Entertainment
All 10 Pixar Movies of the 2020s, Ranked
Beginning with the premiere of Toy Story in 1995, Pixar has become one of the most beloved and recognized animation companies in the world. They quickly developed a strong identity and loyal fanbase thanks to their willingness to tell more emotionally rich and complex stories, all while pushing the capabilities of 3D animation. The studio was bought out by Disney in 2006, and while they have maintained their identity for the most part, they have also slowly shifted to fit the Mouse House’s more homogenized style.
The 2020s have been the best example of this shift in philosophies. While not every film this decade has been a complete failure, their quality is notably lower than in previous ones, partially because of their experimental nature, and partially because they lack that special magic that made older Pixar so beloved. Here, we’ll rank every Pixar movie of the 2020s, from the truly mediocre ones to those that come close to replicating their golden age throughout the 2000s.
10
‘Lightyear’ (2022)
After accidentally damaging a ship full of colonists, Buzz Lightyear (Chris Evans) volunteers to test a new hyperspace fuel recipe in the hopes of finding one that can bring them back to Star Command. Due to time dilation, every four minutes he spends in space testing the fuel results in four years passing on the planet, so he watches as his friends grow old, and the colonists settle into their new lives. Unwilling to give up the mission, he eventually jumps twenty-two years into the future, where he finds the planet under attack by robots loyal to a being called Zurg (James Brolin).
Lightyear was marketed as the in-universe film that made Andy fall in love with Buzz Lightyear, and from there it’s pretty easy to see how it became one of Pixar’s biggest box-office bombs. Not only is it a confusing way to market a film, but it trades away fun space adventures for a slow, melancholic, and predictable science fiction story that doesn’t even have Tim Allen in the iconic role. If you want to see a fun Buzz Lightyear story to serve as an origin for the character, go watch Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins.
9
‘Toy Story 5’ (2026)
Despite the efforts of Jessie (Joan Cusack) and the other toys in building up their owner Bonnie’s (Scarlett Spears) confidence, she is unable to make friends until her parents get a Lilypad iPad (Greta Lee) so she can connect with other iPad kids. Jessie protests Lily’s methods, since the friends she makes for Bonnie are impersonal, but eventually ends up separated from Bonnie and sent back to the residence of her original owner, Emily. As she tries to find her way back, Woody (Tom Hanks) arrives to help Buzz (Tim Allen) confront Lily, though the two spend just as much time debating who should be Jessie’s deputy.
Toy Story 5 is yet another pointless sequel to a franchise that should have ended two films ago. The commentary on technology’s effects on kids feels five years too late, not to mention hollow, given that Pixar is, itself, a company that has always been about pushing new technologies. Aside from that, most of the legacy characters are sidelined; Woody could have been cut from the movie, and nothing would have been lost, and there is a disconnected subplot of high-tech Buzz Lightyears trying to find Star Command.
8
‘Elio’ (2025)
After the death of his parents, Elio Solís (Yonas Kibreab) is raised by his aunt, Air Force Major Olga (Zoe Saldaña), and becomes obsessed with being abducted by aliens due to his inability to fit in with other kids his age. He gets his wish when, after sending a message into space using military equipment, he is mistaken for a diplomat and brought aboard the Communiverse, a spaceship where various alien diplomats gather to share knowledge with one another. Desperate not to return to Earth, Elio volunteers to negotiate with a powerful warlord named Lord Grigon (Brad Garrett) in exchange for permanent membership, while a clone of him is sent back to his aunt, who quickly realizes something is amiss.
Elio went through a tricky production cycle that saw most of its plot re-tooled and queer themes removed. The result is an incredibly generic film that feels like Lilo & Stitch if we spent the film in space rather than on Earth, but without a unifying visual aesthetic, such as Lilo & Stitch’s use of aquatic life for the aliens. That said, it has a few redeeming qualities, such as Lord Grigon proving to be a well-constructed character with a complex and sympathetic relationship with his son, Glordon (Remy Edgerly).
7
‘Hoppers’ (2026)
Mabel Tanaka (Piper Cura) is a college-age environmentalist who is failing her classes and enduring bodily harm to save her deceased grandmother’s (Karen Huie) favourite glade from being destroyed by Mayor Jerry Generazzo (Jon Hamm). In her quest to find a beaver to bring back to the glade to restore the local ecosystem, she discovers that her biology professor, Dr. Sam Fairfax (Kathy Najimy), has invented hopping technology, allowing humans to upload their consciousness into robot animals to better understand the animal world. Ignoring Dr. Sam’s warnings, Maple steals the beaver robot and meets another beaver named George (Bobby Moynihan), the Mammal King, whom she tries to encourage to help her save the glade.
Hoppers is another recent Pixar film that suffers from a generic art style, story, and characters. Nothing is offensively bad about it, and it does get a few laughs here and there, but when the film is making self-aware jokes that compare it to Avatar, that’s a clear sign that it’s going to be a derivative experience. It also doesn’t help that Swapped, released the same year, has a more creative take on animal body swapping with vastly more interesting creature designs, while 2024’s The Wild Robot presents a much more compelling narrative that keeps the natural world feeling plausible and grounded, rather than highly anthropomorphized.
6
‘Turning Red’ (2022)
Meilin Lee (Rosalie Chiang) is a Chinese-Canadian girl who tends to her family shrine and works to please her strict mother, Ming (Sandra Oh), while also hanging with her friends and fangirling over the boyband 4*Town. One day, after being humiliated by Ming the previous day, Mei wakes up to discover that she has turned into a giant red panda, a curse that’s passed down through her mother’s side. As Ming makes preparations for a ceremony that will seal Mei’s panda in a talisman, Mei and her friends realize they can use it to raise money to go to a 4*Town concert.
Turning Red is one of numerous films that were hit hard by COVID, but in terms of its overall quality, it’s a mixed bag. The animation is full of visual gags and exaggerated faces, and there is a decent story about generational trauma. On the other hand, the comedy and the characters can be rather hit-or-miss, and the climax involves a kaiju-sized red panda and twerking as a strategy to defeat it, which is just confusing.
5
‘Elemental’ (2023)
Ember Lumen (Leah Lewis) is a Fire Elemental living in Elemental City, and is set to inherit the convenient store operated by her traditionalist parents. However, due to one of her fiery outbursts, a pipe bursts in the basement, and Water Elemental inspector Wade Ripple (Mamoudou Athie) is forced to report it to City Hall, which could get the store shut down. They talk to Wade’s Air Elemental boss, who agrees to overlook the burst pipe if they can find the source of a leak that threatens the city, and during the investigation, Ember and Wade fall in love.
Elemental is another mixed bag of a generic film that fares a little better thanks to its creativity and emotional storytelling. The designs of the elementals are fun and vibrant, and the filmmakers get creative in demonstrating how each element can be utilized or combined to make something new. As for the story, it contains many themes and experiences relevant to immigrant families, especially through Ember’s complex relationship with her father.
4
‘Onward’ (2020)
Ian Lightfoot (Tom Holland) is a young elf living with his widowed mother, Laurel (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), and elder brother, Barley (Chris Pratt), in a world where mythical creatures have become mundane and modern. On his sixteenth birthday, Ian receives a magic staff from his deceased father, Wilden (Kyle Bornheimer), and instructions on a spell that can revive him for one day. The spell is interrupted midway, only returning Wilden’s lower body, so the brothers set off on a quest to find the needed component to cast the spell before sundown.
Another film hurt financially by COVID, Onward has a surprising level of heart and creativity put into its story. A world where magical creatures have become mundane and have to learn to rediscover their abilities is not without promise, even if it doesn’t always live up to its potential, and the relationship between the brothers is genuine and emotionally compelling. The climax feels right at home with classic Pixar, hitting you with a mature moral that is just as applicable to older audiences as younger.
3
‘Inside Out 2’ (2024)
Two years after her move to San Francisco, Riley Andersen (Kensington Tallman) is preparing for high school and plans to attend a three-day hockey camp with her friends. Unfortunately for her team of emotions—Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Anger (Lewis Black), Fear (Tony Hale), and Disgust (Liza Lapira)—Riley starts going through puberty, bringing in new emotions—Anxiety (Maya Hawke), Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser), Envy (Ayo Edebiri), and Ennui (Adèle Exarchopoulos). Anxiety takes over the control room and becomes obsessed with helping Riley secure a spot on her future high school hockey team, kicking Joy and the other old emotions out and beginning to construct a new “sense of self” for Riley.
A major box office success, Inside Out 2 follows a plot structure that is more or less the same as the first movie, just with a new team of emotions, and Joy going on an adventure to save Riley with the entire team instead of Sadness. It’s not bad: there are some great visual representations of how anxiety can get you stuck in tunnel vision and spiral into a full-on panic attack, and the new “sense of self” continues the franchise’s emphasis on how the human mind and personality are always changing. It just would have been nice if the story took a few more risks, or if any of the new emotions besides Anxiety had stand-out personalities or more of an impact on the plot.
2
‘Luca’ (2021)
Off the coast of the Italian town of Portorosso lives Luca Paguro (Jacob Tremblay), a young sea-monster who spends his day herding fish and avoiding notice from humans. One day, he meets another young sea monster named Alberto Scorfano (Jack Dylan Grazer), who shows him how to disguise himself as a human and shares his dream of traveling the world on a Vespa. His parents try to stop him, so Luca and Alberto run off to Portorosso and meet a young girl named Giulia Marcovaldo (Emma Berman), who suggests they team up to win the town’s annual triathlon.
Luca has been compared to a Studio Ghibli film in terms of its tone, and that’s a pretty apt comparison. It’s a very down-to-earth and low-stakes film, focusing on a small slice-of-life adventure with relatable characters who go through timeless coming-of-age arcs. The sea monsters themselves are also well utilized, with their status as “the other” giving them plenty of flexibility in terms of what they can represent, from immigrants who must conform to their new surroundings to queer people who hide their true selves.
1
‘Soul’ (2020)
Joe Gardner (Jamie Foxx) is a part-time music teacher and pianist who longs to play jazz professionally. Just as he gets his chance to play with famous singer Dorothea Williams (Angela Bassett), he falls down an open manhole and soon finds his spirit preparing to travel to the Great Beyond. He escapes into the Great Before, where new souls await birth, and meets 22 (Tina Fey), a soul who is disillusioned about the idea of existence but agrees to help Joe get back to his life if he can help her find her “spark.”
Soul is easily Pixar’s most existential film, touching on such heavy concepts as determinism vs predeterminism, the meaning of life, and depression. It’s a film that not only gets you thinking about the nature of existence, but also how the little things in life that we take for granted can sometimes have the greatest impact, not just on ourselves, but on those we interact with. Joe is also the perfect protagonist to explore such themes, as his struggles with trying to balance the pursuit of his dream with managing his day job feel more relatable than ever.
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