Pixar is one of the great film studios of our time, producing some of the best animated films the medium has ever seen.
The studio’s golden run (Toy Story through Toy Story 3) remains one of the most inspired stretches of production we’ve ever gotten in the history of film, and there have been some great movies to come out since that time, too.
While Pixar has lost its way at times after that impossibly perfect streak, the studio still finds moments where it reaches back into the past and remembers exactly what makes a great Pixar film such an unforgettable experience.
Please note, as we rank the studio’s 27 films through last year’s Elemental, that numbers begin to get arbitrary the higher up we go on this list. Particularly in the top 10, don’t focus on the order as much as appreciating the majesty of some of the great films we’ve ever gotten.
Personally, films one through nine in the rankings represent some of my favorites ever, so saying that a movie is tenth on this list is me saying it’s better than most of the movies out there. Context helps when you see X is here and Y is there, if you will.
Without further ado, let’s get into the rankings with help from the lamp.
27. Cars 2
Cars 2 ended Pixar’s golden run with an abrupt screech of the tires. It’s a confusing diversion from what made Cars work, shifting the focus to Mater and, for some reason, infusing that focus with a spy thriller plot. We’re sure this sounded better in the pitch meeting than it came across in execution, but it’s the weakest Pixar film for a reason. It’s not awful, but it just felt so perfunctory to the point of apathy.
26. Lightyear
A film based on the Buzz Lightyear toy that’s not actually the toy Buzz Lightyear but the spaceman that “inspired” Buzz Lightyear was always going to be a risky proposition. It could’ve worked under the right circumstances, but Lightyear landed with a thud. It’s trying too hard to mesh its more somber ruminations on the passage of time and loneliness of duty with, y’know, the craven capital of squeezing the venerable Toy Story franchise for all its worth.
Sometimes, the beauty of the animation and the sophistication of the themes takes over. Other times, the shameless pandering to the movies that made this possible make you seriously question what the point of this was. It’s a failure, but it’s not without its merits. Sox the robot cat was great, at least?
25. Elemental
Elemental has a good heart, and its story of immigrants making a life in a new place and new generations clashing with familial traditions was very commendable. However, it’s also a deeply uncompelling romantic comedy with severe plot issues. It’s not a complete wash (the Joe Pera-voiced shrub man was hilarious), but you feel like this one could’ve gone so much better than it did. It’s not often you get an original concept from Pixar that doesn’t work.
24. The Good Dinosaur
A film plagued with production issues and a director switch, The Good Dinosaur makes the most of its thin story and finds some delightfully strange diversions to cover up the lack of a fulfilling plot. However, there was such a high standard for Pixar movies when this came out that it didn’t get enough of a context for where the studio actually was when this came out. It’s really a solid animated film, likely given more of a chance coming from a different production house. However, it does fall short much of what came before.
23. Cars 3
A nice return to form for the Cars movie, this is basically Rocky III with cars, and there was nothing wrong with that. It starts out with a humdinger of a sequence where Lightning McQueen suffers a terrible wreck, and it spends the rest of its runtime on the very predictable-yet-still enjoyable comeback narrative that ends on a satisfying note. It’s miles ahead of Cars 2.
22. Brave
It’s hard to look at Brave without thinking of how its original director, Brenda Chapman, was removed from the project after being hired as the first woman to direct a Pixar film. It’d take until 2022 for the studio to rectify that, and it always took far too long for that to happen. Even so, Brave is still a very solid fairy tale, complete with a stellar score and stirring themes about the bond between mothers and daughters. It’s got an asterisk by it’s name, but it’s still a very good time with plenty to like.
21. Finding Dory
While there really wasn’t much of a reason to make Finding Dory, it was still great to have Andrew Stanton back in animation. It’s a perfectly workable sequel that expands the Dory character without stretching too much the viability of what made the original such a classic. There’s only so much they could’ve done to expand this story, but they did well for what they could do.
20. Onward
Onward has a very strong screenplay, one that comes from a very moving place with director Dan Scanlon infusing his own story into the plot. It’s very funny and touching in equal measure, even if the overall A-to-B narrative doesn’t quite match the backbone of the script. It’s quite good, and it certainly deserved a longer life in theaters than it got (it came out right before the COVID-19 pandemic).
19. A Bug's Life
The sophomore feature for Pixar, A Bug’s Life is still a very fun riff on Seven Samurai that showed the potential of what the animation studio would build to for its golden run. It’s about how any sophomore feature would go for a production studio like Pixar, not quite what came before but still very promising. We’re still wondering who ordered the pu pu platter.
18. Cars
Cars has turned into one of the most meme’d films of all time, which can take away from the fact that it’s a very compelling slice of Americana that builds up the beauty of small-town congeniality in the face of flashy celebrity phoniness. It’s aged well over the years, even if the tropes had been well-established in other films before it. It’s a deceptively simple film that plays with more profundity as you get older and appreciate its themes more.
17. Luca
Luca was a lovely study of budding friendship, one that takes advantage of its beautiful Italian seaside town and refreshingly uncomplicated story. It takes on added meaning the longer it goes on, and it looks better and better the more you get removed from it and see how easy it was to enjoy. It’s not one of the best Pixar movies, but it is one of the most effortless.
16. Coco
Coco is arguably the studio’s most successful original film of the 2010s in terms of reaching the zeitgeist and anchoring itself into the lineage of the studio’s most beloved works. It is an incredibly resonant, emotive work, even if its story feels a little cobbled together from past Pixar films. “Remember Me” hits you like a freight train, so you’re more than willing to forgive some sameness. If this whole thing had been a musical, it’d be higher on the list.
15. Soul
It’s saying something that Soul is Pete Docter’s weakest film, as it was one of the best of the 2020 pandemic year and a stunning rumination on humankind’s purpose and fulfillment. Not being able to see this one in a theater for its first run definitely hurt it, but it deserves so much credit for how it expands on the themes of Inside Out in a new, affirming direction.
14. Toy Story 4
The Toy Story franchise is sacred ground. Even its fourth installment, which dives into a rekindled romance for two toys and an existential crisis for a spork, was better than most of the movies that came out in 2019. It doesn’t quite reach that level of brilliance of the first three, but it’s still just wonderful. A fifth installment has to maintain this level of quality.
13. Incredibles 2
A fantastic sequel that digs into some unexpected territory in conversation with the first film, Incredibles 2 shifts the focus to Elastigirl and dives into societal reliance on forces bigger than us to protect us, and what happens if those forces backfire. It’s also a delightful family comedy that underscores just how much a mom holds on her shoulders. Brad Bird has never made a bad movie, and this really is one of his best projects yet.
12. Monsters University
A criminally underrated prequel that was better than it had any right to be, Monsters University is far more than a stellar college comedy with monsters learning how to scare humans. It’s a surprisingly frank study of unrealized dreams and how the failures of adulthood teach you to prioritize the people in your life over the goals you set for yourself, if only because we wouldn’t have anything if we didn’t have them. It really is a Pixar high point.
11. Turning Red
It took Pixar more than two decades to release a film directed by a woman, and Domee Shi immediately hit a home run with Turning Red. It’s a genuinely hysterical, wildly creative story about a young girl growing up and trying to find herself in the shadow of her family. Combined by its love of 2000s boy bands and Canadian landscapes, it’s an unforgettable romp that is easily the best Pixar film of its era. It’s as close to the golden run as we’ve gotten from a new filmmaker in Pixar’s building post-Toy Story 3.
10. WALL-E
WALL-E is one of the studio’s most memorable works, a love story between two far-flung robots making sense of a world abandoned by its creators and propped up on convenience and obedience. It’s downright poetic at times and rigorously human at others, and it’s themes of pushing against automated living in the rise of A.I. feels even more pertinent than it was in 2008. It’s a remarkable accomplishment, and it only gets better with time.
9. Inside Out
Docter’s astonishing study of the human mind and the emotions that drive it featured one of the best Pixar concepts yet, and its voice cast stands out among plenty of amazing voice casts in the studio’s history. It’s ultimate message, that sadness is a vital part of the human condition, is absolutely jaw-dropping for a movie that also digs into the hilarious horrors of commercial jingles. Inside Out reminded everyone that, after a few missteps in the early 2010s, the studio was still capable of instant classics.
8. Toy Story 3
It’s hard for someone who was about to be a senior in high school to be objective about Toy Story 3, particularly someone who credits Toy Story as the reason why they love movies. None the matter, we’ll do our job.
Toy Story 3 is a startling achievement, one that unpacks the developing themes of the franchise while still finding an incredibly unique spin on how to keep these toys going. It’s occasionally heartwrenching, occasionally gut-busting, completely wonderful in all the best ways. They call this one of the best trilogies of all time for a reason, and Toy Story 3 cemented that.
7. Finding Nemo
Finding Nemo is a masterpiece, one of the truly great stories of the 2000s. It’s an unforgettable journey into the ocean (and into an Australian dentist’s office) as a father fish learns to let go and let his young guppy grow up after both experienced tragedy. It’s got some of the studio’s best characters, and it’s got some of the best jokes in any of these movies. It’s just such an easy rewatch, one that shows you something new each time you engage with it. It’s one of the true crown jewels of the studio’s golden run.
6. Up
Pete Docter is one of the best directors in animation history for a reason, as his second film is a definitive work in the medium. It starts with one of the most heavy-hitting montages in movie history, one that captures the joys and tragedies of living a finite life with someone you love. It follows that up with a spirited adventure about learning to move on. It’s very sweet, surprisingly tense when it wants to be and features one of the all-time great cinema dogs. What more can you ask for? After all, adventure is out there.
5. Monsters, Inc.
You cannot understate how hard it is to pull off a movie like Monsters, Inc. It’s a perfect concept, and it’s got a bewilderingly pristine blend of humor and heart. Mike and Sully are two of Pixar’s best characters, and Pete Docter’s first film also remains his absolute best. This is just one of the great movies, plain and simple, as it breaks down the nuances of office life with the decisions we all make to do the right thing in the face of what’s easy.
4. The Incredibles
The best superhero film of all time not named The Dark Knight, The Incredibles is Brad Bird’s explosive Pixar debut, a film that repositioned the hero narrative into believable context and expanded the possibilities of what a Pixar movie could be. It’s an unreal genre jump for the studio that also packs in some of the best action sequences of that decade and a study of why family is stronger than the most indestructible supersuit. It’s about as perfect a movie as you could imagine, and somehow, it’s only fourth on this list.
3. Toy Story
The movie that changed animation forever, Toy Story blasted open the possibilities for the medium, and not just from a visual perspective. Sure, the 3D revolution started in Andy’s room and never stopped, but Toy Story redefined what an animated movie could be, freed from the musical expectations of Disney’s past and reinforced with a deeply impactful story of unlikely friendship in the face of changing times. It’s one of the greatest films of all time, and putting it third on any list feels like a high crime. It’s the film that made me love movies, after all. You can’t do something like this lightly, particularly when it’s as perfect as Toy Story.
2. Toy Story 2
Toy Story 2 is The Godfather: Part II and Empire Strikes Back of animated films. It’s somehow better than the stone-cold masterpiece that came before it, enriching the ideas of its predecessor while raising the emotional stakes for everyone involved and unafraid to dive into some deeply uncomfortable territory to find growth.
“When She Loved Me” is this movie in a nutshell, as it deals with the crushing inevitability of growing up and how parts of ourselves get left behind right when we least expect it. It’s also a daring rescue movie, one that accentuates the genius of these characters and why they’ve remained so beloved after all these years. It ends on such an uplifting note, one that accepts life’s inevitabilities with the kind of renewed vigor that some might feel impossible of an animated movie. That’s the joy of Pixar at its best; it contends with everything else in the artform with CG toys. As you get older, part of life is finally accepting that, yes, Toy Story 2 is the best of the three.
1. Ratatouille
You could argue that Ratatouille is the best animated film of all time, as I gladly would in a passionate dinner table debate with friends. Bird’s magnum opus (from a story by Jan Pinkava) details the wonders of embracing the creative voice inside of you and finding ways to put it into action in the most unlikely of ways. It’s also just a grand story about realizing your potential and embracing the unexpected in the face of traditional structures that lean yon away from spontaneity and possibility.
Anyone can cook, the film’s central chef Auguste Gusteau posits, welcoming viewers into a scrumptious world where a talented rat can peer over the gorgeous Parisian skyline and dream dreams that feel impossible but are just a few steps away. You don’t always get the meal you dream up, but anyone can jump in the kitchen and make it happen. What’s a more beautiful message than that? This is Pixar’s best, and one of the great movies we have.
