Cars won the first Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film.
The award was introduced for the 64th Golden Globe Awards, honoring films released in 2006. Pixar's Cars received the inaugural prize, making it the first winner in the category. The film competed against other animated releases from that year, including Happy Feet and Monster House.
Cars had already become a major commercial success before receiving the award. Its story about Lightning McQueen, Radiator Springs, and the Piston Cup combined racing spectacle with a message about friendship, humility, and community.
The Golden Globe category is separate from the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. Cars was nominated for the Academy Award in that category but did not win; the Oscar went to Happy Feet. This distinction causes a common mix-up: Cars was the first Golden Globe winner for animated feature, not the first Academy Award winner in animation.