Police are investigating how a 4-year-old boy who disappeared from his home on Friday night came to be found at a house in another suburb 6km away the next day.

Bruce Anaru Mackintosh disappeared from his Cannons Creek home in Porirua about 9.30pm on Friday.

His frantic parents called police and a search was launched by police and locals.

There were concerns for Bruce's safety because the area backed on to Cannons Creek Park, which had bush areas and waterways running through it.

The boy was located safe and well at a house of people he knew in Tawa, about 6km away, at 4pm yesterday.

Today a police spokesman said the circumstances of Bruce's disappearance were still being investigated and it was too early to determine whether charges would be laid.

- APNZ