Pixar Movies in Order: The Complete Watch Guide (2026)

Looking for the correct Pixar movies in order? Good news: it’s simpler than most franchise guides you’ll find on this site. Release order and chronological order are almost identical for Pixar, because nearly every film is a standalone story — the one exception is the Monsters, Inc. series, where the prequel came out twelve years after the original. Since 1995, Pixar (co-founded by Ed Catmull and Steve Jobs) has won 15 Academy Awards and grossed over $15 billion worldwide, reshaping what animated movies can do emotionally. Here’s your full breakdown, starting with the quick-answer table below.

Also See: Disney Princess Movies in Order

Quick Answer: Pixar Movies in Order

Unless you’re doing a dedicated “Monsters” marathon, watching straight through by release date is the easiest way to experience Pixar movies in order — you won’t miss a callback or an Easter egg.

Also See: Toy Story

Pixar Movies in Order: The Complete Watch Guide

1. Toy Story (1995)

The film that started it all: Woody, a pull-string cowboy doll, has to learn to share the spotlight when Andy gets a flashy new spaceman toy for his birthday. It was the first entirely computer-animated feature film ever released, a genuine gamble for a studio nobody had heard of yet. The rivalry-turned-friendship between Woody and Buzz set the emotional template Pixar would reuse for decades. It also quietly launched a toy-box universe that would eventually stretch to five movies. Everything about modern Pixar — the humor, the heart, the risk-taking — traces back to this one.

2. A Bug’s Life (1998)

Pixar’s second film swaps toys for insects, following Flik, an inventive ant who recruits a ragtag group of “warrior bugs” to save his colony from a gang of grasshoppers. It was rushed into production partly to compete with DreamWorks’ similarly-themed Antz, released the same year. The outtakes-style credits sequence, a first for the studio, became a beloved Pixar staple. While it’s often overlooked next to Toy Story, its scrappy underdog energy set up the confidence Pixar needed for its next sequel. From here, the studio started proving Toy Story wasn’t a fluke.

3. Toy Story 2 (1999)

Woody discovers he’s a valuable collectible when a toy collector kidnaps him, forcing Buzz and the gang on a rescue mission that also digs into Woody’s identity as “just a toy.” Originally planned as a direct-to-video release, it was upgraded to theatrical after Pixar’s team felt the story was too strong to shelve. Jessie’s backstory song, “When She Loved Me,” is considered one of the studio’s most devastating musical moments. It deepened the toy-box mythology in ways the franchise would keep building on for years. The emotional stakes here were a clear step up from the original.

4. Monsters, Inc. (2001)

Sulley and Mike Wazowski work at a monster-run power company that harvests children’s screams — until an accidental encounter with a human toddler named Boo upends everything. The animators spent years developing new fur-rendering technology just to make Sulley’s coat move realistically. It remains one of Pixar’s most purely fun premises, blending workplace comedy with genuine tenderness. A prequel would arrive over a decade later, making this the one Pixar film where chronological order and release order actually split. For now, it stands as a self-contained classic.

5. Finding Nemo (2003)

An anxious clownfish named Marlin crosses the ocean to rescue his son Nemo, teaming up with the forgetful but big-hearted Dory along the way. At the time, it was the highest-grossing animated film ever released and won Pixar’s first Best Animated Feature Oscar. Director Andrew Stanton reportedly took actual scuba-diving trips to study reef life and fish behavior before animating a single frame. Its success proved Pixar could tell an ocean-spanning adventure just as well as a toy-box one. Dory’s popularity alone would justify her own spinoff over a decade later.

6. The Incredibles (2004)

A family of retired superheroes is forced back into costume when a new villain threatens the world, and their bickering domestic life turns out to be as compelling as the action. Brad Bird pushed the animation team to handle human characters and cloth physics with a level of detail Pixar hadn’t attempted before. It’s frequently cited as one of the best superhero films ever made, animated or otherwise. The Parr family’s chemistry made a sequel feel inevitable, even though fans waited fourteen years for it. It remains a fan-favorite entry point into Pixar movies in order for newcomers.

7. Cars (2006)

Hotshot race car Lightning McQueen gets stranded in the sleepy town of Radiator Springs and slowly learns that winning isn’t everything. John Lasseter has said the film was inspired by his own cross-country road trips with his family. It became Pixar’s most successful merchandising franchise by a wide margin, arguably outpacing the films’ critical reception. Cars marked the first time Pixar leaned heavily into a built-in toy and licensing business alongside the movie itself. Two sequels and a spinoff series would follow over the next decade.

8. Ratatouille (2007)

Remy, a rat with a refined palate and dreams of becoming a chef, partners with a clumsy kitchen worker to cook in one of Paris’s top restaurants. Director Brad Bird reportedly rewrote large portions of the story after taking over mid-production from another director. The food-animation team studied real culinary techniques so closely that professional chefs have praised the film’s accuracy. Critic Anton Ego’s climactic monologue is often held up as one of Pixar’s best-written scenes. It’s a quieter, more adult-leaning entry that still lands with younger viewers.

9. WALL-E (2008)

A lonely trash-compacting robot left behind on an abandoned Earth falls for a sleek scanning probe named EVE, sparking a nearly dialogue-free first act. Director Andrew Stanton drew heavily from silent-film techniques, studying Charlie Chaplin to make the wordless storytelling work. Its environmental themes and minimal dialogue were considered a huge risk for a mainstream animated release. WALL-E is regularly ranked among Pixar’s most artistically ambitious films. It proved audiences would follow the studio almost anywhere, tonally speaking.

10. Up (2009)

Grieving widower Carl Fredricksen ties thousands of balloons to his house and flies off to South America, accidentally bringing along an eager young stowaway named Russell. Its opening montage, chronicling Carl and Ellie’s entire marriage in a few wordless minutes, is one of the most acclaimed sequences in animation history. Up became the first animated film to open the Cannes Film Festival and just the second to earn a Best Picture Oscar nomination. It’s often the film people point to when explaining why Pixar isn’t “just for kids.” The studio’s willingness to open on grief set a new emotional bar.

11. Toy Story 3 (2010)

As Andy prepares to leave for college, his toys accidentally end up donated to a daycare center run by a bitter, resentful teddy bear. It was the first Pixar film to gross over $1 billion worldwide and won Best Animated Feature at the Oscars. The incinerator sequence near the film’s climax is famous for pushing family-film intensity further than most expected. It gave the original trilogy a genuinely satisfying emotional close, which made the eventual fourth film a surprise to many fans. For a long stretch, this played as the franchise’s finale.

12. Cars 2 (2011)

Lightning McQueen and tow truck Mater get pulled into an international spy plot while competing in a globe-trotting racing tournament. It’s Pixar’s most divisive film critically, marking the studio’s first “rotten” score on major review aggregators. Mater takes the lead role here instead of Lightning, a choice that split longtime fans. Despite mixed reviews, it performed well commercially and kept the Cars merchandising engine running strong. It remains a useful case study in how differently Pixar’s sequels are received.

13. Brave (2012)

Headstrong princess Merida defies her mother’s plans for an arranged marriage and turns to a witch for help, with predictably messy magical consequences. It was Pixar’s first fairy-tale-style film and its first led by a female protagonist, following a mid-production directorial change from Brenda Chapman to Mark Andrews. It won the Best Animated Feature Oscar despite a more mixed critical reception than earlier Pixar wins. Merida later became the first Pixar character folded into the official Disney Princess lineup. It’s a clear tonal shift toward folklore and myth for the studio.

14. Monsters University (2013)

Set years before Monsters, Inc., this prequel follows Mike and Sulley as rival, then reluctant-partner, students trying to make it through Scare School. It’s the one film where you can genuinely debate release order versus chronological order — the story happens first, even though it released twelve years after Monsters, Inc. Pixar’s animators built an entirely new campus setting, unusual for a franchise mostly set in one facility. Fans generally recommend watching Monsters, Inc. first regardless, since the prequel’s jokes land better once you know how the friendship ends up. It’s the rare Pixar sequel that works better as a companion piece.

15. Inside Out (2015)

Inside the mind of eleven-year-old Riley, five personified emotions — led by upbeat Joy and gloomy Sadness — scramble to help her cope with a difficult move to a new city. Director Pete Docter consulted psychologists extensively to ground the film’s depiction of memory and emotion in real research. It’s frequently cited by teachers and therapists as a genuinely useful tool for talking about feelings with kids. The film’s commercial and critical success made a sequel almost inevitable nearly a decade later. It remains one of the most rewatched entries in the whole catalog.

16. The Good Dinosaur (2015)

In a world where the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs missed Earth, a young Apatosaurus named Arlo befriends a feral human boy while trying to find his way home. The film went through a notoriously turbulent production, including a director change and a nearly total story overhaul partway through. Its photorealistic landscapes remain some of the most visually striking environments Pixar has ever produced. Despite the technical achievement, it underperformed at the box office relative to other Pixar releases that year. It’s often recommended as an underrated pick for viewers doing a full watch-through.

17. Finding Dory (2016)

Years after the events of Finding Nemo, Dory sets off to track down the family she lost as a child, with Marlin and Nemo tagging along. It became, at the time, the highest-grossing animated film in U.S. box office history. The film introduces a host of new sea-life characters, including an escape-artist octopus who nearly steals the movie. It leans harder into Dory’s short-term memory loss as a genuine emotional throughline rather than just comic relief. It’s a satisfying, if slightly later, continuation of the ocean-set story from over a decade earlier.

18. Cars 3 (2017)

An aging Lightning McQueen faces a new generation of high-tech racers and has to decide whether to retrain, retire, or reinvent himself entirely. It was widely seen as course-correcting after Cars 2’s mixed reception, returning focus to Lightning and a more grounded racing story. The film draws clear parallels to real-world stock car racing, down to consulting actual NASCAR drivers. It gave the trilogy a more emotionally resonant sendoff than fans expected after the second film. It’s generally considered the strongest Cars sequel by a wide margin.

19. Coco (2017)

Aspiring musician Miguel is accidentally transported to the vibrant Land of the Dead, where he has to untangle his family’s generations-old ban on music. Pixar spent years consulting with Mexican cultural advisors, historians, and artists to portray Día de los Muertos traditions respectfully. It won Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song at the Oscars and became a massive hit in Mexico specifically. The film’s twist involving Miguel’s family history is considered one of Pixar’s best-kept narrative surprises. It’s routinely ranked among the studio’s most emotionally powerful films.

20. Incredibles 2 (2018)

Picking up right where the first film left off, Elastigirl takes the lead on a new superhero PR campaign while Mr. Incredible struggles with stay-at-home parenting duties. It set records for the biggest opening weekend ever for an animated film at the time of release. Director Brad Bird intentionally structured the story as a direct continuation rather than a time-jump sequel, unusual for Pixar franchises. Jack-Jack’s escalating superpowers provide much of the film’s comic relief. Fourteen years after the original, it proved the wait had only sharpened demand.

21. Toy Story 4 (2019)

Woody helps guide a new handmade toy named Forky through an identity crisis while grappling with his own uncertain place in Bonnie’s life. It reintroduces Bo Peep in a significantly expanded role after her absence from the third film. The film was originally intended as a smaller side story before evolving into a full franchise entry with major stakes. Its ending was deliberately written as a genuine, if bittersweet, conclusion for Woody’s arc. A fifth film years later would prove the door was never fully closed.

22. Onward (2020)

Two elf brothers in a modern fantasy world cast a spell to spend one last day with their late father, but the magic only partially works. It was one of the last major theatrical releases before pandemic shutdowns disrupted its box office run and pushed it quickly to streaming. The film blends suburban fantasy — unicorns raiding trash cans, dragons as pets — with a genuinely emotional sibling story. Directors drew on personal experiences with loss to shape the central father-son thread. Its theatrical run being cut short makes it one of the more overlooked entries worth revisiting.

23. Soul (2020)

Jazz musician Joe Gardner has a near-death accident just as he lands his big break, sending his soul into a cosmic realm where new souls develop their personalities. It was Pixar’s first film with a Black lead character and drew on real jazz musicians as consultants and performers. Due to pandemic theater closures, it debuted directly on a streaming service instead of in cinemas, a first for the studio. Its exploration of purpose and everyday joy struck a chord with audiences during a genuinely difficult year. It won the Best Animated Feature Oscar.

24. Luca (2021)

Two sea monster boys disguise themselves as humans for a summer of freedom on the Italian Riviera, forming a friendship that changes both of their lives. Director Enrico Casarosa drew directly on his childhood in Genoa, Italy, to shape the film’s setting and warmth. Like Soul before it, Luca debuted straight to streaming rather than theaters due to ongoing pandemic disruptions. Its low-key, coming-of-age tone was a deliberate change of pace from Pixar’s higher-concept recent releases. Casarosa’s next original film for the studio is already in development.

25. Turning Red (2022)

Thirteen-year-old Mei discovers that intense emotions transform her into a giant red panda, a metaphor for puberty that also happens to double as chaotic comic relief. It’s the first Pixar film solo-directed by a woman, Domee Shi, who also directed the studio’s Oscar-winning short Bao. The film’s frank handling of puberty and family expectations sparked notable conversation among parents and critics alike. Its 2000s boy-band subplot and Toronto setting give it one of the most specific, personal flavors in the Pixar catalog. It debuted directly to streaming rather than in theaters.

26. Lightyear (2022)

Framed as “the movie that inspired the toy,” this spinoff follows the human Space Ranger Buzz Lightyear on the sci-fi mission that turned him into a legend within the Toy Story universe. It marked a rare theatrical return after several pandemic-era streaming releases. The film ties itself explicitly to Toy Story’s fiction rather than its main character continuity, which confused some viewers expecting a direct prequel to Buzz the toy. It underperformed at the box office relative to expectations. It remains an optional watch for casual fans, though completists tend to include it.

27. Elemental (2023)

In a city where fire, water, land, and air residents coexist uneasily, a fiery young woman and a go-with-the-flow water guy fall for each other despite their families’ disapproval. Director Peter Sohn based the immigrant-family storyline partly on his own parents’ experience settling in New York. It opened softly but built strong word-of-mouth over its theatrical run, becoming a slow-burn box office success. Its elemental-city world-building is some of the most visually inventive Pixar has produced. It’s a good pick for viewers who want an underdog Pixar story.

28. Inside Out 2 (2024)

Now a teenager, Riley’s mind gets a new arrival — Anxiety — who shoves Joy and the original emotions aside in an attempt to protect her during a stressful hockey camp. It became the highest-grossing animated film of all time worldwide, surpassing Frozen 2. The film expands Riley’s emotional cast significantly, adding Envy, Embarrassment, and Ennui alongside Anxiety. Its portrayal of adolescent anxiety was praised by mental health professionals for its accuracy and empathy. It set the stage for Pixar’s strongest theatrical comeback in years.

29. Elio (2025)

A space-obsessed kid accidentally gets beamed up and mistaken for Earth’s official intergalactic ambassador, landing him in the middle of a galactic council he’s wildly unprepared for. It went through significant behind-the-scenes changes, including a director transition partway through production. Despite its ambitious sci-fi premise and colorful alien designs, it underperformed at the box office, becoming one of Pixar’s more notable recent disappointments. It’s still worth watching for its imaginative alien-world design work. Pixar returned to original storytelling again just months later with its next release.

30. Hoppers (2026)

A tech-savvy teenager finds a way to project her consciousness into a robotic beaver, letting her live undercover among the wild animals she’s always loved observing from a distance. It scored the best opening weekend for an original animated film in years, a genuine bright spot after Elio’s soft performance. Its cast includes Jon Hamm and Bobby Moynihan voicing key animal and human characters. The end-credits scene reportedly references several earlier Pixar films as a wink to longtime fans. It closes out Pixar’s brief return to fully original ideas before shifting back to a legacy sequel.

31. Toy Story 5 (2026)

Bonnie’s toys face their biggest existential threat yet: a slick, tablet-based smart toy named Lilypad that makes physical playtime start to feel obsolete. Director Andrew Stanton, who co-wrote every prior Toy Story film, returns to explore what happens when kids’ attention shifts toward screens instead of toy boxes. Nearly the entire legacy cast returns, alongside newcomers like Conan O’Brien voicing Smarty Pants. It’s positioned as Pixar’s biggest theatrical event of 2026. As of now, it’s the newest chapter in the franchise’s oldest and most enduring saga.

Do You Need to Watch Monsters, Inc. Before Monsters University?

No — you don’t need to, but it’s the recommended way to watch. Monsters University is a prequel, so it works as a standalone story even if you watch it first. That said, most fans agree the ending hits harder if you already know how Mike and Sulley’s friendship turns out.

Minimum viable watch order (if you’re short on time):

• Toy Story, Toy Story 2, Toy Story 3, Toy Story 4 (skip Toy Story 5 until it’s out on streaming if you want to wait)
• Monsters, Inc. → Monsters University
• Finding Nemo → Finding Dory
• The Incredibles → Incredibles 2
• Inside Out → Inside Out 2
• Coco, Up, Ratatouille, WALL-E (standout standalones worth prioritizing)

How Many Pixar Movies Are There?

As of 2026, there are 31 Pixar feature films, plus dozens of Pixar shorts (like “Lava,” “Piper,” and “Bao”) that often accompany theatrical releases or stream separately on Disney+.

All Pixar Movies in Order by Release Date

1. Toy Story — November 22, 1995

2. A Bug’s Life — November 25, 1998

3. Toy Story 2 — November 24, 1999

4. Monsters, Inc. — November 2, 2001

5. Finding Nemo — May 30, 2003

6. The Incredibles — November 5, 2004

7. Cars — June 9, 2006

8. Ratatouille — June 29, 2007

9. WALL-E — June 27, 2008

10. Up — May 29, 2009

11. Toy Story 3 — June 18, 2010

12. Cars 2 — June 24, 2011

13. Brave — June 22, 2012

14. Monsters University — June 21, 2013

15. Inside Out — June 19, 2015

16. The Good Dinosaur — November 25, 2015

17. Finding Dory — June 17, 2016

18. Cars 3 — June 16, 2017

19. Coco — November 22, 2017

20. Incredibles 2 — June 15, 2018

21. Toy Story 4 — June 21, 2019

22. Onward — March 6, 2020

23. Soul — December 25, 2020

24. Luca — June 18, 2021

25. Turning Red — March 11, 2022

26. Lightyear — June 17, 2022

27. Elemental — June 16, 2023

28. Inside Out 2 — June 14, 2024

29. Elio — June 20, 2025

30. Hoppers — March 6, 2026

31. Toy Story 5 — June 19, 2026

What’s Next for the Franchise?

Toy Story 5 is confirmed as Pixar’s final feature release of 2026, wrapping up a busy year that also included Hoppers. Looking ahead, Pixar has already dated Gatto, an original film from Luca director Enrico Casarosa about a street cat in Venice, for March 5, 2027.

Beyond that, Pixar’s slate reportedly extends through 2028 with a mix of original ideas and further franchise entries, though specific titles and dates beyond Gatto haven’t been fully locked in publicly. Given Hoppers’ strong box office performance, some form of follow-up could eventually enter development, but nothing has been officially greenlit. As always with multi-year animation pipelines, expect dates to shift.

FAQ

Does it matter if I watch Pixar movies in release order? Not really — Pixar movies in order by release date works for almost the entire catalog since most films are standalone. The one exception is Monsters University, which is a prequel to Monsters, Inc.

What is the first Pixar movie ever made? Toy Story (1995) is the first Pixar feature film and the first fully computer-animated movie ever released theatrically.

Which Pixar movie should I watch first if I’m new to the studio? Toy Story is the traditional starting point, but Up, Coco, and Inside Out are often recommended as standalone entry points if you want something emotionally hard-hitting without needing sequel context.

Is Lightyear connected to the Toy Story movies? Not directly to the toy version of Buzz — it’s framed as the in-universe film that inspired the Buzz Lightyear toy, not a prequel to the character Woody and the gang know.

For More: Wikipedia.org

---

Thanks for Visit!