warren and Halle Bailey team on new song for The Crystal Planet
• Animation Magazine – The Crystal Planet animated feature beams up new song by Diane Warren and Halle Bailey
• Animation World Network – The Crystal Planet gets new Diane Warren and Halle Bailey song