Pixar’s animated shorts bring magicians, umbrellas, clouds, and volcanoes to life for just a few minutes before feature films.
Before Disney brought back the classic Mickey Mouse cartoons before their feature films, before Marvel movies made you wait through the endless credits to catch a 30 second teaser of their next film, Pixar brought you shorts. Ranging from one minute to a high of seven minutes, these shorts range from movie tie-ins to original works dug out of the Pixar Animation Studio vault.
Here is a ranking of the original Pixar shorts!
15. ‘Tin Toy’
Created: 1988
Released with: None
Won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film
Synopsis: You’re probably wondering how an Oscar winner could rank so low. Advances in technology and the huge spark this short film lit for the creation of Toy Story aside, this is Pixar’s most terrifying production to date. The story focuses on one-man band tin toy attempting to run away from his owner, a massive terrifying infant. The monsters Sid creates in his bedroom in the Toy Story films pale in comparison to this child.
14. ‘The Adventures of André and Wally B.’
Created: 1984
Released with: None
Synopsis: In the only one minute short, we follow André, a woodland creature with a thing for fez hats who wakes up from a nap to find a bee staring him down. One would think that a person wearing a bee t-shirt would like his new friend, but he flees and eventually gets stung.
13. ‘Red’s Dream’
Created: 1987
Released with: None
Synopsis: Terrifying clown, check! Depressing ending, check! Red’s Dream is not an uplifting story by any means. The four minute short takes you inside Eden’s Bike Shop where a lonely unicycle sits in the clearance corner after hours. In a dream the unicycle takes over a circus act from a clown and soaks up the applause. You’d expect that in the end the terrifying clown appears in the rain to purchase our hero, right? Wrong. The unicycle remains alone. At least we got to see the early stages of the Toy Story ball.
12. ‘Boundin”
Created: 2003
Released with: The Incredibles
Synopsis: If you are into Rhyming Seuss-like tales, Boundin’ may be for you. However, the slow, sing-song style that tells the tale of a sheered sheep who lost touch with himself does little to create any excitement at all. The narrator and wise jackalope who stumbles along to perk up the sheep, both sound as if they are going to nod off before they finish their lines. The heckling gophers are worth the watch.
11. ‘Day and Night’
Created: 2010
Released with: Toy Story 3
Synopsis: Day and Night are represented by two creatures whose bodies reflect the world at different times. At first combative, trying to show each other who is better, the mood shifts to a flashy showdown where they treat each other to rainbows, outdoor movies, radio frequencies, and the Vegas strip after dark.
10. ‘Presto’
Created: 2008
Released with: WALL-E
Synopsis: Make sure your assistant is well fed. Presto the magician and his sidekick, a very hungry bunny, take their act in front of a packed house where two magically connected hats allow the magician to pull nearly anything through the portal. When the bunny refuses to play, he sends a myriad of items through the hat causing hilarity, and plenty of pain to ensue. The bunny’s tricks are so well received he is not only swimming in carrots, but takes top billing from the hat!
9. ‘One Man Band’
Created: 2005
Released with: Cars
Synopsis: Two men arrive in a town square each equipped with their elaborate musical outfits to perform for their supper. The little girl who only wants to toss her coin in the fountain, loses the piece when the two men clash in competition. She demands repayment. The shift from an excited to scared little girl is undercut by her sass and extraordinary talent that earns her a bag of money.
8. ‘Lifted’
Created: 2006
Released with: Ratatouille
Synopsis: Ever have one of those tests that no matter how hard you study for you’re never going to pass? Lifted puts a novice alien in front of a seemingly impossible board of identical switches and asks him to abduct a man from his home. The unimpressed proctor and the younger alien’s meltdown are worth gifing.
Moon work, umbrellas, and snow globes all await you on page 2!
7. ‘Geri’s Game’
Created: 1997
Released with: A Bug’s Life
Won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film
Synopsis: Geri plays chess against his alter ego in the park. Though sad as an adult to watch this old man settle for the company of his own making, the fast paced game and reactions of each personality, glasses versus no glasses, comes to an end when one Geri fakes a heart attack to win/lose the match. The prize? His dentures.
6. ‘Luxo Jr.’
Created: 1986
Released with: Toy Story 2
Synopsis: The lamp that started it all! Luxo Jr. gave Pixar its mascot and opening title card. The little lamp that wants to play with the parent lamp in this short also has the Toy Story ball as a prop. Sweet and simple, the short highlights the improvements the studio made in animation just two years after André and Wally B.
5. ‘For the Birds’
Created: 2000
Released with: Monsters, Inc.
Won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film
Synopsis: The too cool for school, grumpy bird clique make fun of the giant bird who appears on the same power line. Ignorant to their mockery, the dopey creature makes his way down the wire causing it to sink to the ground under the pressure of his weight. The tiny birds peck at his talons until he is about to fall off the line. The joke is on them as they slingshot into the sky losing their feathers int he process. This short tells a humorous, complete tale in the perfect length of three minutes.
4. ‘Partly Cloudy’
Created: 2009
Released with: Up
Synopsis: The clouds in this Pixar short make everything from babies, to cats, to kittens in a style not unlike Zeus’ creation of Pegasus in Hercules. One cloud, however, is a little grayer and his creations are not cute and cuddly. Baby sharks, alligators, porcupines all cause immense, and hilarious damage to his stork companion. Good thing this short ends on a high note as viewers were in for a doozy of a Pixar opening after it ended.
3. ‘The Blue Umbrella’
Created: 2013
Released with: Monsters University
Synopsis: The opening sequence makes you wonder for a second if it is animated. Two umbrellas, one red and one blue, meet in the hustle and bustle of a sea of angry and grey umbrellas on a rainy city street. They are separated when their owners part ways. But the city’s hidden faces make it their mission to bring the blue umbrella back to red. They set off diversions of lights and water streams that not only reunite blue and red, but their owners as well.
2. ‘La Luna’
Created: 2011
Released with: Brave
Synopsis: A young boy receives his right of passage as he is invited to help his father and grandfather in their unique night job. Climbing a ladder to the moon, the young boy finds it is covered with glowing stars that must be swept to give the moon its shape. Both his father and grandfather have their own way of doing things, but the young boy finds his own path between them.
1. ‘Knick Knack’
Created: 1989
Released with: Finding Nemo
Won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short
Synopsis: Knick Knack was the first Pixar short to receive a theatrical release before an original film. The story of a snowman trapped on a shelf next other novelties from sunnier locales, wants to abandon his glass nome and party in the sun. His attempts to bust out of the snowy chamber send him over the edge of the shelf revealing the emergency escape. Finally free, he lands in a fish bowl where an exotic knick knack lies on display. However, his casing floats down over him once more before he can make contact.
New additions!
Pixar’s latest film, Inside Out, opens everywhere today! Be sure to check it out and catch the latest Pixar original short, Lava before the feature film. Later this year, Sanjay’s Super Team will precede the next film in Pixar’s line-up, The Good Dinosaur.