Disney-Pixar and animator/director Rosana Sullivan just released a new 2D animated short, and it's all about a kitten and a dog who become friends.

The heart-warming, tear-jerking tale, part of Disney-Pixar's SparkShorts program, is primarily set in a junk-strewn backyard in San Francisco's Mission District. (Pixar fans know well that the Emeryville-based company loves to set its stories here, with movies like Inside Out, Up and Finding Dory all featuring references to SF and East Bay locations.)

As producer Kathryn Hendrickson says in this behind-the-scenes video, Sullivan was inspired by watching a lot of kitten videos on YouTube. "She just went down this endless rabbit hole of watching cat videos, and they became a real outlet for her," Hendrickson says.

But as Sullivan further explains, "At first I just wanted to draw something that made me feel good and that was fun, but it evolved into something more personal for me." Sullivan says she was painfully shy in her own childhood and had trouble making connections with other kids, so the kitten ended up becoming a stand-in for her own memories of that timidness.

Grab your Kleenex and take 8 minutes to enjoy Kitbull.

h/t: Rain Jokinen, Mulling Movies