Pixar-Disney Animations: A division of Lucasfilm (and Industrial Light and Magic (ILM)), created in 1979 and known as the Graphics Group, was purchased by Apple Computer's Steve Jobs for $5 million, renamed Pixar Animation Studios, and made an independent company in 1986. Pixar Studios (and director John Lasseter) and Disney, in a 1991 deal worth $26 million, created the first completely computer-generated animated feature film - the landmark Toy Story (1995) - Pixar's feature debut film, and everything evolved from there.

Their first five feature films grossed more than $2.7 billion (worldwide), giving Pixar the highest per film average gross of any production company. (Although Disney has only owned Pixar outright since 2006 in a deal worth $7.4 billion, the two companies had earlier struck a distribution agreement to jointly begin releasing films together - beginning with Toy Story (1995)).

As of the end of 2023, there were 27 Pixar-Disney collaborations (but none for the year 2014), with more in the pipeline. Most of the films produced by Pixar were among the top 50 highest-grossing animated films of all time - box-office smashes.

The prequel Monsters University (2013) marked the 14th straight No. 1 feature film, during its debut, in Pixar's history.

The first 27 feature films, through Elemental (2023), have garnered 50 Academy Awards® nominations, 18 competitive Oscar® wins (does not include John Lasseter's Special Achievement Award for Toy Story (1995)), and numerous other accolades. The first 25 animated films have raked in approx. $6+ billion (domestic) and over $14+ billion (worldwide) in revenue.

As of 2021, eleven of Pixar-Disney's films have won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film:

• Finding Nemo
• The Incredibles
• Ratatouille
• WALL-E
• Up
• Toy Story 3
• Brave
• Inside Out
• Coco
• Toy Story 4
• Soul

Five other films (Monsters, Inc. (2001), Cars (2006), Incredibles 2 (2018), Onward (2020) and Luca (2021)) were nominated for Best Animated Feature Film but lost. Two others (Up (2009) and Toy Story 3 (2010)) were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Six Pixar films are considered franchises:

Note: John Ratzenberger, who voiced the Abominable Snowman Yeti in the film Monsters University (2013), has worked on every Pixar film and is considered by some to be a "good luck charm" for the studio.

Toy Story (1995)

Cowboy doll Woody (Tom Hanks) and a group of anthropomorphic toys come to life when their human owner Andy Davis (John Morris) isn't present, and deal with the invasion of a new toy, space ranger action figure Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen). They must work together when captured by evil toy-torturing neighbor Sid (Erik von Detten).

Tagline: The adventure takes off!

Budget: $30 million

Rated G

• with three Academy Award nominations (without any wins): Best Original Song (Randy Newman's "You've Got a Friend in Me"), Best Original Musical Score, and Best Original Screenplay
• the first animated film in Oscar history to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Screenplay (Original)
• the first feature-length fully computer animated (CGI) film
• the only Pixar film to have full opening credits
• the highest-grossing domestic film in 1995
• the first Pixar film to be adapted for television
• the first Pixar film to debut (in 2008) as a live action musical on Disney Cruise Line's The Disney Wonder
• the film was re-released in 3-D in 2009
• with the well-known catchphrase: "To Infinity and Beyond"

A Bug's Life (1998)

An oddball, misfit ant named Flik (Dave Foley) in a colony of hard-working ants hires some other 'warrior' bugs (actually an inept, down-on-their-luck group of circus insect performers) to fight off a band of bullying, rowdy greedy grasshoppers led by Hopper (Kevin Spacey).

Tagline: An epic of miniature proportions

Budget: $120 million

Rated G

• with one Academy Award nomination (and no win) - Best Original Musical Score (Randy Newman)
• the first Pixar film to have outtakes during the closing credits (now a regular feature of Pixar films)
• the first Pixar film with an original "teaser" trailer made up of specially-made animation (not appearing in the final film) - a Pixar trademark
• a melding of Aesop's fable The Ant and the Grasshopper and Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai (1954, Jp.)
• during its making, a feud developed between Pixar and rival Dreamworks creating their first animated CGI film - another ant film, Antz (1998) (released two months earlier)
• the DVD release was the first all-digital video transfer of a feature film to a digital playback medium
• inspired two theme park attractions: A Bug's Land at Disney's California Adventure and It's Tough to Be a Bug! at Walt Disney World's Animal Kingdom
• marked the last film appearance of Madeline Kahn (voice of Gypsy the Moth).
  

Toy Story 2 (1999)

All the talking toys return while Andy is off at summer camp - Woody (Tom Hanks) is swiped by an obsessed, avid collector at a yard sale, the owner/manager of Al's Toy Barn, who recognizes Woody as a rare collectible. Woody is about to be sold to a toy museum in Tokyo, Japan, when the other toys rescue their kidnapped friend in a race against time.

Tagline: The toys are back!

Budget: $90 million

Rated G

• with only one Academy Award nomination (without a win): Best Original Song (Randy Newman's "When She Loved Me")
• the first Pixar sequel, and considered superior to the original
• the highest-grossing animated film of 1999
• won a Golden Globe for Best Picture - Musical or Comedy
• Mattel refused to allow their signature doll Barbie to be licensed to appear in the first Toy Story, but then changed their minds for Toy Story 2, allowing Tour Guide Barbie
• re-released in 3D in 2009
  

Monsters, Inc. (2001)

Monsters (in the Monsters, Inc. scream-processing factory) called "Scarers" power the city of Monstropolis by the screams of scared children in the human world. Top scary monsters include giant behemoth, shaggy-blue haired Sulley (John Goodman) and one-eyed green, ball-shaped friend Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal), but they themselves are afraid of the children contaminating them. The two are followed back into the Monster World by unafraid little girl Boo/Mary (Mary Gibbs), leading to their exile into the human world where they meet the Abominable Snowman - a fellow refugee.

Tagline: Monsters, Inc.: We Scare Because We Care

Budget: $115 million

Rated G

• with four Academy Award nominations (and one win): Best Animated Feature Film, Best Original Music Score, Best Sound Editing, Best Original Song (Randy Newman's "If I Didn't Have You") (win)
• the first Pixar film to be nominated in the new category of Best Animated Feature Film (it lost to Shrek (2001)), among its four nominations
• the first Pixar film to win an Oscar
• re-released in 3D in 2012
  

Finding Nemo (2003)

Overprotective and devoted father clownfish Marlin (Albert Brooks) teams up with a friendly large blue tang Dory (Ellen DeGeneres), suffering from short-term memory loss and absent-mindedness, to search for his abducted son Nemo (Alexander Gould), taken to Sydney, Australia's harbor area, and residing in a dentist office's aquarium.

Tagline: 71% of the Earth's surface is covered by water. That's a lot of space to find one fish.

Budget: $94 million

Rated G

• nominated for four Academy Award nominations (and one win): Best Original Music Score, Best Sound Editing, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Animated Feature Film (win)
• the first Pixar film to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film
• the second highest-grossing film of 2003
• the best-selling DVD of all-time
• the highest-grossing G-rated film of all time
• the highest-grossing Pixar film - (until surpassed by Pixar's own G-rated Toy Story 3)
• re-released in 3D in 2012
  

The Incredibles (2004)

An undercover suburban family of superheroes (or "Supers"), led by father Bob Parr (aka Mr. Incredible) (Craig T. Nelson), is living in hiding under the Superhero Protection Program. Paunchy Bob Parr is unhappily employed as an insurance claims adjuster. The family is forced to put back on their superhero suits to save the world from amoral super-villain Syndrome/Buddy Pine (Jason Lee), a jilted former fan with a robotic puppet named Omnidroid. Mr. Incredible is aided by his pliable wife Helen/Elastigirl (Holly Hunter), superfast son "Dash" (Spencer Fox), and invisible Violet (Sarah Vowell) who can create force fields.

Tagline: Twice the Hero He Used To Be

Budget: $92 million

Rated PG

• with four Academy Award nominations (and two wins): Best Animated Feature Film (win), Best Sound Editing (win), Best Sound Mixing and Best Original Screenplay
• Pixar's first film to win multiple Oscars
• however, it was the first Pixar film not to receive an Oscar nomination for its music
• the first Pixar movie to focus on mostly human characters and the first to receive a PG rating
• the first Pixar film to feature a nuclear family (mother, father, children)
• unlike most Pixar collaborations, this film was written and directed solely by one person - Brad Bird
• the longest CG animated film to date (at 115 minutes)
• followed by a sequel, 14 years later Incredibles 2 (2018)
  

Cars (2006)

Racecar rookie Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson), on his way to a tie-breaker race in Los Angeles (the Piston Cup Championship) in a week, accidentally damages the pavement of the main road in the run-down small Route 66 town of Radiator Springs and is sentenced to repave it. He makes new friends along the way, including Doc Hudson, a 1951 Hudson Hornet (Paul Newman), Sally the Porsche (Bonnie Hunt), and Mater the Tow Truck (Larry the Cable Guy).

Tagline: Ahhh... it's got that new movie smell

Budget: $120 million

Rated G

• with two Academy Award nominations (and no wins): Best Animated Feature Film (lost to Happy Feet (2006)) and Best Original Song (Randy Newman's "Our Town")
• the longest Pixar film to date, at 117 minutes
• this was Pixar's final, independently-produced motion picture before its purchase by Disney
• the entire cast was composed of anthropomorphic automobiles
• after A Bug's Life, it was second Pixar film to have an entirely non-human cast
• the first Pixar movie to be rendered with the ray tracing technique, which allowed the cars to accurately reflect their environments
• won the Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film
• the last (and highest-grossing career) feature film for Paul Newman, who retired in 2007 and died in 2008
• tie-in merchandise broke records for toys based on a Disney/Pixar film, with an estimated $1 billion in sales
• the final Pixar film to be released on VHS, and the first to be released on Blu-Ray
  

Ratatouille (2007)

Scrawny Remy (Patton Oswalt), an ambitious anthropomorphic rat with highly developed taste and smell, arrives in Paris to find that his favorite chef Auguste Gusteau (Brad Garrett) has died, so he works together with Alfredo Linguini (Lou Romano), the kitchen's garbage boy, controlling his movements like a marionette, to reach his culinary dreams. The making of ratatouille (French dish with stewed vegetables) for fussy restaurant critic Anton Ego (Peter O'Toole) leads to the creation of a new bistro, named Ratatouille - run by Remy and Linguini.

Tagline: He's dying to become a chef

Budget: $150 million

Rated G

• with five Academy Award nominations (with one win): Best Original Score, Best Original Screenplay, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Animated Feature Film (win)
• at the time, it set a record for the greatest number of Oscar nominations for a computer animated feature film
• the character of Linguini was born out of wedlock - the first illegitimate child in a Disney film
• the film debuted with the lowest # 1 domestic opening weekend revenue (since A Bug's Life at $33 million) at $47 million
  

WALL•E (2008)

A trash compactor robot named WALL•E (Ben Burtt) whose job was cleaning up waste on Earth in the year 2700, falls in love with another more advanced robot probe named EVE (Elissa Knight), a colder, hostile, white, sleek egg-shaped robot sent from a mega-corporation to look for vegetation on Earth, and follows her back onto her starliner and into outer space for further adventures.

Tagline: After 700 years of doing what he was built for - he'll discover what he's meant for

Budget: $180 million

Rated G

• with six Academy Award nominations (and one win): Best Original Score, Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Song ("Down to Earth"), Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Animated Feature Film (win)
• set a new Oscar record for Pixar films, with a total of six Oscar nominations
• the first Pixar film with a live-action segment (while EVE was in WALL-E's home, he showed her a video of the song "It Only Takes a Moment" from Hello, Dolly!)
• most of the characters communicated through body language and robotic sounds
• with an anti-consumerist tone
  

Up (2009)

After losing his wife, feisty 78-year-old toy-balloon vendor and zookeeper Carl Fredricksen (Edward Asner) sets out to see the wilds of South America (Paradise Falls in Venezuela), to fulfill a promise to his wife Ellie. He flies his house away by tying hundreds of helium balloons to it. Russell (Jordan Nagai), an eager 8 year-old Wilderness Explorer scout trying to earn his merit badge for helping the elderly, becomes a stowaway on the adventure.

Tagline: A Comedy with Plenty of Altitude

Budget: $175 million

Rated PG

• with five Academy Award nominations (and two wins): Best Picture, Best Sound Editing, Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Score (win) and Best Animated Feature Film (win)
• the second Pixar film to be given a PG rating
• the first animated film to get a Best Picture nomination since animated films received their own category in 2001
• the second animated film in history to receive such a Best Picture nomination, following Beauty and the Beast (1991)
• the first film to be nominated for Academy Awards for both Best Picture and Best Animated Feature
• the third consecutive Pixar film to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film
• the first Pixar film originally presented in 3-D
• the first Pixar film to win an Oscar in the category Best Original Score
• the very first animated film, as well as the first 3D film, ever to open the Cannes Film Festival
• Russell was Pixar's first Japanese/Asian-American character
  

Toy Story 3 (2010)

18 year-old toy owner Andy is finally leaving for college, and his beloved toys accidentally get donated to the Sunnyside Daycare center. They meet new friends, including Barbie's counterpart Ken (Michael Keaton) and hedgehog Mr. Pricklepants (Timothy Dalton), but soon grow to hate their new surroundings, the deceptive, pink strawberry-scented Lots-O'-Huggin' Bear (Ned Beatty), and abusive fellow toys, and plan an escape to find their way back home.

Tagline: No toy gets left behind

Budget: $200 million (estimated)

Rated G

• with five Academy Award nominations (and two wins): Best Animated Feature Film (win) and Best Original Song (Randy Newman's "We Belong Together") (win), Best Sound Editing, Best Picture, and Best Adapted Screenplay
• the third installment in the popular Toy Story series
• the highest-grossing (worldwide) animated film of all-time, grossing over $1 billion
• the first Pixar film to be released in 3D for its first run
• the first film to be released theatrically with Dolby Surround 7.1 sound
• it became the highest-grossing 3D animation of all-time, and the highest-grossing film of 2010
• the second animated film to get a Best Picture nomination since animated films received their own category in 2001, and the third animated film (after Beauty and the Beast and Up) to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture
• the first ever Pixar film to be nominated for the Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award
• the first sequel to be nominated for (and win) the Best Picture Academy Award without any of its predecessors being nominated
• Barbie's workout outfit was modeled after the 1984 'Great Shape' Barbie Doll
• at the time, the film was the most expensive Pixar movie to ever be produced

Cars 2 (2011)

Race car champion Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) returns and, with his trusted tow truck pal Mater (Larry the Cable Guy), heads overseas to Tokyo, Japan to compete in the World Grand Prix race, but Mater becomes sidetracked to Europe by international espionage.

Tagline: Take a Trip, See the Sights, Save the World

Budget: $200 million

Rated G

• the first Disney/Pixar film without any Academy Award nominations
• the first Disney/Pixar film not nominated in the Best Animated Feature Film category since the category was established in 2001
• it was Pixar's second sequel, and the first sequel not based on Toy Story
• considered Pixar's greatest critical failure
• the lowest-grossing film since A Bug's Life (1998) more than a decade earlier
• the first Pixar film not to win the Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film since the category began in 2007
  

Brave (2012)

A free-spirited, reckless Scottish princess Merida (Kelly Macdonald), a skilled archer in the Scottish highlands, doesn't want to live a traditional life. When chaos breaks out in the kingdom when she refuses to marry, she is forced to rely on her bravery and archery skills to fight a terrible ancient curse, bring peace to the land, and save her mother Queen Elinor's (Emma Thompson) life (who was transformed into a large black bear via a beastly curse).

Tagline: Change Your Fate

Budget: $185 million

Rated PG

• with one Academy Award nomination (and one win) - Best Animated Feature Film
• the first Pixar movie to revolve around a female main character, a self-reliant Scottish princess named Merida
• the first Pixar film to be a period piece, and the studio's first fairy-tale film
• Merida's red-hair had more than 1,500 individually sculpted, curly strands that created about 111,700 total hairs
• the third PG-rated Pixar film
  

Monsters University (2013)

Sulley (John Goodman) and Mike (Billy Crystal) study as freshmen at the prestigious Monsters University, planning to graduate and find work at the Monsters, Inc. factory. They start off as intense rivals (during the final exam of Scaring 101) but soon become best friends by working together (in the fraternity of Oozma Kappa) in the annual Greek Council's Scare Games to impress the evil frigid campus headmistress, Dean Hardscrabble (Helen Mirren), part dragon and part centipede. They lose to other teams (from MU's fraternities and sororities) and are expelled from the University, but take lowly jobs at Monsters, Inc. in the company mailroom, and over time, work their way up.

Tagline: School Never Looked This Scary

Budget: $200 million

Rated G

• without any Academy Award nominations - the same as the previous zero-nominated Cars 2 (2011)
• the college-themed film was a prequel to Monsters, Inc. (2001), making it Pixar's first prequel
  

Inside Out (2015)

Pixar's/Disney hit computer-animated feature about the personification of the emotions of young 11 year-old Riley Andersen (Kaitlyn Dias) -- Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Fear (Bill Hader), Anger (Lewis Black), and Disgust (Mindy Kaling) -- during a move from Minnesota to the big city of San Francisco.

Tagline: Meet the little voices inside your head

Budget: $175 million

Rated PG

• with two Academy Award nominations (and one win): Best Animated Feature Film (win), and Best Original Screenplay
  

The Good Dinosaur (2015)

Set in an alternate timeline in which the dinosaurs escaped extinction, when an asteroid missed Earth.

Tagline: Tiny but tough

Budget: $200 million

Rated PG

• with no Academy Award nominations (the third Pixar film without noms, after Cars 2 and Monsters University)
• marked the first time that Pixar released two feature films in the same year
• noted as the studio's worst-performing film (until Onward (2020))

Finding Dory (2016)

Blue tang fish Dory, afflicted with short-term memory loss, has since childhood been looking for her lost parents, with help from her friends Nemo and Marlin.

Tagline: She just kept swimming...

Budget: $200 million

Rated PG

• with no Academy Award nominations (following the three zero-nominated earlier Pixar films: Cars 2, Monsters University and The Good Dinosaur).
• remarkably, it was NOT nominated for Best Animated Feature Film
• Pixar's third sequel - a sequel or spin-off to Finding Nemo (2003)
• the most successful and highest-grossing animated feature film debut (in its opening weekend) of all-time at $135.1 million (domestic)
• the second highest-grossing (domestic) film for the year 2016, behind Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) at $532.2 million
• the highest-grossing (domestic) film for Pixar at the time, eventually surpassed by Incredibles 2 (2018)

Cars 3 (2017)

A re-examination of Lightning McQueen's relationship with the late Doc Hudson

Tagline: From this moment, everything will change

Budget: $175 million

Rated G

• the fifth Pixar film with no Academy Award nominations (following the four zero-nominated earlier Pixar films: Cars 2, Monsters University, The Good Dinosaur, and Finding Dory)
• the third film in the Cars series
• the first Pixar film to not win any awards in any nominated award categories

Coco (2017)

The story of a young boy during Mexico's Day of the Dead

Tagline: The celebration of a lifetime

Budget: $175-200 million

Rated PG

• with two Academy Award nominations (and two wins): Best Animated Feature Film, and Best Original Song ("Remember Me")
• the highest-grossing film of all-time in Mexico
• it was the first Animated Feature Film winner with a Latino protagonist
• this marked Disney's sixth straight victory when nominated in the category of Best Animated Feature Film, going all the way back to Ratatouille

• with one Academy Award nomination (with no win): Best Animated Feature Film
• it was unexpected that Incredibles 2 and Ralph Breaks the Internet, two nominees for Best Animated Feature Film from Disney/Pixar, lost to Sony Pictures' Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
• the longest interval (14 years) between the original film and its first sequel
• it became the # 1 (domestic) film of the Pixar branded-series
• at the time, it set the record for the Best Debut for an Animated Film in its opening weekend ($182.7 million), besting Finding Dory (2016) at $135 million (domestic) after only a few weeks
• eventually, it earned $608.6 million (domestic) and became the highest-grossing animated release of all-time domestically, surpassing Finding Dory (2016)
• at 1 hour and 58 minutes, it was not only the longest Pixar Animation Studios film to date, but also the longest computer-animated feature film to date
• it became the highest-grossing PG-rated movie of all-time

Toy Story 4 (2019)

A road trip story involving Woody, Buzz, Bonnie, and a new toy known as Forky.

Tagline: Get Ready To Hit The Road.

Budget: $200 million

Rated G

• with two Academy Awards nominations (and one win): Best Animated Feature Film (win), and Best Original Song ("I Can't Let You Throw Yourself Away")
• the fourth film in the Toy Story series
• it was only the second sequel ever to win Best Animated Feature Film; the first was Toy Story 3 (2010); with this win, the Pixar franchise became the first movie franchise to win Best Animated Feature twice
• one of the biggest summer blockbusters of all-time
• Toy Story 4 (2019) was the fourth Pixar film to make $1 billion (worldwide), joining Incredibles 2 (2018), Finding Dory (2016) and Toy Story 3 (2010)

Onward (2020)

An urban adventure fantasy involving two elf brothers on a quest to find an artifact that would temporarily bring back their dead father for one day.

Tagline: Cometh Soon

Budget: $175-200 million

Rated PG

• With one Academy Award nomination, Best Animated Feature Film (no win); Pixar's second flop after The Good Dinosaur (2015)
• Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this was the first Disney movie to be released for digital download while still in theaters.
• This was the first original Pixar film (since 2015, not counting Coco (2017)) since a large number of sequels preceded it, such as Finding Dory (2016), Cars 3 (2017), Incredibles 2 (2018) and Toy Story 4 (2019).
• For the first time ever, two Pixar films were nominated in the same year for Animated Feature, Onward (2020) and Soul (2020).

Soul (2020)

A NYC jazz musician's journey to the "Great Beyond" and the "Great Before" to reevaluate his life and mentor other souls.

Tagline: Everybody has a soul. Joe Gardner is about to find his.

Budget: $150 million

Rated PG

• With three Academy Awards nominations (and two wins): Best Animated Feature Film (win) and Best Original Score (win) and Best Sound
• The first full-length Pixar film to not be released in movie theaters, but instead released exclusively on the Disney+ streaming service.
• Pixar's first animated film to feature an African American main protagonist.
• Pixar's first movie to be released on Christmas.
• This was the first Pixar film to have the title card appear at the end of the film.
• For the first time ever, two Pixar films were nominated in the same year for Animated Feature, Onward (2020) and Soul (2020).

• Released on Disney + streaming platform
• With one Academy Awards nomination (and no wins): Best Animated Feature Film

• Pixar’s 25th feature film, streamed on Disney +
• the first Pixar feature film solely directed by a woman - Domee Shi
• With one Academy Awards nomination (and no wins): Best Animated Feature Film

• this is the second Toy Story spin-off after Buzz Lightyear of Star Command (2000)
• considered a prequel to the Toy Story films
• Not nominated in the Best Animated Feature Film category
• ignored by AMPAS, lacking a Best Animated Feature Film nomination

• it was the first Pixar film since the Cars (2006) franchise that did not feature any humans; this film had only elements
• it was Pixar's first original film to be released directly to theaters in three years since 2020

• at the time of its release, it became the highest-grossing film of 2024 (both domestic and worldwide)
• it became the fastest animated film to cross the $1 billion mark
• it became the highest-grossing film in Pixar history
• it was the third highest-grossing animated film of all-time, behind The Lion King (2019) and Frozen II (2019)