Pixar's Cars received its wide theatrical release in the United States on June 9, 2006.
The film was Pixar's seventh feature-length animated film and followed The Incredibles, which had been released in 2004. Cars was directed by John Lasseter, co-directed by Joe Ranft, and produced by Darla K. Anderson. Its story follows Lightning McQueen, a rookie race car who becomes stranded in the small town of Radiator Springs.
The date is sometimes confused with the film's premiere. Cars premiered at the Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina, on May 26, 2006, before its nationwide release. It opened in cinemas alongside The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift and became a major commercial success.
Cars also marked a notable shift in Pixar's visual world: its characters were vehicles rather than human or humanoid figures. The film later received two theatrical sequels, Cars 2 in 2011 and Cars 3 in 2017.