In a world populated by anthropomorphic animals, a koala named Buster Moon (Matthew McConaughey) works to keep his theater from closing down. To this end, Buster and his sheep friend Eddie (John C. Reilly) hold a singing contest to raise money, and the entire town auditions for a part in the show. The leading five are an overworked pig named Rosita (Reese Witherspoon) with her pig partner named Gunter (Nick Kroll), an arrogant and gambling white mouse named Mike (Seth MacFarlane), a punk-rock porcupine named Ash (Scarlett Johansson), a timid teenage elephant named Meena (Tori Kelly), and a British gorilla named Johnny (Taron Egerton), who wants to sing instead of following his father's criminal footsteps.