animated emojis - do not want

Just opened up a text chain to see my last text - simply a thumbs up - is now animated. I don't like or want this at all. I can't find any settings on my android that are emoji-specific and the messages settings don't mention emojis either. I assume I'm just stuck with this and will never send another emoji, but, is there a way to make it stop? Will there be in the future? Is there somewhere to leave negative feedback?

YEAR LATER UPDATE AND PSA:

There are quite a lot of comments with fixes which is great, we can turn this off. HOWEVER.

Remember that you are turning off the setting for your own phone, not what other people receive.

A few people have specifically mentioned the salute emoji, for instance, and that they don't want to send a co-worker an emoji that now winks. You turning off animated emojis does not mean you are not sending them a wink, it just means you don't see it.