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List of Pixar shorts facts for kids

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This is a list of animated short films produced by Pixar Animation Studios.

Beginning with Pixar's second 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 not 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 was the first film not to have a theatrical short before it. Coco and Onward had theatrical shorts from other subsidiaries related to Disney. Luca, Turning Red and Lightyear had no theatrical shorts before them. Elemental was the first film, released theatrically in the United States, to have a Pixar-produced short infront of it since Incredibles 2.

Shorts

Original 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. 1984 Alvy Ray Smith
Luxo Jr. 1986 John Lasseter Toy Story 2 Nominated
Red's Dream 1987
Tin Toy 1988 Toy Story Won
Knick Knack 1989 Finding Nemo
Geri's Game 1997 Jan Pinkava A Bug's Life Won
For the Birds 2000 Ralph Eggleston Monsters, Inc. (first release)
Luca (second release)
Monsters, Inc.
Boundin' 2003 Bud Luckey The Incredibles Nominated
One Man Band 2006 Andrew Jimenez and Mark Andrews Cars
Lifted 2007 Gary Rydstrom Ratatouille
Presto 2008 Doug Sweetland WALL-E
Partly Cloudy 2009 Peter Sohn Up Shortlisted
Day & Night 2010 Teddy Newton Toy Story 3 Nominated
La Luna 2011 Enrico Casarosa Brave
The Blue Umbrella 2013 Saschka Unseld Monsters University
Lava 2014 James Ford Murphy Inside Out
Sanjay's Super Team 2015 Sanjay Patel The Good Dinosaur Nominated
Piper 2016 Alan Barillaro Finding Dory Won
Lou 2017 David Mullins Cars 3 Nominated
Bao 2018 Domee Shi Incredibles 2 Won

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
Smash and Grab Brian Larsen
Kitbull Rosana Sullivan YouTube
Theatrical with Turning Red
Nominated
Float Bobby Alcid Rubio Disney+
Wind Edwin Chang
Loop 2020 Erica Milsom
Out Steven Clay Hunter Shortlisted
Burrow Madeline Sharafian Theatrical with Soul Nominated
Twenty Something 2021 Aphton Corbin Disney+
Nona Louis Gonzales
Self 2024 Searit Kahsay Huluf

Feature-related

Title Year Director(s) Initial release with Associated Feature Film Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film
Theatrical Home/Premiere
Mike's New Car 2002 Pete Docter and Roger Gould Monsters, Inc. Nominated
Exploring the Reef 2003 Roger Gould Finding Nemo
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 Anywhere Monsters University
Riley's First Date? 2015 Josh Cooley 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 McKenna Harris Luca
1 True Love 2022 Bill Presing Turning Red (please move to Associated Feature Film)

Pixar Popcorn

Title Associated Feature Film Year(s) Director(s) Premiere
To Fitness and Beyond Toy Story 4 2021 Adam Rodriguez Disney+
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

Short series

Cars Toons

Mater's Tall Tales

Title Year Director(s) Premiered
Rescue Squad Mater 2008 John Lasseter Toon Disney
Mater the Greater
El Materdor
Tokyo Mater Theatrical with Bolt
Unidentified Flying Mater 2009 Disney Channel
Monster Truck Mater 2010
Heavy Metal Mater
Moon Mater Robert Gibbs DVD + Blu-ray with Mater's Tall Tales
Mater Private Eye
Air Mater 2011 DVD + Blu-ray with Cars 2
Time Travel Mater 2012 Disney Channel

Tales from Radiator Springs

Title Year Director(s) Premiered
Hiccups 2013 Jeremy Lasky Disney Channel
Bugged
Spinning
The 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
Science
Carl's Date 2023 Theatrical 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.

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 1987

Commercials

Title Year Commissioned for
Dance of the Waterlilies 1989 Toppan Printing
Wake Up Tropicana
Babies 1990 Life Savers
Galaxy Toppan Printing
Dancing Cards California Lottery
Quite a Package Trident
La Nouvelle Polo Volkswagen
Pump Pillsbury
Boxer Listerine
Light & Heavy and Surprise 1991 Sesame Street
Cracks Fleischmann's
Moving Target Cellular One
Gummie Savers Conga-Clio-award winner Life Savers
Life At The Beach
Orange Kiwi Passion Tropicana
Warehouse
Three Fruits Dancing
Grand Opening Toys "R" Us
Lunchbox Tetra Pak
Knight Listerine
Introduction Apple Mac Classic
Interview 1992 Volkswagen Polo
Swinging Bottle Listerine
Daydream Tetra Pak
Balloon Kellogg's All-Bran
Hourglass
Chomp Chomp IncrediBites
Ladybug La Poste
In the Mood Bunn Coffee Makers
Cello 1993 Kellogg's All-Bran
Sprinkler
Up and Down Sesame Street
Hungry Bank South
Chase
Stranded Tetra Pak
Bursting Carefree
Chuckling Straws Fresca
Launching Magic Jordan Magic Toothbrush
Ideas at Work Dow Corning
Arrows-Clio-award winner 1994 Listerine
Mission
Kaleidoscope Coca-Cola
About to Uncover Arm & Hammer
Here, There and Everywhere
Woman Getting What She Wants Levi's
We've Got Taste Nutri Grain
Wacky Frootz-Clio-award winner Life Savers
Fresh Salad Boston Chicken
Shaping Up Nicely Prime Option Credit Card
Strong Option
Front and Back Sesame Street
Balloon 1995 Chips Ahoy
Circus
Flamingo Ortho
Pinheads Dockers
Amazin' Straws Hershey's
Learning Lesson Coca-Cola
Secret Weapon
Pin Box
Toy Story video game commercial Disney Interactive
Art Store Break McDonald's
Christmas Conga Tower Records
Magic Desktop 1996 Sun Microsystems
Magnets-Clio-award winner Hallmark
Check Me Out Twizzlers
Let Me In
68th Academy Awards (Toy Story segment) Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
The Tastetations Hershey's
Toy Story CD-Rom – "Out of the Box" Disney Interactive
Wild Frijoles Rosarita
Shake It Levi's
Toy Story Treats ABC
Look Away 1997 Nickelodeon & UNICEF
A Bug's Life – "Belt Loop 1" 1998 McDonald's
A Bug's Life – "Belt Loop 2"
A Bug's Life – "Big Toys"
A Bug's Life – "Nothing Good on TV"
A Bug's Life – "Nothing Good on TV Jr."
A Bug's Life – "Ponkickies" 1999 Fuji Television
71st Academy Awards (A Bug's Life segment) Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Toy Story 2 – "Up Periscope" McDonald's
Toy Story 2 – "Remote"
Toy Story 2 – "Toys vs. Candy"
Toy Story 2 – "Surveillance"
Toy Story 2 Bumpers ABC
Toy Story 2 Monday Night Football
Toy Story 2 – "Ponkickies" Fuji Television
72nd Academy Awards (Toy Story 2 segment) 2000 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Jessie's Acceptance Speech Cowgirl Hall of Fame
SIGGRAPH 2001 Opening Video (Buzz Lightyear sequence) 2001 SIGGRAPH
Monsters, Inc. Bumpers ABC
Monsters, Inc. Monday Night Football
Monsters, Inc. — "Happy Meal Toy" McDonald's
Monsters, Inc. — "Ponkickies" Fuji Television
Buzz Blasts 2002 Kellogg's
Disney Cereal — "CDs" (Buzz Lightyear sequence)
Finding Nemo — "Ponkickies" 2003 Fuji Television
Finding Nemo — "Schoolfish" ABC
Finding Nemo — "Laugh" McDonald's
The Incredibles — "Happy Meal Toys" 2004
The Incredibles — "SBC YAHOO!" Yahoo!
Vowellett – An Essay by Sarah Vowell 2005 The Incredibles two-disc collector's edition DVD set
Cars — "Happy Meal Toys" 2006 McDonald's
Cars — "State Farm" State Farm
Cars — "Walmart" Walmart
Cars — "Hertz" Hertz
Cars — "Opel Promotion 1" Opel
Cars — "Opel Promotion 2"
Cars — "AT&T Yahoo Broadband" AT&T
Cars — "Energizer" Energizer
Wal-Mart Exclusive Cars DVD 2-pack Advertisement Wal-Mart
Ratatouille — "Nissan Note" 2007 Nissan
Up — "Aflac" 2009 Aflac
Toy Story 3 2010 USPS
Toy Story 3 — "Target" Target
Toy Story 3 — "Visa" Visa
Toy Story 3 — "Aflac" Aflac
Toy Story's Search Story Google
Toy Story The Third Dimension Dolby
Cars 2 — "Mom on a Mission" 2011 Target
Cars 2 — "State Farm" State Farm
Cars 2 — "V12 TV" V12 TV
Cars 2 — "RTS" Russian Traffic Safety
Cars 2 — "Profil Plus" / "Answer Seguros" Profil Plus
Publicité Oscaro Cars 2 pour l'émission Tout le sport Oscaro
Oscaro.com , partenaire de la saga Cars Oscaro
Mater Sheds Some Lights at Cars Land 2012 Cars Land
Cars Land Opening Day
Mater Bells
Monsters University — "Mess" 2013 Swiffer
Toy Story of Terror! — "Sky" Sky UK
Toy Story That Time Forgot — "Sky" 2014
Inside Out — "Clorox" 2015 Clorox
Inside Out — "State Farm" State Farm
Inside Out — "Sky" Sky UK
Inside Out — "Lunch" Subway
88th Academy Awards (Woody and Buzz segment) 2016 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Finding Dory — "Coppertone" Coppertone
Finding Dory — "Hide and Seek" Band-Aid
Finding Dory — "Kellogg's" Kellogg's
Cars 3 — "Alamo Promo Ad" 2017 Alamo Rent a Car
Cars 3 — "Broken Part" Allianz
Cars 3 — "Die neue Allianz Autoversicherung" Allianz
Cars 3 — "Every Car Has a Personality" Autotrader.com
Cars 3 — "Sun Protection" Coppertone
Cars 3 — "Duracell Breaking News" Duracell
Cars 3 x Oscaro Oscaro
Incredibles 2 — "Sky" 2018 Sky UK
Incredibles 2 — "Happy Meal" McDonald's
Toy Story 4 — "Happy Meal" 2019
Toy Story 4 — "Dance Party" Chrysler Pacifica
Toy Story 4 — "Snack Attack" Babybel
Toy Story 4 Seiban
Toy Story 4 2
Toy Story 4 — "Make Joy Happen" JD.com
Toy Story 4 AR Regal Cinemas
Pixar: 30 Years of Art & Animation Vivid Sydney
Halloween Time at the Disneyland Resort Disneyland Resort
Onward — "Happy Meal" 2020 McDonald's
Onward Whirlpool Corporation
Soul Allianz
Soul — "Happy Meal" McDonald's
Luca — "Happy Meal" 2021
Lightyear — "Happy Meal" 2022
Elemental — "Happy Meal" 2023

The Pixar Co-op Program, a part of the Pixar University professional development program, allows their animators to use Pixar resources to produce independent films.

Some of their Co-op work includes:

Co-op Program

Title Year Director(s) Premiered
The Dam Keeper 2014 Robert Kondo and Daisuke Tsutsumi 64th Berlin International Film Festival
Borrowed Time 2016 Andrew Coats and Lou Hamou-Lhadj Austin Film Festival
Weekends 2017 Trevor Jimenez Warsaw International Film Festival
Automaton 2020 Krzysztof Rost SIGGRAPH
Pete 2022 Brett Parker Tribeca Film Festival
Starling 2023 Mitra Shahidi Tribeca Film Festival

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Anexo:Cortometrajes de Pixar para niños

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