This is a list of animated short films produced by Pixar Animation Studios.
Beginning with Pixar's second feature-length film A Bug's Life, almost all subsequent Pixar feature films have been shown in theaters along with a Pixar-created original short film, known as a "short." Other Pixar shorts, released only on home media, were created to showcase Pixar's technology or cinematic capabilities, or on commission for clients.
Pixar began producing shorts in the 1980s. The first shorts were made while Pixar was still a computer hardware company, when John Lasseter was the only professional animator in the company's small animation department. Starting with Geri's Game, after Pixar had converted into an animation studio, all later shorts have been produced with a larger crew and budget.
Pixar produced four CGI shorts for the educational TV series Sesame Street between 1990 and 1994. The shorts illustrate different weights and directions starring Luxo Jr. and Luxo — Light & Heavy, Surprise, Up and Down, and Front and Back.
During the development of Toy Story, Pixar set up a division to work on Pixar video games called Pixar's Interactive Products Group, specifically Toy Story entries in the Disney's Animated Storybook and Disney's Activity Center. Due to the intense resources required, the division was eventually folded and the staff were redistributed to start creating short films to accompany Pixar's theatrical releases.
Beginning with A Bug's Life, Pixar has created extra content for each of their films that are part of the main story. For their early theatrical releases, this content was in the form of outtakes and appeared as part of the film's credits. For each of their films, this content was a short made exclusively for the DVD release of the film.
Toy Story 4 is the first film not to be accompanied by short films at the beginning, followed by Lightyear, Inside Out 2, Elio, Hoppers, and Toy Story 5. Producer Lindsey Collins confirmed that SparkShorts replaces the need to pair short films with their major theatrical films; admitting that she felt "torn" over the decision. Meanwhile, Toy Story, Coco, and Onward had theatrical shorts from other subsidiaries related to Disney.
Shorts Short films Title Year Director(s) Initial release with Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film Theatrical Home/Premiere The Adventures of André & Wally B.Produced by The Graphics Group, a subsidiary of Lucasfilm which is a predecessor to Pixar, later releases add Pixar branding to the posters. 1984 Alvy Ray Smith Toy Story Luxo Jr. 1986 John Lasseter Toy Story 2 Red's Dream 1987 colspan="2" Tin Toy 1988 Toy Story Knick Knack 1989 Finding Nemo (first release)The Nightmare Before Christmas (second release) Finding Nemo Geri's Game 1997 Jan Pinkava A Bug's Life rowspan=2 For the Birds 2000 Ralph Eggleston Monsters, Inc. (first release)Luca (second release) Monsters, Inc. Boundin' 2003 Bud Luckey The Incredibles rowspan=4 One Man Band 2005 Andrew Jimenez and Mark Andrews Cars Lifted 2006 Gary Rydstrom Ratatouille Presto 2008 Doug Sweetland WALL-E Partly Cloudy 2009 Peter Sohn Up Day & Night 2010 Teddy Newton Toy Story 3 rowspan=2 La Luna 2011 Enrico Casarosa Brave The Blue Umbrella 2013 Saschka Unseld Monsters University rowspan=2 Lava 2014 James Ford Murphy Inside Out Sanjay's Super Team 2015 Sanjay Patel The Good Dinosaur Piper 2016 Alan Barillaro Finding Dory Lou 2017 David Mullins Cars 3 Bao 2018 Domee Shi Incredibles 2
Bonus feature Title Year Director(s) Initial release with Associated Feature Film Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film Theatrical HomeNon-compilation/Premiere Mike's New Car 2002 Pete Docter and Roger Gould rowspan=10 Monsters, Inc. Exploring the Reef 2003 Roger Gould Finding Nemo rowspan="19" Jack-Jack Attack 2005 Brad Bird The Incredibles Mr. Incredible and Pals Roger Gould Mater and the Ghostlight 2006 John Lasseter Cars Your Friend the Rat 2007 Jim Capobianco Ratatouille BURN-E 2008 Angus MacLane WALL-E Dug's Special Mission 2009 Ronnie del Carmen Up George and A.J. Josh Cooley The Legend of Mor'du 2012 Brian Larsen Brave Party Central 2013 Kelsey Mann Muppets Most Wanted Disney Movies AnywherePixar Short Films Collection, Volume 3 Monsters University Riley's First Date? 2015 Josh Cooley rowspan=8 Inside Out Marine Life Interviews 2016 Ross Haldane Stevenson Finding Dory Miss Fritter's Racing Skoool 2017 James Ford Murphy Cars 3 Dante's Lunch Jason Katz Coco Auntie Edna 2018 Ted Mathot Incredibles 2 Lamp Life 2020 Valerie LaPointe Disney+ Toy Story 4 22 vs. Earth 2021 Kevin Nolting Soul Ciao Alberto Kenna Harris Luca Loving Dory 2027 Lou Hamou-Lhadj Gatto Finding Dory
SparkShorts series SparkShorts is a series of animated short films produced by Pixar filmmakers and artists, similar to its sister series Short Circuit from Walt Disney Animation Studios. It consists of longer independent shorts. Under the project, Pixar's employees are merely given six months and limited budgets to develop these animated short films. Title Year Director(s) Premiered Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film Purl 2019 Kristen Lester YouTube rowspan="2" Smash and Grab Brian Larsen Kitbull Rosana Sullivan YouTubeTheatrical with Turning Red Float Bobby Alcid Rubio Disney+ rowspan="3" Wind Edwin Chang Loop 2020 Erica Milsom Out Steven Clay Hunter Burrow Madeline Sharafian Theatrical with Soul Twenty Something 2021 Aphton Corbin Disney+ rowspan="3" Nona Louis Gonzales Self 2024 Searit Kahsay Huluf
Pixar Popcorn Title Associated Feature Film Year(s) Director(s) Premiere To Fitness and Beyond Toy Story 4 2021 Adam RodriguezDisney+ Unparalleled Parking Cars 3 James Ford Murphy Dory Finding Finding Dory Michal Makarewicz Soul of the City Soul Christopher Chua Fluffy Stuff with Ducky and Bunny: Love Toy Story 4 Robert H. Russ Chore Day the Incredibles Way Incredibles 2 Alan Barillaro A Day in the Life of the Dead Coco Allison Rutland Fluffy Stuff with Ducky and Bunny: Three Heads Toy Story 4 Robert H. Russ Dancing with the Cars Cars 3 Juan Carlos Navarro Carrión Cookie Num Num Incredibles 2 Jae Hyung Kim
A Pixar Artist's Short Film Title Year(s) Director(s) Premiere Lightbulb 2026 Hye Sung ParkYouTube Mother's Nature Valerie LaPointe One Shot Productions Brian Larsen and James Reinhart Robertson Fruit & Nut Rejean Bourdages and Tony Maki
Notes
Short series Cars Toons
Cars Toons is an American animated short series based on the Cars franchise, featuring Lightning McQueen, Mater, and other characters in comedic adventures. Larry the Cable Guy reprises his role as Mater, while Keith Ferguson voices Lightning McQueen until Owen Wilson returns in “The Radiator Springs 500 ½”. The series premiered on October 27, 2008, with “Rescue Squad Mater” and aired on Disney Channel, Toon Disney, and ABC Family. The shorts were also released on home media and in theaters. The series concluded on May 20, 2014.
Mater's Tall Tales Title Year Director(s) Premiered Rescue Squad Mater 2008 John Lasseter Toon DisneyMater the GreaterEl MaterdorTokyo Mater Theatrical with BoltUnidentified Flying Mater 2009 Disney ChannelMonster Truck Mater 2010Heavy Metal MaterMoon Mater Robert Gibbs DVD + Blu-ray with Mater's Tall TalesMater Private EyeAir Mater 2011 DVD + Blu-ray with Cars 2 Time Travel Mater 2012 Disney Channel
Tales from Radiator Springs Title Year Director(s) PremieredHiccups 2013 Jeremy Lasky Disney ChannelBuggedSpinningThe Radiator Springs 500½ 2014 Robert Gibbs Disney Movies Anywhere
Toy Story Toons
Title Year Director(s) Premiered Hawaiian Vacation 2011 Gary Rydstrom Theatrical with Cars 2 Small Fry Angus MacLane Theatrical with The Muppets Partysaurus Rex 2012 Mark Walsh Theatrical with Finding Nemo 3D
Forky Asks a Question
Title Year(s) Director(s) Premiered What Is Money? 2019 Bob Peterson Disney+ What Is a Friend? What Is Art? What Is Time? What Is Love? What Is a Computer? What Is a Leader? What Is a Pet? What Is Cheese? 2020 What Is Reading?
Dug Days
Title Year(s) Director(s) Premiered Squirrel! 2021 Bob Peterson Disney+ Puppies Flowers Smell ScienceCarl's Date2023Theatrical with Elemental
Cars on the Road
Title Year(s) Director(s) Premiered Dino Park 2022 Steve Purcell Disney+ Lights Out Salt Fever Brian Fee The Legend Show Time Bobby Podesta Trucks B-Movie Brian Fee Road Rumblers Steve Purcell Gettin' Hitched Bobby Podesta
Compilations Compilation title Release date Format Tiny Toy Stories October 29, 1996 VHS Pixar Short Films Collection, Volume 1 November 6, 2007 DVD, Blu-ray, Digital download Cars Toons: Mater's Tall Tales November 2, 2010 Pixar Short Films Collection, Volume 2 November 13, 2012 Toy Story of Terror!/Toy Story Toons August 19, 2014 DVD, Blu-ray Cars Toons: Bonus Disc 2013 DVD The Radiator Springs 500½ 2014 DVD Pixar Short Films Collection, Volume 3 November 13, 2018 DVD, Blu-ray, Digital download
Other work
Pixar made a series of shorts featuring Luxo Jr. for Sesame Street, which were Light & Heavy, Surprise, Up and Down, and Front and Back. Pixar also produced numerous animation tests, commonly confused with theatrical shorts, including Beach Chair and Flags and Waves. They also produced several commercials after selling their software division to support themselves until Toy Story became successful. Pixar continues to produce commercials related to their films.
Furthermore, in 1988, Apple's Advanced Technology Group produced "Pencil Test," a computer-animated short to showcase the Apple Macintosh II line. Although Pixar was not officially affiliated with this film, several members of the Pixar staff advised and worked on it, including directors John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, and producer Galyn Susman. John Lasseter was credited as "Coach" in the credits of the film.Apple - Pencil Test (1988) (LaserDisc 1080p rip) - YouTube
Some of their other work includes:
Animation tests Title Year Blowin' in the Wind 1985 Beach Chair 1986 Flags and Waves Volume Visualization with the Pixar Image Computer 1987Luxo Jr. 3D1989
Commercials