Following the Toy Story spinoff Lightyear, Pixar has five more movies and TV shows on its upcoming release schedule. Pixar has continually produced some of the greatest animated films of all time, with the scope of the studio’s talents growing as it now extends to TV series on Disney+. However, these added projects haven’t hindered Pixar’s focus on releasing highly creative and captivating animated movies, as the Disney-owned studio is still churning out at least one or two movies every year, such as 2022’s films Turning Red and Lightyear.
As the majority of Pixar’s movies have landed on Disney+ instead of theaters since the pandemic, Lightyear is the first project from the studio since 2019’s Toy Story 4 to have a full exclusive theatrical window (2020’s Onward dropped on Disney+ after only two weeks in theaters). Turning Red was originally intended to be Pixar’s first major return to theaters, but Disney later designated it as an exclusive Disney+ release. As the first Toy Story franchise movie since the end of the main storyline, the stakes for Lightyear’s theatrical debut are high, especially when considering the massive box office successes of the previous installments. In telling the origin story of the human Buzz Lightyear character that inspired the Tim Allen-voiced toy, Lightyear has been one of Pixar’s most anticipated projects since it was announced in 2020.
With Lightyear’s positive reviews from critics signaling a triumphant theatrical return for Pixar, the industry will also be looking forward to what projects the studio has planned next. Alongside Walt Disney Animation Studios' own massive lineup of releases in the next few years, Pixar's beloved creations will be contributing to the larger Disney content plan. After Lightyear’s June 17, 2022 release, Pixar Animation Studios has already added five projects to its upcoming release slate, which includes two TV shows headed to Disney+ and three upcoming films scheduled through summer 2024. Here’s a breakdown of all five Pixar movies and TV shows releasing after Lightyear.
Cars On The Road
Following the original movie’s debut in 2006, Cars has become one of Pixar’s most beloved franchises, with the adventures of anthropomorphic vehicles Lightning McQueen and Tow Mater continuing to appeal to the masses. The Cars franchise now includes five movies, five short films, and three TV series, with Cars on the Road being the newest addition to this section of the Pixar IP. With Owen Wilson and Larry the Cable Guy reprising their voice roles of Lightning McQueen and Mater, respectively, Disney+’s Cars on the Road TV show will follow the two characters on a cross-country road trip around the United States. Along their journey, McQueen and Mater will visit different locations, find themselves in risky situations, meet new characters, and reunite with several established characters from the franchise. Pixar’s Cars on the Road series is set to release on Disney+ in fall 2022, with the exact premiere date still unknown.
Elemental
The first Pixar movie being released after the Chris Evans-starring Lightyear is Elemental, which is scheduled to arrive in summer 2023. Similar to the Pixar movie Inside Out (2015), which personified human emotions like happiness, sadness, or anger, Elemental is giving feelings, thoughts, and conflicts to the four classic elements of the natural world: Earth, water, fire, and air. According to Pixar Animation Studios, Elemental follows the journey of Wade and Ember, an unlikely pairing of the water and fire elements who traverse a city where water, fire, air, and land residents all live together. As the “go-with-the-flow” guy Wade and “fiery young woman” Ember explore the city, the two discover how much they actually have in common. Elemental is set to be released on June 16, 2023, but it’s unclear whether it will mimic Pixar’s 2022 movie Lightyear for an exclusive theatrical premiere.
Win Or Lose
The next project on Pixar’s lineup after the movie Elemental is the Disney+ TV series Win or Lose, which is one of the streaming service’s first animated shows that isn’t based on existing IP. In fact, the upcoming Win or Lose is Pixar’s very first TV series to not be based on one of its movies, such as the studio’s previous Cars shows and Disney+’s Monsters at Work series. Pixar’s Win or Lose will follow a middle school softball team and their coach as they prepare for their first championship game, with each 20-minute episode following the perspective of a different character during the week leading up to the event. The animated Disney+ series will be directed and written by Carrie Hobson and Michael Yates, with the release date for Win or Lose slated for the fall 2023 window.
Untitled Pixar Movie - March 1, 2024
While Disney is only scheduled to release one Pixar animated movie in 2023, the studio will be following quickly with another mysterious project. Pixar hasn’t announced any details for this upcoming 2024 movie aside from its March 1 release date, but it’s possible the studio could be approaching more spinoffs to beloved franchises, as the studio successfully did with Toy Story’s Lightyear origin story. It’s also unclear whether Pixar’s untitled March 2024 movie will premiere in theaters or on Disney+, but it seems that the latter designation is a likely choice considering Turning Red, which was released on March 11, 2022, was removed from the theatrical lineup for an exclusive streaming debut.
Untitled Pixar Movie June 14, 2024
With a prime release date window at the start of summer, Pixar’s last known upcoming project is apt to be its next biggest release after 2023's Elemental (from the director of Pixar's The Good Dinosaur). Like its predecessor, details of the June 2024 untitled movie are unknown, with no directors or writers attached to the project as of yet. If either of Pixar’s untitled movies in its scheduled release slate are likely to be sequels, it’s the upcoming summer 2024 animated film. While film series like Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, and The Incredibles are easy crowd-pleasers to choose from, Pixar may find more excitement by turning some of its more recent movies into their own franchise. If so, Luca (2021) and Coco (2017) have garnered enough acclaim to earn sequels of their own, though such massive projects in the ilk of Lightyear would likely have already been announced by Disney.