US Postal Service Releasing 2011 Pixar-Related Postage Stamps

Everybody knows that your life’s work doesn’t mean anything until there’s a US postage stamp to commemorate it. Only the Postal Service can deem a movie or cartoon worth remembering, as they have previously with the Loony Tunes and Mickey Mouse.

Now, finally, Pixar is getting its just dues. After being around since the 1980s and making the most consistently successful movies of the past decade, the US Post Office is recognizing the incredible animation company by selling Pixar-related image stamps.

I’m sure you’re wondering, as I was, which Pixar characters will be adorning these wonderful stamps. Well, wonder no longer: the image designs will include Lightning McQueen and Mater from Cars, Remy the rat and Linguini from Ratatouille, Buzz Lightyear and two of those green, three-eyed aliens from the Toy Story movies, Carl Fredricksen and Dug from Up, and WALL*E from WALL*E.

Here’s the full US Postal Service press release:

Since 1986, Pixar films have stretched the boundaries of our imagination with stories about unlikely heroes who explore the bonds of friendship and family. Now some of those heroes are the subjects of colorful new ‘Send a Hello’ stamps that encourage people to connect with loved ones through the mail.

The ‘Send a Hello’ stamps, which go on sale Aug. 19, are a natural outgrowth of the Art of Disney stamp series issued between 2004 and 2008. Originally intended as a series of three annual issuances depicting friendship, celebration, and romance, the Art of Disney stamps proved so popular that the Postal Service expanded the series to include issuances in 2007 and 2008 to celebrate imagination and magic.

Based on that success, the Postal Service was eager to work with the Walt Disney Company again, choosing to explore the Disney*Pixar films, which offer exciting, contemporary characters and strong themes involving family and friends.

This pane of 20 stamps includes five different designs featuring Pixar characters: Lightning McQueen and Mater from Cars (2006); Remy the rat and Linguini from Ratatouille (2007); Buzz Lightyear and two of the green, three-eyed aliens from Toy Story (1995); Carl Fredricksen and Dug from Up (2009); and the robot WALL*E from WALL*E (2008).

Since the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature was introduced in 2001, all seven Pixar films released since that time have been nominated and five of the seven have won, including Ratatouille,WALL*E and Up.

I’m fairly happy with all the choices here, with the lone exception of Lightning McQueen and Mater from Cars. It tears me up inside that the Postal Service wasted perfectly good postage stamp material on possibly the worst Pixar film in existence when they could just as easily have thrown The Incredibles on there. Have you no decency, US Post Office? Have you no pride??

The next big Pixar film, Cars 2, is set to hit theaters June 24th, 2011. The Pixar-themed Send a Hello stamps go on sale August 19th, 2011.