Cars was the first Pixar feature film in the Cars franchise.
Released in 2006, the film introduces Lightning McQueen, Mater, Sally Carrera, Doc Hudson, and the residents of Radiator Springs. Its story follows McQueen after he becomes stranded in the town while traveling to a decisive Piston Cup race.
Cars was Pixar’s seventh feature film and was produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. It expanded the studio’s use of computer animation into a world where vehicles fill the roles normally occupied by people.
Cars 2 followed in 2011 and shifted toward an international spy adventure. Cars 3 arrived in 2017 and returned more strongly to the racing and mentorship themes of the original. Cars on the Road is a later Disney+ animated series, not a feature film, so it is not the franchise’s first theatrical entry.