Cars was Pixar’s first feature film set primarily in a world of talking vehicles.
Released in 2006, the film imagines automobiles as living characters with eyes, mouths, personalities, jobs, and communities. Its central setting is Radiator Springs, a fictional town inspired by roadside communities along historic Route 66.
The film’s story combines a racing plot with a small-town redemption story. Lightning McQueen arrives focused on winning the Piston Cup but learns about friendship, responsibility, and the history of the town.
Cars 2 and Cars 3 continued the franchise, but they are sequels rather than the original introduction to this vehicle society. Planes belongs to a related spin-off franchise produced by Disneytoon Studios, not Pixar’s original Cars feature series.