Welcome Back to Disney! 👋😊🎉I hope you enjoyed my last post on A Definitive Ranking of Every Song from Aaron Carter’s Most Requested Hits Album, because that was some very NOSTALGIC FUN down music memory lane.🎶💿 But now, today, we’re veering away from the music for a bit, and going back to talk about some NOSTALGIC MOVIES.📺Well, not just “some movies”, but some of the BEST, MOST ICONIC animated films to ever exist. Disney Pixar movies to be exact, as you could already guess from the title of this post.😊All in honor of the 30th Anniversary of the VERY FIRST Pixar movie to be released, Toy Story. So, let’s get into the celebration!🥳🎂🎈🎥🍿🤍
Before I get into my official ranking of every Pixar film, I just thought I’d give a brief history about these movies and the studio that made them. If you don’t care for a little history, then you can just skip past this part of the post, I totally understand. I’m just someone who likes to dive deep into it all, and why not include some of the important, fun facts that I find, here, while I do?😊
So, for those who didn't already know, Pixar (aka Pixar Animation Studios) is a California-based American animation studio known for its highly successful computer-animated films. It operates as a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, part of the Walt Disney Company’s Disney Entertainment division. Pixar began in 1979 as the Graphics Group within Lucasfilm’s computer division and became an independent company in 1986, with funding from Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, who became its majority shareholder. Disney announced its acquisition of Pixar in January 2006, and acquired it in May 2006.
The studio is known for its feature films technologically powered by RenderMan and its mascot, Luxo Jr., a desk lamp from the studio’s 1986 short film of the same name. Since releasing the first fully computer-animated feature film, Toy Story (November 22, 1995), Pixar has produced 29 feature films and numerous shorts, with its most recent film being Elio (June 20, 2025). By July 2023, its feature films had earned over $15 billion at the worldwide box office with an average gross of $589 million per film, with several—including Toy Story 3 (2010), Finding Dory (2016), Incredibles 2 (2018), Toy Story 4 (2019), and Inside Out 2 (2024)—surpassing $1 billion and ranking among the 50 highest-grossing films of all time.👏Moreover, 13 of Pixar’s films are in the 50 highest-grossing animated films of all time.👏As of August 2025, Inside Out 2 was the second highest-grossing animated film ever.👏
Pixar has even received extensive industry recognition, earning 23 Academy Awards, 10 Golden Globes, and 11 Grammys, along with numerous other awards and acknowledgments.👏👏👏👏 Since Pixar’s inauguration in 2001, eleven of its films have won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, including Finding Nemo (2003), The Incredibles (2004), Ratatouille (2007), WALL-E (2008), Up (2009), Toy Story 3 (2010), Brave (2012), Inside Out (2015), Coco (2017), Toy Story 4 (2019), and Soul (2020).👏👏Toy Story 3 and Up were also nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards.👏👏In February 2009, key Pixar executives (Brad Bird, Pete Docter, John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, and Lee Unkrich), were honored with the Venice Film Festival’s Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement.👏The physical award was ceremoniously handed to Lucasfilm’s founder George Lucas. And that’s pretty much the gist of it all, but you can definitely find out even more details about Pixar’s history anywhere else online, if you want to know even more. ‘Cause it is all pretty fascinating and there’s a lot I could add here, but to save time and space I’ll just move on for now.😊👍
When it comes to my history, or personal connection with these films, basically, like most kids, I did grow up watching Pixar. However, I was never like a die-hard fan of these films. In other words, I didn’t watch each film every year when they first came out, because I was just a kid when most of these films were being released, and I just usually watched whatever was on TV at the time. Mostly on Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, or ABC family. I mean, I wasn’t even born when the first Pixar movie (Toy Story) was released, so I didn’t see that one until way later. And I didn’t catch the three movies that came after that exactly when they were released, either, because I was just too young to know about them like that. For example, Monsters Inc. came out in 2001, but I didn’t see it in 2001. I saw it a few years later. Maybe even a year later? Again, I don’t know for sure, because I was too young when those first few films came out. But I do remember watching it as a kid at some point. All I do vividly remember is probably the FIRST Pixar film I ever saw being 2003’s Finding Nemo. Again, I’m not completely sure if Finding Nemo was the VERY FIRST Pixar film I saw, but it’s the earliest memory I have of seeing and watching one of these films.
In fact, I vividly remember seeing the previews for Finding Nemo on TV in 2003, and watching that movie quite a few times after it was released. ‘Cause like with majority of these Pixar films, I didn’t see Finding Nemo in theaters. So, it was definitely probably later that year in 2003 in which I had watched that movie. And obviously movies didn’t (and still don’t) become available to watch at home until later, after they’ve hit theaters. But, I also remember a teacher at my elementary school at the time (in 2003), playing Finding Nemo for the students in my grade to watch. And so, I believe that was the very first time that I saw the whole movie. Or most of it. And then I remember one other time watching it on Disney Channel, which could have even been a year later than that. 2004 or something? And it may not have been playing on Disney Channel, but some other channel. Again, I don’t remember a lot when it comes to these movies. I just know Finding Nemo was definitely like THE Pixar movie to me for a long time. At least, it was the one I had seen the most, until Cars was released.
‘Cause once Cars came out and I saw that, it was then THE Pixar movie to me for a long time, and even to my sisters. And that was just simply because, again, we didn’t know about a lot of the other Pixar movies that came before it, and we didn’t care or know much about the ones that came after it. We didn't even really know what Pixar the name was, or what it meant, just that these were animated movies. Although, now that I’m remembering, we did also of course know about Toy Story. But I don’t remember us loving it as much as Cars. And I also don’t remember when we first saw Toy Story, either. Or if we had ever even watched the whole movie, or had just seen parts of it. But it was definitely later than when it was actually first released, because only my older sister was born when it came out in 1995, but even she was only one-years-old at the time. Which is so crazy to think about!?!🤯
Speaking of Toy Story, my sisters and I did have this Toy Story video game that we loved to play as kids, and so I think we more-so knew about Toy Story from that than from the actual movie itself. In other words, we loved the Toy Story PlayStation game more than the actual movie. Well, at least, we played the Toy Story game more than we watched the movie. To my recollection.
But I do remember watching some of the earlier Pixar films here and there as a kid, too. Like, A Bug's Life is another one that comes to my mind. I know I also didn't see that film when it first came out because I was just a baby in 1998, but I remember watching it at some point when I was still a kid. I feel like I even remember it playing one time when I was at the dentist as a kid.🤔You know, how they always used to have a movie playing on a mini TV above your head as they worked on your teeth?😂 A Bug's Life was definitely one of those kid-dentist-films that they would play.
Like I said before, I was just not actively seeking these films out when I was younger. Nor, going to the movies to watch them. Not that I didn't want to, but I just didn't know about them like that. Like I know about them now as an adult. Cars is actually THE ONLY Pixar movie that my parents took my sisters and I to see in theaters when it was first released. And I’ll never forget that memory. We actually went to see it TWICE in theaters, too. Once as just our family of five, and then again when our extended family came to visit us.
Speaking of memories, I also have a vivid memory of watching Ratatouille sometime in 2007 when I was a kid at my friend’s house, which I’ll talk more about later when we get to it on the ranking. And I remember seeing just the beginning of WALL-E in 2008, as well, which I'll also talk more about later when we get to that film. I also remember seeing bits and pieces of UP a year after it was released, as well. And I remember seeing bits and pieces of Brave, later in the year that it came out. All specific memories I’ll get into more when we get to those films later.😊
So, I do have specific memories when it comes to certain Pixar movies, but not with all of them because I had never seen all of them until now. And that’s mostly also just because once I was a tween/teen, I wasn’t into watching animation anymore, either, and therefore I didn’t find any of these movies interesting. I just thought for the longest time that only kids could enjoy and like animated stuff like this, but that’s not true at all. 'Cause adults can enjoy animation as well, and probably actually understand and appreciate the stories from them more than kids can. At least, if animation is done well, it can be for anyone to watch and enjoy. At least, that's how I feel now. Plus, as long as you find joy in something (and it’s not harming anyone else of course) that’s all that matters, right?
So, it wasn’t actually until I started this blog a few years ago and decided to give some animated shows and movies a watch that I started to like this type of stuff, and appreciate animation again. Kind of like I did when I was a kid, but through adult eyes. And that led me to actually want to watch every Pixar film and create this post. So that’s what I did. And I can say, I’ve not only found a new LOVE and APPRECIATION for animation, but for these films specifically made by Pixar. As I do truly believe that they are some of the BEST animated films to exist. Due to the stories that they tell and the creativity in which they tell those stories, and the animation itself is more notable and memorable than others, as well.
Like I mentioned before, the Pixar films that came out before Finding Nemo (2003) I do remember seeing for the first time as a kid at some point, but way later from when they were first released. And then even the Pixar films that came out after Cars, I do remember seeing all the previews for those, but I had only seen bits and pieces of some of them later from when they actually came out. So again, that’s another reason why I was really excited to watch every Pixar movie from 1995 to now (2025) and rank them for FUN here, since I hadn’t seen them all before doing so for this post. And even the ones I had seen before I didn’t remember them really well, and it was just time for a rewatch. And I got to say, I really enjoyed my time getting to go back and watch all of these movies from years ago to even the newest one that was released this year. Not that I loved the newest Pixar movie, which I’ll get into, but it was still fun and interesting to watch just to see the whole evolution of Pixar with the way animation has changed and all since 1995. So, what are we waiting for? Let’s see that evolution, and finally get into A Definitive Ranking of (Almost) Every Pixar Film!!🥳🎂🎈🎥🍿🤍
Just a brief note before we begin: There are actually 29 Pixar films that have been released from 1995 to now (2025), but I only chose to watch 26 of them. So I intentionally didn’t watch or include in this ranking, three Pixar films (Finding Dory, Lightyear, and Elemental), for different reasons that I’m not going to explain. I just decided to skip those films because it’s my blog, and I can.😊Now, for real this time, let’s get into A Definitive Ranking of (Almost) Every Pixar Film!🥳🎂🎈🎥🍿🤍
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Well, that concludes A Definitive Ranking of (Almost) Every Pixar Film, and the end of celebrating the anniversary of the FIRST Pixar movie to be released 30 years ago, Toy Story! 🥳🎂🎈🎥🍿🤍 Like I said before, I really enjoyed getting to go back and rewatch these movies, and for most, watch for the VERY FIRST TIME. It was actually a little surprising to see which movies ended up making my TOP 3, even my TOP 10, because I never would have guessed those would have been ranked where they are. ‘Cause a few of these movies that were my favorites as a kid have definitely changed from what my favorites are now as an adult. Which is quite interesting.
Having said that, it was actually really hard to rank my TOP 10 favorites, though. I kept going back and forth on some. But I actually feel pretty great about where I ranked these movies, and I don’t see myself changing it anytime soon. I’m just HAPPY that I finally finished all of these movies, and that I finally got to share this post with you all, because it’s been a long time coming. ‘Cause, interestingly enough, and something that I forgot to mention earlier, but I had actually watched all of these movies two years ago and intended to post this then (in 2023), but other things came up that I had to do so that didn’t end up happening. And I can’t remember why I didn’t try to post this last year.🤔But, it’s finally here now, and in perfect timing, really, considering it’s the 30th anniversary of the FIRST Pixar movie (Toy Story) being released.🥳🎂🎈 Plus, waiting until now to post this also gave me the chance to add two more Pixar movies to watch and to get to talk about, with the two films that were released these past two years (Inside Out 2 and Elio). So, I might not have been a big fan of Pixar as a kid/tween/teen, but I’m definitely more of one now. And I’m already looking forward to the TWO NEW Pixar movies being released next year, as well. (see videos below) What about you? Are you a fan of Pixar? I mean, if you’ve read this far into my post, you must be, so what’s your favorite Pixar film? Let me know in the comments below and come Back to Disney soon for more NOSTALGIC FUN!
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