Pixar’s first feature-length animated film was Toy Story.
Released in 1995, Toy Story was the first feature film made entirely with computer-generated imagery. It introduced Woody, Buzz Lightyear, and a toy-based world that became one of Pixar’s most recognizable franchises.
Cars arrived in 2006 as Pixar’s seventh feature. Between the two films, Pixar released A Bug’s Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, and The Incredibles. This sequence places Cars within the studio’s early development as a feature-animation pioneer.
A Bug’s Life is sometimes selected because it was Pixar’s second feature, while Finding Nemo and The Incredibles were later releases. Toy Story’s importance is both creative and technological: it demonstrated that a fully computer-animated feature could succeed with audiences worldwide.