Best Pixar Movies Ranked — From ‘Toy Story’ and Beyond (with WALL-E Video Essay)

We have to start where any good “Best Pixar Movies Ranked” list should begin: at the bottom, and with Cars 2. The cardinal sin of the weakest of all Pixar movies is that it takes the loveable sidekick from the first film, Mater, and puts him in the forefront. The result is Larry the Cable Guy dialed up to 11 for 106 minutes. No one should be forced to experience that.

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22. Cars 3 (2017)

After the lukewarm reception to Cars 2, the creative team at Pixar tried to course-correct with Cars 3, and to a large part they succeeded. Mater is rightly placed back on the sidelines, and the story is much simpler and more under control than that of Cars 2.

But this is also the downfall of Cars 3 — it’s lacking the ambition that makes the best Pixar movies great. Cars 3 a heart-warming story about the trials of aging, but it’s a familiar vehicle going down a well-worn road.

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21. Onward (2020)

Best Pixar Movies Ranked

20. The Good Dinosaur (2015)

AKA the Pixar movie you’re most likely to have not heard of. And if you have, you’ve probably also heard of the disastrous conception and rollout of the ill-fated film, which to this day is the lowest-grossing Pixar film of all time. 

But The Good Dinosaur shouldn’t be judged by its tumultuous creation or its mediocre box-office performance. It’s a film that swings for the fences, and, though it comes up slightly short, it’s fun to watch Pixar riff on the Western genre with a silent child and talking dinosaur. It’s also arguably the most visually beautiful movie Pixar has produced.

The beginning of the era where Disney forced Pixar to make a sequel or prequel for every two of its original films. The result is a movie that feels like a cash grab (no rarity in the Disney universe). That said, Monsters University is far more fun than one would expect, and the college setting is played with to a satisfying degree — Sully and Mike Wazowski are such strong characters that it’s a joy to watch them in any setting. The prequel isn’t much more than a feel-good romp, but, hey, there are worse things to be.

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18. Toy Story 4 (2019)

Speaking of unnecessary franchise additions… 

Pixar already had the perfect ending to its most beloved franchise, one that made even the most stoic moviegoers sob like babies (more on that later), so when Toy Story 4 was announced there was understandably a lot of hand-wringing from fans. 

Remarkably, Toy Story 4 managed to assuage most of our fears for the sequel. It’s a compelling story with fun additions to our favorite entourage of toys (looking at you, Forkie). But Toy Story 4 isn’t able to fully overcome the fact that it simply isn’t necessary.

Its main idea, the horror of facing antiquity, is pretty much identical to that of Toy Story 2, and its small-scale plot, while fun, feels anticlimactic to the end of a celebrated decades-spanning franchise. It’s a good movie, but not good enough to justify its creation.

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17. Cars (2006)

The Cars franchise is maligned by most Pixar fans (see this author’s placement of Cars 2 and Cars 3), but if you forget about its sequels, Cars is a perfectly fun movie that has a deceivingly nuanced and powerful message.

Cars is perhaps Pixar’s most blatant "Kids’ Movie." Kids love cars, kids love funny-talking cars, kids love fast cars. Pixar delivers on these simple joys while also investigating the decline of America’s small towns and middle class, a prescient observation that carries even more weight today. It’s a kids’ movie, yes. But it’s a kids’ movie with a brain.

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16. A Bug’s Life (1998)

A Bug’s Life’s legacy suffers for two main reasons: it followed Pixar’s near-perfect triumph Toy Story, and it was released the same year as Antz. The cards were stacked against it. But outside of this context, A Bug’s Life is effective and original. It delivers on the promise of the premise; the world of bugs is intricate and clearly thought through, and its villain, Hopper, is one of the most memorable of Pixar’s roster. A Bug’s Life is no Toy Story, but it shows the promise of a young and ambitious studio finding its footing. 

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15. Brave (2012)

There are a lot of recurring elements that pop up in Pixar movies time and time again. One of them, unfortunately, is a male protagonist. Finally, in 2012, Pixar released its first female-driven film, and to largely great effect. Just by nature of having a female lead, the studio was able to examine fresh themes and perspectives, particularly a mother-daughter relationship.

In Brave, the relationship is beautifully rendered and acts as the beating heart at the center of the film. 

While it does get bogged down is some clunky slapstick humor (Why did the kids become bears again? Just for laughs?), the emotional core of the film is compelling enough to get us fully invested in a Scottish folktale about the nature of destiny and self-sacrifice.

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14. Soul (2020)

One of the most daring entries of Pixar’s recent films, Soul aims high, essentially attempting to understand the meaning of life. On paper, it sounds more than a little hubristic, but Soul just about manages to pull it off. Soul carries one of Pixar’s most nuanced messages — what if doing what you love isn’t all there is to life? Thoughtfully written and beautifully animated, the film navigates a complex plotline and massive themes with ease.

That said, while the film does raise interesting ideas, its pontifications sometimes feel a little too similar to those handled in Inside Out. Overall, however, Soul is an achievement, and stands out in Pixar’s later filmography.

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13. Finding Dory (2016)

Making Finding Dory would be an unenviable task: trying to improve upon, or at least just not taint, the outstanding achievement that was Finding Nemo is a tall task. Fortunately, co-writer and director Andrew Stanton was up to the challenge. Finding Dory continues to deal with the important themes of the first film while also building upon them.

The film’s handling of living with developmental disorders is delicately and empathetically done, showing that while being neuroatypical can have its challenges, it can also have its own unique rewards. It’s a sequel that effectively pays respect to its predecessor while also enriching and expanding its world.

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12. Coco (2017)

Best Pixar Movies Ranked

11. Toy Story 3 (2010)

With Toy Story 2, Pixar perfected the sequel. With Toy Story 3, it perfected the finale. To a large extent, Toy Story has always been about impermanence, whether it situates that impermanence in consumer culture where a new shinier toy is always around the corner (Toy Story), or whether that impermanence is examined through the lens of fleeting childhood (Toy Story 2). Toy Story 3 forces our favorite characters to confront the uncomfortable impermanence of love — what happens when you keep loving someone who stops loving you back?

The answer, of course, is heartbreaking, but the Pixar creative team also manages to make it hopeful. While love can fade, a new love can always be found around the corner. There’s no wonder there’s not a dry eye to be found by the end of this installment. 

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10. Monsters Inc. (2001)

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9. Inside Out (2015)

Another prime example of Pixar’s knack for casting. Amy Poehler as Joy? Bill Hader as Fear? Phyllis Smith as Sadness? The performances for each personified emotion in one of Pixar’s highest-concept films are pitch-perfect. It’s one of the reasons the film works so well; we immediately understand how each character operates, and are fully on board for a film which attempts to explain why we feel what we feel.

Inside Out is arguably Pixar’s last great original: it strives to investigate some of life’s loftiest questions while staying grounded in memorable characters and an expertly-crafted plot. 

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7. Up (2015)

When you think about Up, you think about the opening montage. Sure, the talking dogs are fun, Kevin is hilarious, the floating house is beautifully surreal, but it all comes down to that opening. It’s a sequence that encapsulates everything that makes Pixar great — making the universal personal. How do you get kids to care about a bitter old man who’s stuck in the past? How do you get them to sit through a silent opener? And then how do you get them to sob within the first 10 minutes of said opener? It’s a pathos masterclass.

Sure, the rest of the film doesn’t reach quite the highs that the opening delivers, but it’s still great, filled with comedy, action, and those talking dogs.

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6. Ratatouille (2007)

What’s remarkable about Ratatouille is just how quaint it is. In an era where studios seem to believe that kids’ movies need to be bigger, faster, and more bombastic, Ratatouille is a breath of fresh air. Think about the big final act: a chef has to impress a finicky food critic. That’s it. But the expert craft behind the film makes the stakes real and consequential. This chef has to impress this food critic.

Perhaps this is because of the crucial theme running through Ratatouille: the idea that anyone can make great art, and that’s what makes art great. The quaintness of Ratatouille is its biggest strength; it’s a movie told through the details, just as the best food is made through the tiniest variations. And who better to notice the details than a rat?

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5. Toy Story 2 (1999)

Toy Story 2 is arguably the most important movie in Pixar’s history. After the slight stumble of A Bug’s Life, it was unclear whether Toy Story was going to be an anomaly or if the studio knew what it was doing. Toy Story 2 proved the latter. The film picks up the best aspects of its predecessor and gives them significantly more depth.

There’s a darkness to Woodie’s storyline, both thematically and aesthetically, that juxtaposes perfectly with the joyous romp that is Buzz Lightyear and the gang’s adventure. Toy Story 2 is Pixar hitting its stride: inventive and daring filmmaking matched with a smart script and iconic characters. The result is a film where no moment goes to waste, every second packed with big ideas and an even bigger heart.

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4. Toy Story (1995)

It’s hard to get off to a better start than Toy Story. While the rest of the American animation industry was churning out massive princess movies, Pixar released a film that rethought what animation could do, technically and narratively. Pixar replaced the musical numbers, the melodrama, and the pulpy romances with a grounded story that managed to spark the imaginations of kids in ways fairytale movies never could.

Perhaps no other movie captures the world through the eyes of a kid better than Toy Story. The world is so deeply thought through that every creative decision feels obvious (of course this is how that toy behaves!). In Toy Story, the magic is right under your nose.

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3. The Incredibles (2004)

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2. WALL-E (2008)

Just looking at WALL-E can break your heart. His character design tells us so much — his purpose, his sense of wonder, his long neglect. In the first thirty minutes of WALL-E, an arguably perfect piece of filmmaking, we watch our protagonist clean up after ourselves. Humans left the planet to rot, and we left WALL-E to rot with it.

But in spite of the odds, WALL-E survives, even thrives, and when he meets EVE, he falls in love. It’s one of Pixar’s most human stories told through galaxy-trekking robots. 

WALL-E shoots for the stars and reaches them. It’s Pixar’s most overtly political film, an ecological call to arms, but where some ideologically-motivated movies can feel cold, WALL-E brims with emotion. By the end of the film, there’s nothing we wouldn’t do for this rusty robot.

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1. Finding Nemo (2003)

If you asked a group of ten people their favorite character from Finding Nemo, you’d get ten different answers. You can’t say this about a lot of TV series, let alone an hour and forty minute feature. Finding Nemo is to the ocean what Toy Story is to the toy box. When we go to a fish store, it’s Nemo, not a Clown Fish. It’s Dory, not a Blue Tang. Writer/director Andrew Stanton’s attention to aquatic detail pays off in spades — every fish’s characterization just feels right.

Stanton’s story, too, is Pixar’s finest. It’s a moving examination of the overprotective parent trope — Marlin isn’t just a neurotic stereotype; he’s a single dad trying to do right by his son. Each subplot feels like it could be its own movie (The coral school! The fish tank cult! The surfer turtles!), and every character could be a protagonist. 

Finding Nemo is the result of a creative team approaching a project with deep empathy for each of their characters, uncompromising ambition to reach new technological heights, and unending curiosity in the setting they’re depicting. It’s the crowning achievement of everything that sets Pixar apart.