Director Alan Barillaro said the impetus for the short came from what watching the behavior of feeding sandpipers, who forage on the shore but flee the water each time the waves flow.
Piper, the titular sandpiper from this short film, made a cameo appearance on a poster in a Kellogg's commercial that promoted the film, Finding Dory (2016). In the commercial, Piper's poster can be seen behind Hank the octopus.
The first Pixar animated short to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film since For the Birds (2000) in 2002.