Cars was Pixar’s seventh feature film when it was released in 2006.
Before Cars, Pixar had released Toy Story, A Bug’s Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, and The Incredibles. Cars followed The Incredibles and became the studio’s seventh theatrical feature. This sequence counts Pixar’s feature-length animated films, not short films, television specials, or later franchises.
Cars also marked a notable change in subject matter. Earlier Pixar films focused on toys, insects, monsters, fish, and superheroes, while Cars built a world populated entirely by vehicles. The film’s road-trip structure and Route 66 influences gave it a distinctly American landscape.
The number is sometimes confused with Cars’ place in the overall franchise chronology or with Pixar’s later film count. Cars 2 became Pixar’s twelfth feature in 2011, and Cars 3 arrived as the studio’s nineteenth feature in 2017. The original film remains the seventh entry in Pixar’s feature-film lineup.