Complete Guide to Pixar on Disney Plus [Movies, Shorts, Shows]

In this post, we provide a guide to every piece of Pixar content on Disney Plus, the Disney streaming service that debuted in 2019. We cover all the Pixar content that’s currently on Disney Plus, starting with the feature films before explaining all your options for shorts, from originals to SparkShorts to those tied to the film franchises.

The Latest Updates

Luca is now on Disney Plus!

Pixar Movies on Disney Plus

Since Disney acquired Pixar Animation Studios in 2006, Pixar has been a key component of the Disney family, and their films have upheld the standard of animation excellence long championed by Disney. As such, the Pixar animated films and franchises—like Toy Story, Cars, and Finding Nemo—are a big draw for Disney Plus.

Are all the Pixar Movies on Disney Plus?

Yes, all of the currently-released Pixar films are currently on Disney Plus.

Here is a list (in production order) of all the Pixar films on or coming to Disney Plus:

Toy Story
A Bug's Life
Toy Story 2
Monsters, Inc.
Finding Nemo
The Incredibles
Cars
Ratatouille
WALL-E
Up
Toy Story 3
Cars 2
Brave
Monsters University
Inside Out
The Good Dinosaur
Finding Dory
Cars 3
Coco
Incredibles 2
Toy Story 4
Onward
Soul
Luca

What Order Should I Watch Pixar Movies On Disney Plus?

We think the production order—given above—is the best order to watch the Pixar movies. The alternative is to group them by franchise and watch them in order within the franchises (start with Toy Story 1-4, then A Bug’s Life, then Monsters, Inc. and University, etc.) but the stories aren’t so complex that you need to watch them back to back.

Instead, it’s nice to watch the technology and storytelling progress. And it’s nice to space out the movies and tv shows / shorts so your favorite characters aren’t gone in a flash.

Pixar Shorts on Disney Plus

In our guides to Marvel and Star Wars, we didn’t give much attention to the shorts. That’s simply because the shorts under those brands are mostly supplemental to the main stories. Still good and worth watching, but usually not standalone products.

The Pixar shorts fall into two groups. Some are related to the feature length films. These usually feature characters from the movies either engaging in some fun side stories.

But many of the Pixar shorts are standalone short films. These aren’t connected to any of the feature length films and have their own unique stories. Most of these were released to play before Pixar films (which is now the standard practice).

Pixar Franchise-Connected Shorts

Look, these are all good / fun shorts, and I’m starting with the franchise-connected shorts because those of you here mainly for the above movie list will also be interested in this list. But we definitely think the Pixar Original Shorts and SparkShorts are better short films, and you should watch those too.

The list is sorted alphabetically by the film series the short films are based on, and then by production year when a feature film has multiple short films attached. As far as we can tell, all the Pixar short films tied to film franchises are on Disney Plus.

Brave

The Legend of Mor’du (2012)

Cars

Mater and the Ghostlight (2006)
Miss Fritter’s Racing Skoool (2017)
See Also “Cars Toons” Below

Finding Nemo

Marine Life Interviews (2016)

Incredibles

Jack-Jack Attack (2005)
Auntie Edna (2018)

Inside Out

Riley’s First Date? (2015)

Monsters, Inc.

Mike’s New Car (2002)
Party Central (2013)

Ratatouille

Your Friend the Rat (2007)

Soul

22 vs. Earth (2021)

Up

Dug’s Special Mission (2009)
George and A.J. (2009)

Toy Story

Lamp Life (2020)
See Also “Toy Story Toons” below
See Also “Forky Asks A Question” in “Shows”

WALL-E

BURN-E (2008)

Cars Toons consists of 15 short films—eleven “Mater’s Tall Tales” films (between Cars and Cars 2) and four “Tales from Radiator Springs” films (after Cars 2). All Cars Toons episodes are on Disney Plus.

Toy Story Toons consists of three short films—Hawaiian Vacation, Small Fry, and Partysaurus Rex—starring the Toy Story Characters and set between Toy Story 3 and Toy Story 4. All Toy Story Toons episodes are on Disney Plus.

Pixar Original Shorts on Disney Plus

The Pixar Original Shorts are the short films that stand on their own with no connection to the feature length films, minus a minor cameo here or there. If you’re looking for the best Pixar shorts on Disney Plus, I’ve bolded the ones that won Academy Awards for Best Animated Short Film, but truly all of these are worth the short time they take to watch.

We recommend watching them in production order, mostly so that you can see and appreciate the technological progress. I’d hate for you to start with some 2010s films and then be distracted by old technology of the 1980s films. Through Bao, all Pixar Original Shorts are on Disney Plus.

The Adventures of Andre and Wally B. (1984)
Luxo Jr. (1986)
Red’s Dream (1987)
Tin Toy (1988)
Knick Knack (1989) (re-released in 2003)
Geri’s Game (1997) (character has minor appearance in Toy Story 2)
For the Birds (2000)
Boundin’ (2003)
One Man Band (2005)
Lifted (2006)
Presto (2008)
Partly Cloudy (2009)
Day & Night (2010)
La Luna (2011)
The Blue Umbrella (2013)
Lava (2014)
Sanjay's Super Team (2015)
Piper (2016)
Lou (2017)
Bao (2018)

SparkShorts

The SparkShorts are similar to the Pixar Original Shorts in that they are standalone shorts, but the production process is different. For the SparkShorts, animators are given six months and a limited budget to create an independent short film based on their personal experiences. As a result, the styles, themes, and stories are quite different from the other Pixar shorts.

Going forward, it’s expected the SparkShorts will be Disney Plus exclusives, or at least debut on that platform, and all SparkShorts are now on Disney Plus. You can watch them in any order, but the production order, given below, seems the most natural.

Purl (2019)
Smash & Grab (2019)
Kitbull (2019)
Float (2019)
Wind (2019)
Loop (2020)
Out (2020)
Burrow (2020)

Pixar Shows On Disney Plus

There are two series on Disney Plus we haven’t discussed yet, both of which are collections of short episodes a few minutes long. Note that Toy Story Toons and Cars Toons are discussed above in “Pixar Franchise-Connected Shorts.”

Forky Asks a Question

Forky Asks a Question is a series of 3ish-minute short films featuring Forky, a new Toy Story Character introduced in Toy Story 4. The films are mostly less serious than their heavy titles (“What is Art?” “What is Love?”) might suggest. Forky Asks a Question is exclusive to Disney Plus.

On Disney Plus, the ten episodes of season one have been released as individual short films, so to find them all just search for “Forky.”

Pixar In Real Life

Pixar In Real Life is a cute concept where Pixar scenes / characters are recreated in the real world to surprise real people around New York City. There are five live action episodes, each a few minutes long, and they’re all worth watching at least for a chuckle.