Unfortunately there were a bunch of fake insiders leading up to that event. Mostly grifting off of Disney’s own 2022 showcase. I don’t think it was decided on late in the game. At least six months before D23 and worked on a good year before.
Even the one being quoted I’m skeptical of. My track record of getting things right for D23 that were actually not previously mentioned at the prior conference was higher and I literally knew nothing and educated guess like the best of them.
I include myself in this, I just didn’t want to listen to the very few people who actually knew when it came to Cars. Because it sounded worse.