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Pixar stranded a hotshot race car in a faded Route 66 town and somehow produced one of the biggest toy machines of the decade — nearly $10 billion in merchandise inside five years. Lightning McQueen, Mater, Doc Hudson: every family of the era had a bin of them.
![Video thumbnail — Finding Nemo - Official® Trailer [HD]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/bMtzgW-FVLY/maxresdefault.jpg)
A clownfish searches an ocean for his kidnapped son, guided by a forgetful blue tang with the most memorable catchphrase of the decade. Pixar's Finding Nemo won instant hearts with its vibrant coral-reef world, stellar voice acting, and emotional stakes that proved animated films could make you cry.
Your closet door really was a portal to a monster city — and the scariest part was that the monsters were just doing their jobs. Pixar's Monsters, Inc. imagined a metropolis powered by children's screams, then let one giggling toddler named Boo dismantle the whole economy.
The three-part harmonies behind "Bless the Broken Road" and the Cars version of "Life Is a Highway." Rascal Flatts were sneered at as country's boy band and had 2006's second-best-selling album, behind only High School Musical, winning the CMA's Vocal Group of the Year six years running while "What Hurts the Most" spent a year on the Hot 100.
Pixar's rat-in-a-toque masterpiece: Remy, a rodent with a chef's palate, secretly cooking in a Paris kitchen by puppeteering a hapless garbage boy by the hair. It ends with a single bite of vegetables sending a feared critic hurtling back to his childhood — the most devastating flashback in animation.
![Video thumbnail — The Incredibles - Official® Trailer [HD]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ixKqYNMqcnE/maxresdefault.jpg)
Pixar's 2004 superhero film about a family forced to hide their powers in suburban normalcy — Mr. Incredible, Elastigirl, and their kids Violet, Dash, and baby Jack-Jack. They're drawn out of retirement to battle the villain Syndrome, and the film balances family comedy with genuine action and heart. The Academy Award–winning film proved animation could deliver both laughs and thrills.
Pixar's Toy Story was the first fully computer-animated feature film, directed by John Lasseter and starring Tom Hanks and Tim Allen as mismatched toys Woody and Buzz. Released November 1995, it reinvented animation and launched a franchise that still dominates 30 years later.
A trash-compacting robot alone on a garbage planet, a cockroach for a pet, a tape of Hello, Dolly! watched on repeat and a sleek white probe named EVE. Pixar's 2008 film barely speaks for its first act, cost a then-record $180 million, won the animated-feature Oscar and was called the best film of the decade by Time's critic.