Inside Out won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2016. The award was presented at the 88th Academy Awards ceremony on February 28, 2016, honoring films released during 2015.
Pixar’s film competed against Anomalisa, Boy and the World, Shaun the Sheep Movie, and When Marnie Was There. Director Pete Docter and producer Jonas Rivera accepted the award for the production, making it Pixar’s eighth win in the category at that time.
A common mix-up is to answer 2015, because that is the film’s release year. The Academy’s ceremony-year convention places the win in 2016, even though Inside Out opened in theaters in June 2015. The same distinction explains why some award lists label it as the 2015 winner while recording the ceremony under 2016.