History Creator / PIXAR

** ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'': After staying on the top of Andy's mother's van, Buzz Lightyear gets one of the dissin' flies from ''WesternAnimation/ABugsLife'' smashed into his helmet.

Of course, if you think they're not business-minded, keep in mind that except for ''WesternAnimation/TheGoodDinosaur'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Onward}}''[[note]]whose release was severely impacted by the onset of the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic[[/note]] and ''WesternAnimation/{{Lightyear}}'', their theatrically-released films have hardly failed financially. Out of their films, only seven [[note]]''WesternAnimation/ToyStory1'', ''WesternAnimation/ABugsLife'', ''WesternAnimation/Cars2'', ''The Good Dinosaur'', ''Cars 3'', ''Onward'' and ''Lightyear'' [[/note]] never broke the $200 million dollar mark in the US; the studio's four highest-grossing films [[note]]''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3'', ''WesternAnimation/FindingDory'', ''WesternAnimation/Incredibles2'' and ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory4''[[/note]] made over a billion dollars worldwide. [[note]]''Toy Story 3'' became the highest-grossing animated film of all time until ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Minions}}'' exceeded it, as well as the first animated film to earn a billion. Likewise, ''Finding Dory'' became the highest-grossing animated movie at the domestic box office, shattering the record that was set by ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek 2}}'' more than a decade earlier... until the studio beat their own record with ''Incredibles 2''.[[/note]] The average domestic box office take of a Pixar film is around $250 million, and their films have made almost ten billion dollars total in combined domestic and foreign box office take. Also worth noting: every single Pixar film had opened at the #1 spot in the weekend box office [[BrokenWinLossStreak until]] ''WesternAnimation/InsideOut's'' release in 2015. [[note]]Though ''Inside Out'' ended up being Pixar's second-biggest opening weekend behind ''Toy Story 3'', and is currently the second largest opening for an original film in Hollywood; it didn't reach #1 because Comcast [=NBCUniversal=]'s ''Film/JurassicWorld'' opened the previous weekend, but the two films together bulldozed most of their competition. ''The Good Dinosaur'' was less fortunate, and, unlike ''Inside Out'', never made it to #1. As for ''WesternAnimation/{{Lightyear}}'', it suffered the same fate as ''Inside Out'' by being beaten out at the top spot by a ''Jurassic World'' film. Unlike ''Inside Out'', however, the film never climbed back to the top.[[/note]]

** The Pizza Planet truck. The only film of theirs it hasn't appeared in was ''The Incredibles'', although it does appear in the video game adaptation.

** Woody makes a cameo as a clapper loader in the outtakes that play over the credits of ''WesternAnimation/ABugsLife''.

** ''WesternAnimation/{{Elemental}}'': At young Wade's school, several posters can be seen lining the walls, with one reading "Join the Space Club." On the blue poster, a planet with holes and tentacles can be seen, which also appears in {{WesternAnimation/{{Elio}}''.

*** A [[WesternAnimation/PixarShorts DVD bonus short] has WesternAnimation/WallE making a brief cameo as a Mars rover operator. Parodied on WALL•E's website, which shows him hiding in ''every single past Pixar movie''.

* ProductionForeshadowing: Has happened enough times for Pixar movies to be used in the trope's page image. Specifically:

** In ''WesternAnimation/{{Ratatouille}}'', whilst working his way up to the rooftops of Paris, Remy is chased by a dog (seen only in silhouette) bearing a striking resemblance to Dug from ''WesternAnimation/{{Up}}''.
** Also from ''Up'', Carl's cane is seen in ''WesternAnimation/WallE''.
** In a [[WesternAnimation/PixarShorts DVD bonus short]] for ''WesternAnimation/{{Ratatouille}}'', WesternAnimation/WallE makes a brief cameo as a Mars rover operator. Parodied on WALL•E's website, which shows him hiding in ''every single past Pixar movie''.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Up}}'': When Carl's balloon-house goes past a little girl's bedroom, a teddy bear is in the far left corner of the screen. This is Lotso(-Huggin' Bear), who is an important character in ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3''.
** In ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3'', one of the posters in Andy's room features Finn [=McMissile=] from ''WesternAnimation/Cars2''.
** On the same movie, Andy also has a "Newt Crossing" sticker next to his computer; and in ''WesternAnimation/{{Brave}}'', the Witch uses a Newt as an ingredient for her magic potion. ''Newt'' was a Pixar film that was cancelled in development.

** An example of foreshadowing that took quite a while to get payoff (and may be a coincidence): ''Toy Story'' (from 1995) includes [[http://pixar.wikia.com/Dinoco a gas station with the name "Dinoco"]], whose logo is a green Apatosaurus. Not only is Dinoco a company that plays a major role in ''WesternAnimation/Cars1'', but ''WesternAnimation/TheGoodDinosaur'', released in 2015, stars... a green Apatosaurus!
*** In that regard, ''WesternAnimation/MonstersUniversity'' has dinosaur toys strewn about at points (one of them is Arlo), and a dinosaur using a walker appears outside of the OK Dorm.
*** ''WesternAnimation/InsideOut'' also alludes to ''The Good Dinosaur''. If you look closely when Riley thinks about how she and her family stopped by to look at some dinosaur sculptures (and inadvertently damaged their car) on the way to San Francisco, you can see that the two statues that appear are of Forrest Woodbrush and (presumably; his head is not seen) Arlo.

** ''WesternAnimation/Cars3'' has a car who loses his focus on the treadmill because he's nostalgic for his home town, Santa Cecilia. This is the town featured in the next movie, ''WesternAnimation/{{Coco}}'', and an image of Santa Cecilia looks like an image shown in the ''Coco'' trailer attached to ''Cars 3''.
** In ''WesternAnimation/{{Coco}}'', when Miguel and Hector are making their way to the battle of the bands, one can spot a skeletized ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles1'' poster on the side, for ''WesternAnimation/Incredibles2''.

* ''Finding Nemo'':

** Parental/child relationships, or allegories thereof, are easily the most common narrative theme in their films, the most obvious ones being the ''Franchise/ToyStory'' series, ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc'', ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'', ''Franchise/TheIncredibles'' franchise, ''WesternAnimation/{{Brave}}'', ''WesternAnimation/InsideOut'', ''WesternAnimation/TheGoodDinosaur'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Coco}},'' and ''WesternAnimation/FindingDory''. Most likely a case of WriteWhatYouKnow, as most of the studio's star employees are parents.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Brave}}'' (2012) -- Taking place in Scotland during TheMiddleAges, a [[Franchise/DisneyPrincess princess]] wants her mother to be changed. [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor Bad things happen.]][[labelnote:*]]First Pixar Animated Classic to use the alternate 2006 Walt Disney Pictures logo that just says "Disney".[[/labelnote]]

* ''Elio'' (2024) -- An 11-year-old boy who can't fit in finds himself going to outer space and making contact with aliens who mistaken him for the intergalactic Ambassador for Earth.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheGoodDinosaur'' (2015) -- A young ''Apatosaurus'' finds himself lost and gains the help of a WildChild to get back home.

** According to the Will Vinton documentary ''Claydream'' If Vinton invested in Pixar he would have been one of the biggest stock owners at Disney and by some extent, ''Creator/Laika'' would have not existed, Seeing that he would have not needed Nike to invest in the company leading to his firing in 2003.

** According to the Will Vinton documentary ''Claydream'' If Vinton invested in Pixar he would have been one of the biggest stock owners at Disney and by some extent, Creator/Laika would have not existed, Seeing that he would have not needed Nike to invest in the company leading to his firing in 2003.

Of course, if you think they're not business-minded, keep in mind that except for ''WesternAnimation/TheGoodDinosaur'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Onward}}''[[note]]whose release was severely impacted by the onset of the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic[[/note]] and ''WesternAnimation/{{Lightyear}}'', their theatrically-released films have hardly failed financially. Out of their films, only seven [[note]]''WesternAnimation/ToyStory1'', ''WesternAnimation/ABugsLife'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars 2}}'', ''The Good Dinosaur'', ''Cars 3'', ''Onward'' and ''Lightyear'' [[/note]] never broke the $200 million dollar mark in the US; the studio's four highest-grossing films [[note]]''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3'', ''WesternAnimation/FindingDory'', ''WesternAnimation/Incredibles2'' and ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory4''[[/note]] made over a billion dollars worldwide. [[note]]''Toy Story 3'' became the highest-grossing animated film of all time until ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Minions}}'' exceeded it, as well as the first animated film to earn a billion. Likewise, ''Finding Dory'' became the highest-grossing animated movie at the domestic box office, shattering the record that was set by ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek 2}}'' more than a decade earlier... until the studio beat their own record with ''Incredibles 2''.[[/note]] The average domestic box office take of a Pixar film is around $250 million, and their films have made almost ten billion dollars total in combined domestic and foreign box office take. Also worth noting: every single Pixar film had opened at the #1 spot in the weekend box office [[BrokenWinLossStreak until]] ''WesternAnimation/InsideOut's'' release in 2015. [[note]]Though ''Inside Out'' ended up being Pixar's second-biggest opening weekend behind ''Toy Story 3'', and is currently the second largest opening for an original film in Hollywood; it didn't reach #1 because Comcast [=NBCUniversal=]'s ''Film/JurassicWorld'' opened the previous weekend, but the two films together bulldozed most of their competition. ''The Good Dinosaur'' was less fortunate, and, unlike ''Inside Out'', never made it to #1. As for ''WesternAnimation/{{Lightyear}}'', it suffered the same fate as ''Inside Out'' by being beaten out at the top spot by a ''Jurassic World'' film. Unlike ''Inside Out'', however, the film never climbed back to the top.[[/note]]

** ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars 2}}'' was the first--and so far, only--movie to be met with widely-negative reception from both critics and audiences. However, it still did well at the box office in spite of that, [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff and the sequel actually outdid the original at the worldwide box office]].

** ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}'': Present watching the final race. He is sentient, of course. [[AllThereInTheManual According to supplementary material]], his name is Todd.

** In ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3'', one of the posters in Andy's room features Finn [=McMissile=] from ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars 2}}''.

** ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars 2}}'' has car-versions of the royal family of ''Brave'' pictured on a tapestry in the British pub.

** ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'' (2004) -- Years after the ban of {{superhero}}es, a normal family must relive their heroic days fighting an old foe.

** In ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'', it's spoken rather than seen; Mirage tells Bob to meet her in conference room [=A113=], where he is attacked by Syndrome. Later, Bob is held in Level A1, Cell Block 13.

** Butt-pinching comes up in ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'' (Mr. and Mrs. Parr), ''WesternAnimation/Cars1'' and the "El Materador" short (the old lady car slapping "Nice Butte" stickers on cars' behinds, Mater and the two Miatas, via yanking their rear bumpers with his crane), and ''WesternAnimation/{{Brave}}'' (The King and Queen Elinor).
** Parental/child relationships, or allegories thereof, are easily the most common narrative theme in their films, the most obvious ones being the ''Franchise/ToyStory'' series, ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc'', ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'', ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Brave}}'', ''WesternAnimation/InsideOut'', ''WesternAnimation/TheGoodDinosaur'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Coco}},'' and ''WesternAnimation/FindingDory''. Most likely a case of WriteWhatYouKnow, as most of the studio's star employees are parents.
* AvoidTheDreadedGRating: Initially averted; as of their first fourteen films, only [[WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles three]] [[WesternAnimation/{{Up}} of]] [[WesternAnimation/{{Brave}} them]] were rated PG. However, as UsefulNotes/TheNewTens progressed, it seems like Pixar now plays this trope straight. The final nail to the G-rated coffin was when ''WesternAnimation/FindingDory'', a sequel to a G-rated film, was granted a PG, despite it being identical to Nemo content-wise. ''WesternAnimation/Cars3'' and ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory4'' averted this, however.

** ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'':

** And then of course, [[WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles Frozone]] basically is Creator/SamuelLJackson (though in this case, that's a good thing).
* KilledOffForReal: [[WesternAnimation/ABugsLife Hopper,]] [[WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles Syndrome,]] [[WesternAnimation/WallE GO-4,]] [[WesternAnimation/{{Up}} Charles Muntz,]] and [[WesternAnimation/{{Brave}} Mor'Du]] are the only five villains to actually die at the end of their respective films.

* PapaWolf: About half of Pixar's male leads are fathers ([[WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles Bob Parr]], [[WesternAnimation/FindingNemo Marlin]]) or substitute fathers ([[WesternAnimation/MonstersInc Sulley]], [[WesternAnimation/{{Up}} Carl]], arguably [[WesternAnimation/ToyStory1 Woody and Buzz]]) whose main conflict in their respective movies is involves and/or affects their children, as well as dealing with the physical and emotional baggage of that responsibility. Considering that many of Pixar's Regulars were starting to have families of their own during Pixar's earlier filmmaking years, it makes more than enough sense.

** In ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'', a boy in the dentist's waiting room is reading a comic book of ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles''.
** In ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'', a scene features a Hudson Hornet resembling Doc Hudson from ''WesternAnimation/Cars1'' in the background.

** In ''WesternAnimation/{{Coco}}'', when Miguel and Hector are making their way to the battle of the bands, one can spot a skeletized ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'' poster on the side, for ''WesternAnimation/Incredibles2''.

* SequelGap: Several times. In fact, their only sequel to avert this so far is ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory2'', coming four years after the original. Eleven years passed between ''Toy Story 2'' and ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3'', nine between ''Toy Story 3'' and ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory4'', ''twelve'' between ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc'' and ''WesternAnimation/MonstersUniversity'', '''thirteen''' between ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'' and ''WesternAnimation/FindingDory'', and '''''fourteen''''' between ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'' and ''WesternAnimation/Incredibles2''. To a lesser extent, five years between ''WesternAnimation/Cars1'' and ''WesternAnimation/Cars2'' and another six years until ''WesternAnimation/Cars3''.

** This may not apply to all films however since ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'' is seemingly set in an [[AlternateUniverse alternate]] PresentDay RetroUniverse and ''Cars'', well, for obvious reasons.

** ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'': Buddy Pine, better known as Syndrome, is a homicidal maniac, a superhero wannabe, and a true [[FromNobodyToNightmare Nobody to Nightmare]]. Early in the film, Buddy interrupts Mr. Incredible, or Bob Parr while fighting the supervillain Bomb Voyage in an attempt to become his sidekick. His careless actions nearly get himself killed and allow Bomb Voyage to escape, leading to Mr. Incredible rightfully turning him down and crushing Buddy's dreams. However, Buddy instead subverts his potential FreudianExcuse by holding on to his petty grudge into adulthood, and initiates the mass murder of retired superheroes by luring them to his island. Once Bob finds out, Syndrome beats him down with his Omnidroid and has him tortured, spitefully launching a missile at a plane that he knows has his family on it. Showing callous indifference to Mirage once her life is under threat by Bob, Syndrome plans to release the Omnidroid on the populace once he's disposed of Bob, then painting himself as a hero by falsely defeating the Omnidroid. Once foiled, Syndrome kidnaps the infant Incredible Jack-Jack with the intent to corrupt him into becoming like him. Selfish, petty, and all-around murderous, Syndrome stood out as one of Pixar's darkest villains.

* WhiteAndGreyMorality: As mentioned in WellIntentionedExtremist, the antagonists that show up in most Pixar movie are rarely straight up evil. In ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory1'', Sid is a destructive kid who has no idea that he's harming sentient beings, and would grow up to a normal adult by the third movie. In ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'', the closest thing we have to a "villain" is the dentist's niece who, like Sid, is simply a misbehaving kid who clearly has no idea how to take care of animals. ''WesternAnimation/{{Brave}}'''s primary antagonist is a "demon bear" who is mostly just acting out from instinct and is not malevolent for the sake of it. [[spoiler:When he dies, the spirit of the man he once was thanked the main characters for freeing him from the curse]]. In ''WesternAnimation/MonstersUniversity'', the heroes faced off against a group of {{Jerk Jock}}s, but they're generally pretty harmless and is depicted more as an obstacle the heroes have to surpass to win the Scarer Games than an actual force of evil. Several other films feature antagonists whose actions are undeniably evil but who are given [[FreudianExcuse personal reasons]] for having turned out that way and/or [[VillainHasAPoint understandable motivations]] (though some of these also [[MoralEventHorizon shed these redeemable aspects over the course of the film]]), such as ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory2''[[note]]Al [=McWhiggin=] kidnaps Woody, but is just a petty thief (from a human's perspective) who wants to be rich, while Stinky Pete intentionally keeps Woody from returning to Andy and tries to take him, Jessie, and Bullseye with him to Japan because he believes its the only way he can be treasured forever after having to spend a lifetime on a dime store shelf alone.[[/note]], ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles''[[note]]Syndrome's rejection by Mr. Incredible led him down a path where he [[MoralEventHorizon personally murdered or caused the death]] of literally ''dozens'' of supers with the ultimate goal of [[CutLexLuthorACheck making superpower-simulating technology commercially available]] to discredit the entire notion of such powers being exclusive to those innately gifted with it.[[/note]] and its [[WesternAnimation/Incredibles2 sequel]][[note]][[spoiler:Evelyn Deavor uses hypnotic technology on Supers (and a random delivery boy) and tries to force them to commit an act of terrorism to cement the world's bias against their kind due to them failing to rescue her father all while bystanders ''expected'' them to and therefore [[HoldingOutForAHero failed to take any action which may have proven sufficient to save him anyway]]]].[[/note]], ''WesternAnimation/WallE''[[note]]AUTO keeps the Axiom and its human passengers in outer space because he's following his directive to never return to Earth, no matter what, and it leads him to take extreme measures such as harming and almost killing WALL•E, forcefully locking up the captain, trying to dispose of the plant EVE found, and intentionally tipping the Axiom and causing the passengers to tumble about.[[/note]], ''WesternAnimation/{{Up}}''[[note]]Charles Muntz's FatalFlaw of never giving up his mission of discovering the Snipe has led to his devolution into a murderous, senile hermit who has killed an untold number innocent travelers and eventually tries to murder a child during the climax.[[/note]], and ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3''[[note]][[spoiler: Lotso's spite over his owner replacing him after accidentally losing him has triggered his devolution into a hateful tyrant who insists to other toys that nobody ever truly loves them amid subjection to torture and eventual death by unruly young children, culminating in [[MoralEventHorizon a particularly infamous moment]] which cements him as beyond saving.]][[/note]]. Only ''WesternAnimation/ABugsLife''[[note]]Hopper enslaves and extorts an entire ant colony, embracing it as a lifestyle, while also [[WouldHurtAChild threatening Dot's life]] and planning to murder the Queen when he's unsatisfied with the amount of food gathered.[[/note]], ''WesternAnimation/Cars2''[[note]]Professor Zündapp kills secret agents sent to capture him, activates a bomb that he attached to Mater, and blows up racers who use [[spoiler:Allinol fuel, designed by Miles Axelrod, in order to discredit alternative fuels and get them both rich off of their oil reserve]][[/note]] ''WesternAnimation/{{Coco}}''[[note]][[spoiler:Ernesto de la Cruz murdered his friend and musical partner, then stole his songs and used them to propel himself to fame and fortune, and is willing to murder a child and make sure his former friend is forgotten to keep his status secure.]][[/note]], and ''WesternAnimation/{{Luca}}''[[note]]Ercole Visconti is a BarbaricBully who competes in a contest against children several years younger than him just to remain champion, acts condescending and egotistical to everyone in town, [[BadBoss treats his cronies like dirt]], shows his willingness to ram his motorboat into Guila's, tries to ruin Luca and Alberto out of petty spite, and finally tries to kill them when they're revealed to be sea monsters.[[/note]] feature villains with no FreudianExcuse to speak of. ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc'' is so far the only film that has [[BigBadDuumvirate multiple antagonists]] with varying shades of black[[note]][[spoiler:Randall's plan to stop the energy shortage crisis amounts to mass child trafficking and potential deadly torture, all out of a selfish desire for personal recognition, whereas Waternoose is only going along with it out of desperation to save his company and prevent the crisis whose far more benevolent true solution he's oblivious to.]][[/note]].

Pixar's films are well-known for their formula copied by [[FollowTheLeader every western animation company for the past 20 years.]] Nearly all of their films take their subjects and [[{{Deconstruction}} turn them]] [[{{Reconstruction}} on their heads]] ([[WesternAnimation/MonstersInc friendly monsters who only scare for their day jobs]], [[WesternAnimation/{{Cars}} race cars who learn to take it slow and that there's more to life than winning]], [[WesternAnimation/WallE robots who teach humans how to feel emotions again]], etc.) and in doing so pack them full of humor (including jokes that go way over the heads of kids) and drama.

When Pixar makes a movie, more often than not, it will be well done ''at worst''. 18 out of the 23 films released so far [[note]]''WesternAnimation/Cars2'', ''WesternAnimation/MonstersUniversity'', ''WesternAnimation/TheGoodDinosaur'', ''WesternAnimation/FindingDory'', and ''WesternAnimation/Cars3'' being the exceptions[[/note]] have been nominated for at least one Oscar; in 2010, ''WesternAnimation/{{Up}}'' became the second animated film (and first CGI film) to be nominated for Best Picture, and the next year, ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3'' became the third animated film to get that nomination. Only one of the studio's films (''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}} 2'') has really failed critically; on Website/RottenTomatoes, the first two ''Franchise/ToyStory'' films have ''perfect scores'' [[note]]the third has a 99% rating, tying it with ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'' for second place[[/note]]. Many of their films sit on the Internet Movie Database's "top 250 films" list, and Pixar is usually topping that site's "50 best animated films" list.

** ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}'' (2006) -- A famous race car gets lost in Radiator Springs and meets new friends down at Route 66.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars 2}}'' (2011) -- Lightning [=McQueen=] and Mater travel across the globe while one of them becomes a spy.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars 3}}'' (2017) -- A new generation of racers surpass [=McQueen=] in talent, so he trains with the help from a peppy technician.

** In ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}'', it's Mater's license plate number, and also on the train that nearly runs into Lightning when he jumps the tracks after losing Mack.

** Butt-pinching comes up in ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'' (Mr. and Mrs. Parr), ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}'' and the "El Materador" short (the old lady car slapping "Nice Butte" stickers on cars' behinds, Mater and the two Miatas, via yanking their rear bumpers with his crane), and ''WesternAnimation/{{Brave}}'' (The King and Queen Elinor).

** Just to put this in perspective, they were fully aware of their decline in popularity at the start of TheNewTens, after ''[[WesternAnimation/{{Cars}} Cars 2]]'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Brave}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/MonstersUniversity'' were seen as disappointments by fans, and they postponed their next film just so they wouldn't continue their streak of mediocre ones. In other words, they were actually aware of their slump and ''did something about it '''immediately'''''!

* DubNameChange: The release of Pixar movies in Chinese-speaking countries often leads to them being renamed "X Team" in Mandarin, a practice that even spreads to some non-Pixar CGI animated movies. Hence, ''Franchise/ToyStory'' = "Toys Team", ''WesternAnimation/ABugsLife'' = "Insects Team" etc. This sometimes leads to a TitleDrop in the Mandarin dubs, like at the end of ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}''.

** ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}'':

** Generally averted. Pixar prefer to cast the actor according to the character, not the other way around, but that's not to say they're occasionally guilty of this: several of the characters in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}'' films are based on a certain vehicle associated with their actor (i.e. [[Series/DeadliestCatch Sig Hansen]] as a sentient version of the ''Northwestern'').

** In ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'', a scene features a Hudson Hornet resembling Doc Hudson from ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}'' in the background.

** An example of foreshadowing that took quite a while to get payoff (and may be a coincidence): ''Toy Story'' (from 1995) includes [[http://pixar.wikia.com/Dinoco a gas station with the name "Dinoco"]], whose logo is a green Apatosaurus. Not only is Dinoco a company that plays a major role in ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}'', but ''WesternAnimation/TheGoodDinosaur'', released in 2015, stars... a green Apatosaurus!

* SequelGap: Several times. In fact, their only sequel to avert this so far is ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory2'', coming four years after the original. Eleven years passed between ''Toy Story 2'' and ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3'', nine between ''Toy Story 3'' and ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory4'', ''twelve'' between ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc'' and ''WesternAnimation/MonstersUniversity'', '''thirteen''' between ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'' and ''WesternAnimation/FindingDory'', and '''''fourteen''''' between ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'' and ''WesternAnimation/Incredibles2''. To a lesser extent, five years between ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/Cars2'' and another six years until ''WesternAnimation/Cars3''.

*** Supervising animators Tony Fucile, Steven Hunter and Alan Barillaro and animators Gini Santos, David DeVan, Jureha Yokoo, Dave Mullins, John Kahrs, Robert Russ, Angus MacLane, Travis Hathaway, Doug Frankel and Peter Sohn.

** ''WesternAnimation/FindingDory'', Director Andrew Stanton, co-director Angus MacLane and producer Lindsey Collins.

** ''WesternAnimation/{{Lightyear}}'' Director Angus MacLane, writer Jason Headley, and director of photography Jeremy Lasky.

* WritingByTheSeatOfYourPants: Believe it or not, this is apparently how most of their movies are done, once being described as "jumping out of a plane and hoping we can build a parachute on the way down." However, this has less to do with short production time (in [[WesternAnimation/ToyStory2 most cases]]) and more with how much story revision is done on every single step of every single project, sometimes even [[AnimationLeadTime long after animation has started]], to ensure that everything will be perfect.

* TheSmurfettePrinciple: Despite their allocates, one major complaint about Pixar is the lack of films that have a notable number of prominent female characters. There have been [[WesternAnimation/{{Brave}} attempts]] [[WesternAnimation/InsideOut to]] [[WesternAnimation/FindingDory remedy]] [[WesternAnimation/TurningRed this]] as of late however.

** In ''WesternAnimation/{{Lightyear}}'', a vending machine has bottles labeled "Wade Water". Wade Ripple is one of the two main characters in''WesternAnimation/Elemental2023''.

** ''WesternAnimation/{{Onward}}'' has a brief shot of a Dorothea Williams record on a shelf in the Lightwood house. Williams would be a central figure in the story of ''WesternAnimation/{{Soul}}.''

** In ''WesternAnimation/{{Lightyear}}'', a vending machine has bottles labeled "Wade Water", a character in ''WesternAnimation/{{Elemental}}''.

* ''Elemental'' (2023) -- In a city populated by elemental beings based on fire, water, land, and air, a (literally) fiery young woman named Ember and a (literally) go-with-the-flow guy named Wade learn that they may have more in common than they think.

* ''WesternAnimation/DugDays'' (2021) -- Dug settles into his new suburban home, experiencing many things a regular dog would experience. A spinoff of ''WesternAnimation/{{Up}}''. (The first Pixar TV series produced in-house by the studio)

* Some Pixar employees visited Creator/JasonSegel and Nick Stoller for a few days and gave input on the screenplay for ''Film/TheMuppets'', which became a hit.

** ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3'' (2010) -- In this dark, heartwrenching, yet heartwarming tale, a teenage Andy is ready to go to college, and his toys are sent to a daycare that's a sweet, sugary wonderland by day, but is actually [[CrapsaccharineWorld the exact opposite by night]].

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Ratatouille}}'' (2007) -- When a rat ends up in UsefulNotes/{{Paris}}, France, he hopes to make his dreams of becoming a chef come true.[[labelnote:*]]This is the last Pixar Animated Classic to feature the original CGI castle Disney logo, which does not have the march music on it, due to being the final release in the original agreement; all Pixar movies after this use the 2006 Walt Disney Pictures logo.[[/labelnote]]
* ''WesternAnimation/WallE'' (2008) -- After many years of cleaning up the Earth, a robot janitor falls for a new robot and gets sent into space.[[labelnote:*]]First Pixar Animated Classic to forgo the older Toy Story Walt Disney Pictures logo; to symbolize Pixar's integration into Disney, it instead uses the fully-animated 2006 Walt Disney Pictures logo with the "When You Wish Upon a Star" excerpt. The end logo features Luxo Jr's light bulb go out before the screen fades out, and WALL•E shows up, screws a new one in, and knocks over the R on the way out, forcing HIM to replace the R; the logo then ends normally before TheStinger that this movie has.[[/labelnote]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheGoodDinosaur'' (2015) -- A young ''Apatosaurus'' finds himself lost and gains the help of a WildChild to get home.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Onward}}'' (2020) -- Two suburban elf brothers search for magic that can allow them to spend time with their father who died when they were too young to remember him.

* ''Elio'' (2024) -- An 11-year-old boy who can't fit in finds himself going to outer space and making contact with aliens when he is mistaken for the intergalactic Ambassador for Earth.

* ''WesternAnimation/DugDays'' (2021) -- The first Pixar TV series produced in-house by the studio. Dug settles into his new suburban home, experiencing many things a regular dog would experience. A spinoff of ''WesternAnimation/{{Up}}''.

* ''Win or Lose'' (2023) -- Pixar's first original long-form TV series. A middle school softball team prepare for their championship game, with each episode focusing on a different member of the team.