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Pixar Movies Ranked Worst To Best

Pixar is by far my favorite movie studio. I don’t think any movie studio comes close to matching Pixar.

The movies they make are original, imaginative, iconic, funny, heart-warming, emotional, and some can even teach valuable life lessons.

But, which ones are the best? We’ll discuss that here as we rank every Pixar movie from worst to best.

Spoilers ahead!

22. Cars 2

This is one of two Pixar movies that I actively dislike. Usually, the worst Pixar movies range around a 5/10, but this one – well, I can’t exactly come up with anything I liked in this movie.

I don’t remember much of what happened. I couldn’t even tell you what the main plot is.

This movie is just… weird. You go from the first Cars, a slow-paced, quiet movie about racing and reflections on life to this sequel where there’s a high-speed bombastic action sequence every five minutes.

A lot of the jokes fall flat too. I don’t remember any good jokes in the movie.

Definitely the worst Pixar movie has ever made.

21. The Good Dinosaur

This movie is painfully unoriginal. I feel as though I’d seen every story beat in some other movie before. It, therefore, makes the film pretty boring to watch as you can always predict what’s going to happen next.

The tone is very bizarre too. The first fifteen minutes make the movie out to be a cute little dinosaur movie, then about thirty minutes later a pterodactyl bites a critter’s head off. I’m not joking – that’s actually in the movie. A Pixar movie!

One scene that does work though is that one where Arlo and Spot tell each other that they lost their families. It’s a touching scene that feels very “Pixar.”

20. Finding Dory

Finding Dory is much better than The Good Dinosaur and Cars 2, but to be honest, I think it’s pretty mediocre.

Dory is a passive character. A lot of the time, she gets things or escapes danger merely by chance. In the end, she finds her parents by coincidence, not because she figured out where they were by herself.

I don’t particularly remember many of the characters either. They didn’t make much of an impression on me.

Also, why did Finding Nemo need a sequel? I never thought the story needed to continue.

Still, there is a lot of good stuff in this movie. It’s funny, the aquarium setting is nice, and the animation is amazing.

19. A Bug’s Life

Like The Good Dinosaur, this movie isn’t very original. A lot of the characters aren’t that interesting.

However, I do really love the Circus Bugs. They’re all really funny and have distinct personalities.

My favorite part is when the Circus Bugs discover that they weren’t hired to perform a show, but instead, fight off an army of tyrannical grasshoppers. Their reactions are absolutely hilarious.

I also enjoy stories where people stand up to bullies, so I like it when the ants finally push back against the grasshoppers in the end.

18. Toy Story 3

It was an ingenious idea having the story be centered around the toys figuring out what to do once Andy leaves for college.

I don’t like this movie as much as many others do though. For me, it goes a little too dark in some places for a Toy Story movie. It’s much more serious than the other movies and there isn’t as much comedy as the others.

I watch the other Toy Story movies mainly because they’re really funny and I like that they have a light-hearted tone. This one is a bit too intense for me sometimes. I mean, for goodness sake, there’s a point where you think they’re going to be incinerated!

I’m not saying Pixar movies can’t be dark or intense, it’s just I don’t think the Toy Story movies should crank up the intensity as they did here.

Despite my complaints, I do like it. The ending is pitch-perfect. It’s the perfect way to end the series – oh wait…

17. Monsters University

I think the movie is below-average for the first two-thirds, but then it really picks up at the end.

I really like the message about how you don’t have to go to college to accomplish your dreams. I think it’s an important one for people to learn.

Something else I like about the ending is that Mike never actually manages to become a good scarer, no matter how hard he tries.

If this were a more conventional movie they would have had a happier ending where Mike does become a good scarer. Instead, they went for a bitter-sweet ending where Mike doesn’t exactly get what he wants, which is a pretty big risk for the storytellers to take.

16. Brave

It’s fine. I wouldn’t say there is anything particularly bad in it, I just think it’s forgettable. I saw this movie again about four or five months ago and I’m honestly struggling to remember what happened in it.

It didn’t do much for me emotionally and I wasn’t really invested in the story.

I did like Billy Connolly as the Dad though. He was great.

15. Cars

There’s not much to say about this one. I just think it’s okay.

The best part of the movie is when Lightning McQueen helps The King finish his last race. It’s a nice moment. I also liked the scene after Mater drives backward then tells Lightning that he is his best friend.

There are a few little nice scenes like those in this movie. It’s an okay movie.

14. Cars 3

Much, much better than Cars 2. It actually feels like a sequel to the first Cars movie since it is about racing.

This movie has the best story out of the entire trilogy. It’s interesting to see Lightning try and cope with the fact that he’s getting older and that he can’t win any more races.

It’s a good story about trying to move on and finding a new purpose in life.

13. Incredibles 2

I love all the scenes in the house where Mr. Incredible is trying to take care of his kids. They’re hilarious, especially the parts with Jack-Jack.

My favorite part might be the showdown between Jack-Jack and the raccoon. The raccoon’s reaction when Jack-Jack sets himself on fire gets a laugh out of me every time I watch it.

The action is really good too. The bike chase with Elastigirl was amazing!

The part that drags it down for me though is Elastigirl’s storyline. You can see the twist coming about a mile away, and sometimes I feel it’s a bit too cliche.

Overall though, it’s a good sequel.

12. Toy Story 4

I think this movie surprised everyone. Nobody thought making a sequel to Toy Story 3 was a good idea since it had such a perfect ending.

This movie had me hooked by the opening scene though when Woody says goodbye to Bo-Peep. That scene goes down as one of my favorite scenes in any of the Pixar movies.

The ending was very good too. I liked how you end up siding with the villain at the end, which is something you rarely see in movies.

However, a lot of the movie is a little boring, especially in the scenes where they try to rescue Forky. I also thought Buzz’s subplot was a bit silly. I assumed he listened to the voice inside his head in the other movies, so why is it now that he needs guidance?

Other than that, it’s a really good movie!

11. Wall-E

Now we’re getting to the really good stuff!

Wall-E is absolutely fantastic. It’s hard to pick any issues with the movie.

It’s impressive how much expression these robots can convey even though they have no mouths.

It’s amazing that the first third of the movie has little to no dialogue. It’s also amazing that the filmmakers managed to create one of the best movie romances of all time, and that romance is between two robots.

10. Onward

Pixar’s newest release is one of its best, and the good news is now you can watch it on Disney Plus!

There are a few problems here and there, but it makes up for by having an amazing set of characters and a really engaging story.

Probably my favorite scene was when the main character thought he was about to go into a dark, dangerous tavern where in actual fact it was a family-friendly restaurant.

I also really liked the bridge scene. The part where the main character’s brother let go of the room was both hilarious and extremely tense at the same time.

The ending was absolutely fantastic. I loved the fact that the main character sacrifices seeing his father one last time so his brother could see him instead.

9. Inside Out

This movie is so clever! I really like the way in which they represent the mind of a child.

The best part is when those workers keep sending that chewing gum commercial song up into Riley’s head. I laughed so much the first time I saw that.

This movie was also Pixar bouncing back from some of the weaker movies they’d been making. Before this movie was Cars 2, Brave, and Monsters University, so it was nice to see that Pixar was back to releasing 10/10 movies again.

8. Ratatouille

Another movie that has few flaws with it.

I love the idea of a little rat under chef’s toque who’s actually doing all of the cooking.

This movie is absolutely hilarious too. My favorite joke is when Linguini accidentally knocks Remy into the river.

It also has my favorite Pixar villain, Anton Ego. I love his journey from snobby critic to humble food lover. His speech at the end always gives me chills.

7. Monsters Inc.

Who doesn’t love this movie? Pretty much everything about this movie is good.

I love the premise of the movie of how children are actually telling the truth when they say there is a monster in their closet.

The door chase at the end is so much fun. It’s such a perfect finale to the film.

Then, of course, there’s the emotional highlight of the film: Sulley saying goodbye to Boo. Still brings tears to my eyes…

6. Toy Story 2

I have seen this movie about a thousand times and I’m still not tired of it. In my opinion, it’s pretty much perfect.

I really like where they took the story in this sequel. Woody’s dilemma of whether to go back to Andy or to the museum is very compelling and it’s interesting to see him dealing with the fact that Andy will eventually grow up and not want to play with him anymore.

Jessie’s backstory still stands as one of the most emotional scenes out of all the Pixar films. It’s why I still keep my toys. Anytime I think about giving my stuffed-animals away, I hear the lyrics of “When Somebody Loved Me” in my head, then start to feel like an absolute monster.

5. Coco

Out of all the Pixar movies, this has the best cinematography by far. My jaw dropped the first time I saw the shot in the picture above. It was one of the most beautiful things I’d ever seen!

The music is really nice too. I love “Remember Me.”

It’s interesting that while this movie does use a lot of cliches, it still manages to stand as one of the best Pixar movies released.

I couldn’t tell you exactly why it works. If I see these cliches being used in a different movie I roll my eyes and think “oh, here we go again!” It somehow works in this movie though.

I think much of it has to do with the cinematography and the music. Those two elements are so outstanding, and perhaps they just make up for the fact that this movie is a little cliche.

4. The Incredibles

This movie is absolutely fantastic (I had to restrain myself from saying “incredible”).

It has my favorite movie character: Edna Mode. Everything she says is funny. She’s so quotable.

It’s hard to pick what my favorite scene is. It might be the chase sequence where Dash is running through the jungle. I loved it when he giggled when he discovered he could run on water. Watching that scene is like riding a roller-coaster – I love it!

Or my favorite scene might be when Frozone is looking for his super-suit. “I’m the greatest good you’re ever gonna get!”

3. Finding Nemo

I love every second of this movie. It’s perfect.

I really like Marlin’s journey and how he learns to become a better father as the story progresses.

The characters are all amazing. Dory is another one of my favorite movie characters.

No matter what age, you’ll enjoy this movie!

2. Toy Story

This movie came out over twenty years ago, and still it holds up as one of the best animated movies of all time.

Something that’s impressive about this movie is that even though Woody commits some questionable acts, he still manages to be likable. He could have easily come across as annoying and immature given how jealous he is throughout the movie, and yet, somehow you still like him.

The comedy in this movie is on point. I love Woody’s outbursts at Buzz – they’re absolutely hilarious.

I do like the way Woody and Buzz’s relationship develops as the movie goes on.

In the final chase, they each have the opportunity to leave the other behind and catch up to the truck, but each sacrifice that opportunity to help the other get on the truck. Woody runs back to Buzz to help him when he’s caught in the fence, then Buzz jumps on the dog before it eats Woody. All this shows how much their friendship has developed over the course of the movie.

1. Up

Something I like about Pixar is they’re not afraid to go into more adult themes. Grief and moving on from tragedy are both pretty heavy themes for a family movie, but they took that risk anyway and created one of the best-animated movies of all time.

I like the lesson in this movie because it applies to both adults and kids. We all sometimes have a hard time letting go of the past and moving on, so it’s a message that applies to everyone, no matter what age you are.

This probably has the best soundtrack out of all the movies too. I love the music that plays when Carl takes off in the house.

This might be the funniest Pixar movie as well. Giving the dogs those voice collars was ingenious.

It’s funny, suspenseful, emotional, and heart-felt – what more could you ask for in a movie?

How would you rank all the Pixar movies? Which ones do you think are the best?

All photos belong to Pixar Studios.