List of Pixar shorts

It has been suggested that this article be merged with List of Pixar films and List of Pixar television series to List of Pixar productions. (Discuss) Proposed since September 2024.

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

Beginning with Pixar's first film Toy Story, 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.^[1] 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.^[2]

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.^[3][4]

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.^[5]

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. Lightyear and Inside Out 2 had no theatrical shorts before them. Elemental was the first film, released theatrically in the United States, to have a Pixar-produced short in front of it since Incredibles 2.^[6]

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.

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Pixar made a series of shorts featuring Luxo Jr. for Sesame Street, which were Light & Heavy, Surprise, Up and Down, and Front and Back.^[2] 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.^[36][37] 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.^{[citation needed]} John Lasseter was credited as "Coach" in the credits of the film.^[38]

Some of their other work includes:

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.^[45][46]

Some of their Co-op work includes:

A half-hour television sequel to the short Tin Toy was considered, but Pixar felt convinced they could produce a feature film.^[57] The project later became Toy Story.

In 2013, it was revealed a fourth short of Toy Story Toons was in the works, entitled Mythic Rock.^[58] However, it was never released.

At the 2013 Disney D23 Expo, it was announced that a fifth episode of Cars Toons: Tales from Radiator Springs, entitled To Protect and Serve, was in production.^[59][60] However, it was never released.

Pixar was working on an untitled follow-up series, but it was quietly cancelled.^[61][62][63]

• List of Pixar films
• List of Pixar television series

• Short Films at Pixar