Replying to the edit: I don't know if it's actually the case, but it was widely predicted that the pandemic would cause a boom in animation production. You can "work from home" in animation in ways you couldn't with live action. So, animated productions weren't stalled quite as bad as live action.
In addition, though production of animated movies could continue, releases were still stalled, so there's also just a build-up, which would combine with the "boom" if there actually was one, or cause the feeling that one existed even if we actually did the math and found out it was minor to nonexistent.
Replying to the edit: I don't know if it's actually the case, but it was widely predicted that the pandemic would cause a boom in animation production. You can "work from home" in animation in ways you couldn't with live action. So, animated productions weren't stalled quite as bad as live action.
In addition, though production of animated movies could continue, releases were still stalled, so there's also just a build-up, which would combine with the "boom" if there actually was one, or cause the feeling that one existed even if we actually did the math and found out it was minor to nonexistent.