Opera animation is an animated expression of elements such as opera stage performances and styling in the creation. The animation fills the gaps in the form and communication of the opera. The opera promotes the development of the Chinese animation industry, opening up a new market field for the animation industry, providing a variety of themes and more innovative contents for the creation of cartoons. Traditional opera is the jewel of Chinese culture. Due to the introduction of technology, Chinese animation has a fault with Chinese traditional culture. How should we extract all kinds of beneficial elements from the traditional opera art and form a new art form of "opera animation"? This paper starts with the form of animation and discusses the influence of traditional opera on the development of Chinese animation, so that under the influence of traditional art, Chinese animation will set off a development path combining traditional art with Chinese characteristics and modern technology.