I feel like Onward and Soul are in very similar veins of Coco and Inside Out... which have had surprising shelf life in the parks, at least in terms of consistent new additions, with the latest being a renewed M&G and a brand new parade float.
I feel that Disney really discounts storytelling that does not follow the typical story arcs of a princess-style film. If Monster’s Inc, a workplace comedy about the value of loyalty and laughter, was made today, I doubt Disney’s infrastructure would have supported the amount of characters, Merch, video games, tv specials, etc.if it had premiered today.
It may not have known the lasting value of two buddy monsters, but Disney must know the emotional value of story centered around a dead father.
Good Dinosaur faded into obscurity because of it’s insistence on being derivative, weirdly of other boy-dog stories and other animated dinosaur movies. That is the death of a Pixar movie.