Tier List

Pixar Movies Tier List: All 31 Films Ranked (2026)

Q: How many Pixar movies are there?

As of July 2026, Pixar has released 31 feature-length films, starting with Toy Story in 1995 and most recently Toy Story 5 on June 19, 2026. That count includes the three Disney+ original features (Soul, Luca, Turning Red) but excludes shorts and the SparkShorts program. The next release is Gatto, scheduled for March 5, 2027.

Q: What is the newest Pixar movie?

Toy Story 5, released June 19, 2026 and directed by Andrew Stanton. It is the second Pixar film of 2026, after Hoppers on March 6.

Q: What's the best Pixar movie of all time?

The most common picks are Toy Story 3 (2010), WALL-E (2008), and Up (2009), the "late-2000s Pixar peak." Critics often add Ratatouille and Inside Out to the same tier. Your specific #1 usually depends on which one you saw at the most emotionally vulnerable age.

Q: What's the worst Pixar movie?

Cars 2 is the consensus pick, the only Pixar film with a "rotten" Rotten Tomatoes score. Cars 3 and The Good Dinosaur typically round out the bottom three.

All 31 Pixar feature films ranked from S-tier to D-tier, from Toy Story in 1995 to Toy Story 5 in June 2026. Then build your own Pixar tier list with head-to-head comparisons.

The Complete Pixar Tier List

Pixar has released 31 feature films as of July 2026, and this tier list ranks every one of them from S-tier to D-tier. That includes the studio's two 2026 releases, Hoppers (March 6) and Toy Story 5 (June 19), which most Pixar rankings still have not added. Toy Story 3, WALL-E and Up take the top tier; Cars 2 takes the bottom.

Thirty years, thirty-one films, more tears than any animation studio has earned. Pixar's catalog is the most consistently great filmography in modern Hollywood, which makes ranking it unusually hard. Build your own definitive Pixar ranking in Shortlist.

Toy Story

(1995)

The film that started it all. Still flawless thirty years later.

Toy Story 3

(2010)

The incinerator scene. The ending. A genuine masterpiece about letting go.

WALL-E

(2008)

Forty silent minutes that say more than most films do in two hours.

Up

(2009)

The first ten minutes. Everyone has cried at least twice.

Ratatouille

(2007)

Brad Bird's warmest film. The Anton Ego review monologue is cinema.

Inside Out

(2015)

The most ambitious idea Pixar ever attempted, and it worked perfectly.

The Incredibles

(2004)

The best superhero movie ever made. Yes, really.

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Finding Nemo

(2003)

A dad's odyssey across the ocean. Visually stunning, emotionally massive.

Monsters, Inc.

(2001)

The door chase scene is a masterclass in animation.

Coco

(2017)

A dazzling visual feast. "Remember Me" lands every time.

Toy Story 2

(1999)

When the sequel was as good as the original. Jessie's song is devastating.

Soul

(2020)

A jazz-fueled meditation on purpose. Beautifully scored by Reznor and Ross.

Inside Out 2

(2024)

Anxiety as a character. Smart, funny, surprisingly moving.

Toy Story 5

(2026)

The best Toy Story since 3, and the rare fifth film nobody has to apologize for. Jessie carries it.

Hoppers

(2026)

A college student pilots a robot beaver. Far stranger and far better than that sentence suggests.

A Bug's Life

(1998)

Charming and underrated. Hopper is a great villain.

Brave

(2012)

Stunning Scottish landscapes. Not Pixar's deepest, but a solid hero's journey.

Toy Story 4

(2019)

Didn't need to exist. Forky and the ending mostly justify it.

Monsters University

(2013)

A fun college movie. Less essential than the original.

Finding Dory

(2016)

Charming sequel. Hank the septopus is the breakout star.

Luca

(2021)

A small, gentle Italian summer. Lovely and underrated.

Turning Red

(2022)

Specific, hilarious, and emotionally honest. Very online.

Elio

(2025)

The best-reviewed flop Pixar ever made: 83% from critics, and the lowest opening weekend in studio history. The film did not deserve the release it got.

Onward

(2020)

Released right as theaters closed. A solid sibling story.

Cars

(2006)

Slower than most Pixar but the merchandise empire was real.

The Good Dinosaur

(2015)

Beautiful environments, thin story. The forgotten Pixar.

Elemental

(2023)

Visually inventive, narratively ordinary. Slow burn at the box office.

Lightyear

(2022)

A sci-fi spinoff that confused everyone. Decent on its own merits.

Cars 2

(2011)

The first real Pixar misstep. A spy movie nobody asked for.

Cars 3

(2017)

Course-corrected from Cars 2 but still the weakest mainline Pixar.

Incredibles 2

(2018)

Fans waited fourteen years for this. A bigger budget didn't equal a bigger story.

Pixar Movies in Order

Pixar releases films in chronological order: there's no "watch order" debate, just the calendar. The studio's creative arc is roughly: Toy Story through Toy Story 3 (1995-2010) is the golden age; Cars 2 (2011) marks the start of an experimental decade; Inside Out (2015) and Coco (2017) prove the studio still has its peak gear; Inside Out 2 (2024) signals a comeback.

The New Pixar Movies: Elio, Hoppers and Toy Story 5

Three Pixar films have arrived since Inside Out 2, and the story they tell is that critics and box office have stopped agreeing.

Elio (June 20, 2025): 83% on Rotten Tomatoes and a $154 million worldwide gross against a budget reported at $150 million or more. It opened to $20.8 million, the lowest opening weekend of any Pixar film ever. A good movie that almost nobody saw in a theater.
Hoppers (March 6, 2026): an original from We Bare Bears creator Daniel Chong, and at 94% the studio's best-reviewed film in years. A college student transfers her consciousness into a robotic beaver and accidentally starts an animal uprising.
Toy Story 5 (June 19, 2026): Andrew Stanton directing, 93% on Rotten Tomatoes, and a premise with actual teeth: a tablet becomes Bonnie's favorite toy, and the gang has to reckon with a screen they cannot compete with.

Both 2026 films sit in A-tier above. Neither has had the years of rewatching that pushed WALL-E and Up into S-tier, and tier lists should say so rather than pretend a four-week-old film has settled. Rank them yourself and see where they land.

How to Build Your Own Pixar Tier List

You just built one. It took a few taps and no scoring, which is the only way this works for Pixar: every one of these films is a 4 out of 5, so star ratings tell you nothing, and "WALL-E or Inside Out?" tells you everything.

Thirty-one films is too many to hold in your head, so let the app hold them. In Shortlist you add every Pixar film, or filter to the ones you have actually seen, tap through the matchups, and get a full tier list with a share link for the family group chat.

The same head-to-head method works for any franchise or genre. See our movie tier list guide for the full approach.

Two different things get scored around this page. The S to D tiers above are editorial, and S means a film that held up rather than one that reviewed well on opening weekend. The score you see in the app is a different number: it is built from the head-to-head comparisons you make, scaled to 0 to 10, not from critic averages. How Shortlist scores work sets out the whole method.

The Best and Worst Pixar Movies: The Consensus

Pixar's catalog has unusual agreement among critics, fans, and Rotten Tomatoes, even when individual rankings differ.

Consensus best: Toy Story 3, WALL-E, or Up. The trio that defined Pixar's late-2000s peak.
Most acclaimed by critics: Inside Out. 98% on Rotten Tomatoes. The most ambitious film the studio has made.
Most underrated: Ratatouille. Frequently overlooked in "best Pixar" lists, often a top-three pick when fans actually rewatch.
Most divisive: Cars. Either a comfort classic or the studio's weakest era starter.
Consensus worst: Cars 2. The clearest dip in quality the studio ever took.

Should You Include Pixar Sequels in Your Ranking?

Pixar's sequels are an interesting tier list problem. Toy Story 2 and Toy Story 3 are both arguably better than the original. Cars 2 drags down a franchise. Incredibles 2 can't match the original. Inside Out 2 almost does. A complete Pixar ranking includes all of them, including the Cars trilogy, which most fans would rather forget.

What About Pixar Shorts and Disney+ Specials?

Pixar's shorts catalog (Bao, Lava, the SparkShorts program) and Disney+ originals (Soul, Luca, Turning Red) are technically separate from the theatrical features list. We've included the Disney+ titles because they're full feature films, the shorts are a different ranking entirely. You can build that one in Shortlist too.

Pixar Tier List FAQ

How many Pixar movies are there?

As of July 2026, Pixar has released 31 feature-length films, starting with Toy Story in 1995 and most recently Toy Story 5 on June 19, 2026. That count includes the three Disney+ original features (Soul, Luca, Turning Red) but excludes shorts and the SparkShorts program. The next release is Gatto, scheduled for March 5, 2027.

What is the newest Pixar movie?

Toy Story 5, released June 19, 2026 and directed by Andrew Stanton. It is the second Pixar film of 2026, after Hoppers on March 6.

What's the best Pixar movie of all time?

The most common picks are Toy Story 3 (2010), WALL-E (2008), and Up (2009), the "late-2000s Pixar peak." Critics often add Ratatouille and Inside Out to the same tier. Your specific #1 usually depends on which one you saw at the most emotionally vulnerable age.

What's the worst Pixar movie?

Cars 2 is the consensus pick, the only Pixar film with a "rotten" Rotten Tomatoes score. Cars 3 and The Good Dinosaur typically round out the bottom three.

What order should I watch Pixar movies in?

Release order is the only order that matters. Pixar films aren't set in a shared universe (with the exception of the connected Toy Story sequels and a fan theory about the "Pixar Theory"). Watch in release order, or skip directly to the tier you trust most.

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The Reel

One sharp movie newsletter, every Tuesday

What to watch, what to skip, and where it lands on the rankings. Free, no spam, unsubscribe anytime.

Just want the tier sheet? Download it free, no email needed.

Rank Pixar your way

Download Shortlist and build your own Pixar tier list with head-to-head comparisons. It's free.