Cars Toons is Pixar’s animated short series starring Mater from Cars.
The series is also known by the longer title Cars Toons: Mater’s Tall Tales. Each short presents Mater telling an exaggerated story about an adventure from his past. The joke is that the story sounds impossible, while the ending often suggests that parts of it may actually have happened.
The shorts use characters and settings from the Cars universe but are separate from the main feature-film plots. Mater’s storytelling style, friendship with Lightning McQueen, and comic misunderstandings provide the series’ recurring structure.
Cars Toons began in 2008, between the releases of Cars and Cars 2. It is distinct from the feature films Cars, Cars 2, and Cars 3, and from later Cars television projects. The official title is sometimes shortened in conversation to Mater’s Tall Tales, but Cars Toons is the franchise title asked for here.