Only 3 Pixar Movies Are Better Than 'Toy Story' Jeremy Urquhart is a writer at Collider who focuses on the Godzilla series, the films of Martin Scorsese, and anything in the action genre. There was a time when Pixar, as an animation studio, could pretty much do no wrong, and what a time it was. The run of movies from 1995 to 2010 was, for the most part, excellent, and Pixar was releasing almost a movie a year . This golden run was bookended by Toy Story films, and that felt fitting. Toy Story wasn’t only Pixar’s first feature film, but also the first feature-length narrative film to be done solely with computer animation, and that does forefront just how recent the idea of a feature film done in such a way is, in the overall scheme of things. In 2010, Pixar released Toy Story 3, and it felt like a remarkable finale for Toy Story, at the time. As the releases of Toy Story 4 and the upcoming Toy Story 5 show, it wasn’t a literal finale, but maybe the end of an era; the end of the story in Toy Story regarding Andy. It’s potentially a wild comparison, but it’s a bit like Godzilla vs. Destoroyah feeling like the final Godzilla movie, or a finale of sorts, but not literally being the final Godzilla movie. And hey, it’s good that Pixar’s continued on. The likes of Inside Out, Coco, and Soul wouldn’t exist otherwise, even if you can be a little more cynical and observe that the second 15-year-span in Pixar’s history wasn’t as fruitful as the span of time from 1995 to 2010. Pixar’s very best movies came out here, with Toy Story and Toy Story 3 being highlights. Hell, even the lowlights weren’t really bad, because being a studio and having its “weakest” movies still be as solid as A Bug’s Life and Cars certainly counts for something. As for movies even better than Toy Story , though? There are a handful from this time that potentially are, though it does have to be stressed, right away, that none can claim to be as groundbreaking or historically significant as Toy Story. Toy Story is to animation what Super Mario 64 is to platformers. Both rewrote what was capable, and even if subsequent computer-animated movies have been better than Toy Story , and subsequent platformers have been even better than Super Mario 64, you still have to give a particularly loud shoutout to the original game-changers. Anyway, regarding Pixar and Toy Story, these post-1995 movies by the studio might well be even better than the studio’s first feature film, which is saying a lot, considering Toy Story is already pretty much perfect. 3 'Toy Story 2' While it’s not a leap forward on a technical front film industry-wide the same way the original movie was, it should be acknowledged that the quality of animation found in Toy Story 2 is nonetheless a step-up from what was seen in the original Toy Story. The world feels a little less dead, and not as much like an unintentional liminal space, while the human characters seen throughout Toy Story 2 don’t look quite as uncanny as the human characters in the first Toy Story did. The technical side of things still being strong is significant, and it’s a bit like how The Empire Strikes Back has even better special effects than the first Star Wars, even if it can’t be as groundbreaking technically speaking. It’s worth bringing up that beloved Star Wars sequel, though, because it’s such a great example of expanding an original film’s world and finding new/interesting things for its already-established characters to do. That’s what Toy Story 2 manages to do, too, because while the emotional core of the first movie largely had to do with Buzz Lightyear discovering he wasn’t as unique as he thought he was, the emotional core of Toy Story 2 is predominantly about legacy and mortality. That’s what Woody has to go through, making a choice between enduring forever, but having an empty existence as a collectible merely looked at, or continuing to be a toy, played with and cherished, but subject to damage and eventually total degradation . That’s a lot to grapple with before you even get to the other emotional walloping delivered by Toy Story 2: the idea that someone you love might one day stop loving you, and that people you trust in that way can let you down, which is what Jessie is struggling with, regarding her past owner. That Toy Story 2 can explore all this while being just as funny as the first movie is really saying a lot, and a testament to how well it’s written overall. The comparisons to the aforementioned The Empire Strikes Back, or even The Godfather Part II , are genuinely well-earned. 2 'Ratatouille' It was hard having to leave The Incredibles out of a ranking like this, but there’s only room for one movie Brad Bird directed at Pixar if you're talking about the best of the best, and that’s Ratatouille. This one feels particularly miraculous, since it’s got an arguably more out-there premise than even the likes of Toy Story and Monsters, Inc. It’s about a rat who has a passion for cooking, and he aspires to become a chef by forming an unlikely bond with a young man who works in a restaurant . The rat is like a puppeteer, controlling the man by pulling his hair while hiding under his chef’s hat. This whole dynamic changes both their lives, because the rat has to grapple with how his fellow rats find the pursuit of his passion, and then the man has to keep the whole thing hidden from others and for other reasons. There’s also an intimidating food critic who has it out for the restaurant, and a few other things that give Ratatouille unexpected stakes. The whole movie is undeniably charming in ways that are always a little hard to articulate with words. It’s also, befitting for a movie with this kind of premise, very funny, striking the right balance between mining comedy and effective drama out of such a gonzo storyline. If the message of the film is that anyone can cook, or find a way to achieve their dreams, then Ratatouille, as a film, reinforces it by making a surprisingly great argument for the notion that any wild idea can work as a movie’s narrative, should you approach and refine it the right way. The whole movie is undeniably charming in ways that are always a little hard to articulate with words. What matters is that it works so much better than you might expect, even with the knowledge that it’s a 2000s release from Pixar, coming out in a decade when the studio was close to untouchable. It’s a cut above even the other great movies Pixar put out in that decade, with potentially one other film that came out a year later that was similarly brave and innovative, and maybe even better. 1 'WALL·E' That film was WALL·E, and like with Brad Bird directing two all-timers for Pixar in the 2000s, the director of WALL·E, Andrew Stanton, did the same, as he was the director behind 2003’s Finding Nemo. To focus on WALL·E, though, it stands out among the early/classic period of Pixar for being the studio’s first full-on science fiction movie, and for also being one of the greatest sci-fi movies of the century so far, animated or otherwise. It’s about a robot living a lonely life as a being constructed to clean up an abandoned Earth, doing so over centuries before meeting another robot unexpectedly, and falling for her. Yes, Pixar looked at toys with feelings, monsters with feelings, fish with feelings, and cars with feelings, and then, with WALL·E, did a story about robots with feelings. It’s like a quirky sci-fi rom-com that eventually builds into something bigger, with an adventure through space and a narrative that becomes more about getting humanity to return to – and restore – Earth. Subscribe for deeper Pixar and animation insights Join the newsletter for deeper coverage of Pixar and animated cinema: in-depth analysis, character studies, scene-by-scene breakdowns, filmmaker context, and curated must-watch recommendations to deepen your appreciation of animation. Get Updates By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime. It all sounds like a lot for a family movie to tackle, and it is, but WALL·E does it all exceptionally well. There’s a difficulty in highlighting which Pixar movie is the best-looking overall, but WALL·E would have to be a contender, and is similarly up there when considering which post-Toy Story felt like the most advanced for the time in which they were released. WALL·E is also impressively emotional, and has a perfect enough ending that even Pixar, with its more recent love of doing sequels and spin-offs, hasn’t yet endeavored to continue the story told in WALL·E in any way. That’s not to say Pixar never will, but it would be particularly tricky here, just because of how complete and satisfying it is in its current form. For now, it’s a perfect animated movie, and possibly the very best Pixar has ever released. Like WALL·E G Animation Family Science Fiction Release Date June 22, 2008 Runtime 98 minutes Director Andrew Stanton Writers Jim Reardon Cast See All