The present disclosure relates to an AR animation generation system that detects a change in position of a mobile computing system in a real-world environment, determines that a position for a virtual object in an augmented reality (AR) scene is to be changed from a first position in the AR scene to a second position in the AR scene, identifies an animation profile to be used for animating the virtual object, wherein the animation profile is associated with the virtual object, and animates the virtual object in the AR scene using the animation profile. Animating the virtual object in the AR scene includes moving the virtual object in the AR scene from the first position to the second position along a path, wherein the path and a movement of the virtual object along the path are determined based on the animation profile.