The film stars Josh Gad, Dennis Quaid, Marg Helgenberger, Betty Gilpin, Kathryn Prescott, and Henry Lau.

Nine years later, Bailey, reincarnated as a female beagle named Molly, sees a now 11-year-old CJ with her best friend Trent Mahoney and his parents, who are adopting the former’s favorite brother Rocky.

Now a teenager, CJ tells Trent she wants to drop out of high school and move to New York City with her deceased father Henry's insurance settlement to become a musician.

Attending a party that gets busted by police for underage drinking, CJ is sentenced to community service where Molly learns how to detect cancer.

Molly is reincarnated as a male English mastiff named Big Dog, who lives with a convenience store owner in Pennsylvania.

They inspire CJ to write more songs and to perform, overcoming her longstanding stage fright and beginning her musical career.

Trent encourages CJ to go on a road trip with him and Max to her grandparents’ farm, where she reunites with Ethan and Hannah for the first time since she was a toddler.

The final scene shows Bailey running through a grassy field, morphing backwards through his previous incarnations, before crossing the Rainbow Bridge and reuniting with Ethan in heaven.

On June 21, 2017, CEO of Amblin Entertainment Michael Wright announced that a sequel to the film A Dog's Purpose was in development.

[2] In the United States and Canada, the film was released alongside John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum and The Sun Is Also a Star, and was projected to gross $10–14 million from 3,267 theaters in its opening weekend.

The website's critical consensus reads: "A Dog's Journey is as sentimental as one might expect, but even cynical viewers may find their ability to resist shedding a tear stretched to the puppermost limit.