Best Pixar Movies, Ranked

Summary

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Pop Culture Happy Hour: Best Pixar Movies, Ranked

Podcast: Pop Culture Happy Hour (NPR)
Episode Date: June 22, 2026
Hosts: Stephen Thompson & Aisha Harris

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Episode Overview

In this encore episode, hosts Stephen Thompson and Aisha Harris revisit a listener-driven ranking of Pixar’s greatest films, coinciding with the release of Toy Story 5. Drawing on NPR audience votes, the discussion moves through the top six Pixar features, exploring their emotional power, cultural impact, and artistic legacy. Along the way, the hosts break down what makes these animated classics resonate so deeply—with kids and adults alike.

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The Listener-Voted Top 6 Pixar Films

Top 6 (Tie for Fifth Place): Toy Story (1995) & Coco (2017)

[01:35–06:59]

Toy Story

• Legacy & Sentiment: Praised as “the movie that started it all,” establishing the modern era of animated storytelling.
• Quote:
  Stephen (01:49): “You are a sad, strange little man. And you have my pity.”
• Sequels Acknowledgment: Stephen notes the original splits votes with its acclaimed sequels, making its place here even more impressive.
• Emotional Range: “It is funny. It is warm... Toy Story is a masterful film.” (Stephen, 04:29)

Coco

• Aisha’s Favorite: Aisha declares it her personal pick for the best Pixar film.
• Themes: Explores family, memory, death, and generational storytelling.
• Quote:
  Aisha (02:16): “It kind of has all the ingredients that...I’ve come to love about Pixar movies.”
• Visual Brilliance: Both hosts agree it’s “one of the most gorgeous Pixar movies ever.” (Stephen, 05:09)
• Memorable Moment:
  The scene where Miguel sings “Remember Me” to Mama Coco—“Still a gut punch. I was bawling. I was bawling.” (Aisha, 03:23)
• Cultural Respect: Coco is lauded for authenticity in representing Mexican traditions. Aisha (06:27): “Coco was able to do that by creating a new, completely original story while also being very respectful and very thoughtful.”

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#4: Up (2009)

[07:07–11:20]

• Opening Sequence Masterclass: Universally cited as “one of the greatest opening sequences of a movie, especially an animated movie.” (Aisha, 07:07)
• Emotional Weight: Both hosts discuss the power and sadness of Carl and Ellie’s wordless montage. Stephen (07:58): “Amid all of that emotion, it is really important to note this is a fun movie. This is a funny movie.”
• Memorable and Iconic Characters: Doug, the talking dog, SQUIRREL! (Aisha/Stephen, 08:44)
• Deeper Themes: Grief, honoring loved ones, finding new chapters in life, and the boldness of centering an elderly protagonist. Stephen (09:38): “This movie is such an object lesson…you can make a kids movie about almost anything if you have enough of an appreciation for the characters.”
• Adoption and Relationships: The bond between Carl and Russell is highlighted as emotionally resonant.

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#3: Finding Nemo (2003)

[11:26–15:40]

• Universal Appeal: The story of Marlin and Nemo speaks to kids and parents; addresses themes of loss, overprotectiveness, and independence.
• Quote:
  Stephen (13:56): “‘Fish are friends, not food.’ So many sweet, funny characters.”
• Visual Impact: Celebrated for ground-breaking animation, particularly the undersea scenes. Stephen (12:48): “Gather round Grandpa’s knee and he’ll tell you about what it was like to walk into a Costco...This was what you would see.”
• Voice Acting: Ellen DeGeneres’ Dory—“I shall call him Squishy. And he shall be mine.” (Aisha, 13:37)
• Catchphrase Legacy: “Just keep swimming.” (Aisha, 15:09)
• Timing and Perspective: Stephen notes personally, “Where you are in your life when you receive a Pixar movie is going to be very important to how you perceive it…” (14:50)

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#2: WALL-E (2008)

[15:48–19:51]

• Wordless Magic: The opening is “a masterful silent film” with emotional resonance and artistic innovation.
• Quote:
  Stephen (16:55): “It basically plays out as a masterful silent film, mostly wordless…this little robot…has such life and such personality.”
• Critiques:
  • Both hosts feel the film falters after its brilliant beginning.
  • Stephen: “As soon as it goes into space, it becomes not only a fairly rote Pixar quest epic, but...so deeply cynical about humanity in ways that I found shocking.” (17:25)
  • Aisha: “So much of the criticism coming from within the movie hinges on this idea that being fat is the worst thing in the world. It’s very kind of queasy to watch…” (18:09)
• Acknowledged Artistry: First Pixar film in the Criterion Collection and viewed as perhaps the “artiest.”
• Dissent:
  “You’re not going to convince me that WALL-E is one of the top tier Pixars outside of that opening sequence. Sorry. Not sorry.” (Aisha, 19:29)

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#1: Inside Out (2015)

[21:10–26:27]

• Universality & Emotional Education: Beloved across generations, praised for personifying emotions and making complex feelings accessible.
• Quote:
  Aisha (22:16): “It was every audience person I talked to connected with it. And I think back to watching that movie and feeling as though I had been seen.”
• Joy as ‘Woody’: Amy Poehler’s Joy compared to Woody in Toy Story—leading and keeping the group together.
• Standout Character: Bing Bong (Richard Kind)—the loss of an imaginary friend as a metaphor for growing up. Aisha (23:47): “Just the idea of losing that creative spark, that imagination, the imaginary friend—oh my goodness.”
• Balance of Emotions: The film’s lesson is about finding strength not just in happiness, but in sadness, darkness, and complexity. Stephen (24:59): “It’s finding strength from darkness. It’s finding strength from sadness…what an incredibly valuable lesson this film put out there.”
• Parental Perspective: Stephen movingly recalls seeing the movie with his daughter and the impact of shared understanding.
• Mild Criticism: Both hosts dislike the “mom and dad’s head” scene for its stereotypes, but agree it’s a minor blip in an “absolute masterpiece.” (26:08)

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Additional Highlights & Notable Quotes

The Subjective Power of Pixar

• “Where these movies come out in the span of your life ends up being very significant to whether they're your favorite.” (Stephen, 04:29)
• “If you're too cool for Pixar, don't hang out with me.” (Stephen, 15:37)

On Representation and Originality

• “Coco was able to do that by creating a new, completely original story while also being very respectful and very thoughtful.” (Aisha, 06:27)

Standout Comic Relief

• “The character of Doug, the sweet comic relief talking dog that understands dogs in a way that I think very few movies do.” (Stephen, 08:46)

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Near Misses & Honorable Mentions

[26:27–27:16]

• The Incredibles and Monsters Inc. made the top 10, but not the top 6.
• Ratatouille and Turning Red were noted as personal favorites that didn’t quite make the audience’s top votes.
• Full poll results are available on the show’s Letterboxd page: letterboxd.com/nprpopculture

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Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)

• Toy Story banter and iconic line [01:49]
• Aisha tears up recalling Coco’s “Remember Me” [03:23]
• Up’s wordless montage and ‘Ellie Badge’ scene [10:40]
• Ellen as Dory’s “Just keep swimming” [15:09]
• WALL-E’s wordless opening and space “cop-out” [16:55]
• Bing Bong’s goodbye in Inside Out [23:39]
• Stephen’s emotional reaction with his daughter [25:03]
• Joy’s “Woody” parallels [22:58]

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Tone & Style

The conversation is witty, warm, and full of personal anecdotes, playful ribbing, and sincere appreciation for Pixar’s profound impact. Stephen and Aisha dissect each pick thoughtfully—celebrating emotional storytelling, tackling difficult critiques, and always circling back to the unique universality that makes Pixar great.

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Conclusion

Pop Culture Happy Hour’s Pixar ranking is a heartfelt exploration of animated classics, underscoring the studio’s ability to tackle big themes with humor and heart. From the foundational brilliance of Toy Story through the emotional complexity of Inside Out, the episode celebrates stories that persistently “give and give”—to audiences of all ages.

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For the full ranked list and further discussion, visit the NPR Pop Culture Letterboxd.

Transcript

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[Stephen Thompson]

It's been more than 30 years since Pixar kicked off a historic run of animated features. With Toy Story and with Toy Story 5 in theaters, it seemed like a good time for your picks for the greatest Pixar films of all time. So we are revisiting our episode from last summer where we discussed the best of the best. I'm Stephen Thompson and today in this encore episode of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour, we are ranking the best Pixar movies. Here to reveal the list is my co host, Aisha Harris. Hey, Aisha.

[Aisha Harris]

Mike Wazowski. I mean, hey Steven.

[Stephen Thompson]

You will forever be Sully to my Mike Wazowski.

[Aisha Harris]

I love it. Thank you, Steven.

[Stephen Thompson]

So for those of you who didn't vote in our Pixar poll, a quick bit of background. We gave listeners a list of Pixar features, 28 of them in all. Prior to the release of Elio and the chance to pick no more than three of them, which given the number of classic films, was a tough task. I personally counted seven films I wanted to put in my top three. So with that in mind, let's get to your top five, which thanks to a well placed tie, is actually a top six. Aisha hit us with the first of our two fifth place finishers.

[Aisha Harris]

Woohoo. I was very happy to see especially one of these eek their way in in this tie here. The first is Toy Story, of course, the original version which came out in 1995, the movie that started it all.

[Stephen Thompson]

You are a toy. You weren't the real Buzz Lightyear. You're, you're an action figure. You are a child's plaything. You are a sad, strange little man. And you have my pity.

[Aisha Harris]

And then tied with Toy Story, we have my personal favorite. The movie I think is actually the best Pixar, which is Coco, one of

[Stephen Thompson]

those seven films in my top three for sure.

[Aisha Harris]

I am so happy to see Coco in here. Especially I was not surprised to see Toy Story. I figured one of them at least was gonn make it in here. Look, this is the original. It's the one that a lot of people have a lot of nostalgia for. Bakoko. I think it might be the best Pixar, personally. You know, this is a movie that came out in 2017. So it's later, later era Pixar. But to me, it kind of has all the ingredients that we, or at least I've come to love about Pixar movies. It's about family, of course, but it's a little bit more complicated than that. You've got Miguel, voiced by Anthony Gonzalez, who finds himself in the land of the dead and uncovers secrets and hidden meaning about his family. And it's about sort of the stories we tell ourselves and the ways that those things reverberate throughout generations. And it's beautiful. The music's great. And that last scene, remember me

[Stephen Thompson]

Though I have to travel far Remember me each time you hear a sad guitar. Oh, my God.

[Aisha Harris]

One of the last scenes with Mama Coco. Oh, my goodness. Ugh. That scene especially where Miguel is singing Remember me to her and her recognizing it and being lucid for that brief amount of time. I rewatched it recently. Still a gut punch. I was bawling. I was bawling.

[Stephen Thompson]

Yeah. These are two very different films, and they are two, I think, masterpieces.

[Aisha Harris]

Yeah.

[Stephen Thompson]

Toy Story gets a ton of credit for being kind of the movie that started it all, and rightfully so. I don't think it gets enough credit for being. Being the bedrock on which some of the best sequels ever made were built. You know, when we talk about this poll, you know, this is not a super scientific poll. We gave everybody three votes. The Toy Story series is at a significant disadvantage compared to other sequelized Pixar movies because it has multiple films that could credibly be considered among the best animated films of all time. And so Toy Story 1 is splitting the vote with Toy Story 2, which is actually my favorite Toy Story movie.

[Aisha Harris]

Same me too. Oh, yay.

[Stephen Thompson]

I was raised by collectors, so that film really resonated with me. Toy Story 3 is a deep, sentimental favorite for a lot of people. Where these movies come out in the span of your life ends up being very significant to whether they're your favorite. I think Toy Story is a masterful film. It is funny. It is warm.

[Sponsor/Ad Reader]

Excuse me.

[Stephen Thompson]

I think the word you're searching for is Space Ranger. The word I'm searching for I can't say because there's preschool toys present. It is laying all this groundwork for a bunch of magnificent sequels. In the case of Coco, and Coco is getting a sequel. I don't know if it really needs a sequel.

[Aisha Harris]

It does not. It does not.

[Stephen Thompson]

But talk about an emotional gut punch. And we're gonna talk about a few other major, like, emotionally heavyweight Pixar films. Coco is talking about death and family and remembrance and the power of music and the way memory gets distorted and the way memory can form myth. There's so many big ideas in this film. But also, Aisha, I don't think you've even mentioned how gorgeous oh, my goodness, Coco is.

[Aisha Harris]

To look at the Land of the Dead is just such a visual feast. The fact that it's like this urban metropolis that is very vibrant and electric and the neon colors and just the way that everything looks like it is beautiful. And even the skeletons that are taken from the classic Day of the Dead imagery, they have so much personality and warmth. They're dead characters, but they're alive. I think it's one of the most gorgeous Pixar movies ever. It's just. It's top tier.

[Stephen Thompson]

It really is. And it also really felt lived in. It felt like it took this world seriously and made something that. That honored that tradition instead of just, like, using it for storytelling. Beats.

[Aisha Harris]

I absolutely agree. And this is one of the movies that I always hold up when I'm talking about, you know, Disney, Pixar, remaking their films or reimagining their films and trying to, like, shoehorn in diversity or try to correct for their past sins. And I'm just like, Coco was able to do that by creating a new, completely original story while also being very respectful and very thoughtful about the way it employed all of that. So, yeah, I'm just so happy to see both Toy Story and Coco make their way into this top five or top six.

[Stephen Thompson]

They are both correct answers.

[Aisha Harris]

Yes.

[Stephen Thompson]

Hey, speaking of emotional gut punches, what do you got for number four?

[Aisha Harris]

I feel as though listeners probably will not be at all surprised that this is in the top five. Often called one of the greatest opening sequences of a movie, especially an animated movie of all time. I think rightfully so. And that is, of course, that is the 2009 film starring Ed Asner as Carl, the old crotchety man who is harboring a lot of just grief for the loss of his wife. I always come back to that opening sequence, but I also think the rest of the movie is fun. Like, it's hard. It's really hard. And we're gonna talk about another movie. I think people will be able to guess.

[Stephen Thompson]

Yes, we are.

[Aisha Harris]

That also has an opening sequence that's very hard to live up to. I think this movie does a really good job of keeping the story interesting, even if it can't quite live up to the heights of the opening. But, man, that opening SC It's I don't know, I don't have any words for it. It's just, it still moves me.

[Stephen Thompson]

Aisha. I rewatched the sequence the other day and of course just bawled all over the place the way you did watching Coco. And what struck me, rewatching it, you know, the way it lays out, you get this kind of newsreel with like a bunch of exposition and then you have eight and a half minutes, eight and a half perfectly scored minutes. You know, it starts out with dialogue and eventually goes wordless and you are just seeing the playing out of these two intertwined line lives. But amid all of that emotion, it is really important to note this is a fun movie. This is a funny movie.

[Aisha Harris]

Squirrel,

[Stephen Thompson]

My master made me this collar. He is a good and smart master and he made me this collar so that I may talk. Squirrel. The character of Doug, the sweet comic relief talking dog that understands dogs in a way that I think very few movies do. There is a sweetness to this film. There's some deep messaging in this film, not only about grief, but about how you honor your loved ones by the way that you live your life going forward that I found enormously powerful. Genuinely when it came out and for a long time thereafter, I would say it was one of my favorite movies, period.

[Aisha Harris]

Yeah.

[Stephen Thompson]

Deeply love this film and think about how novel and what a huge risk it was to make inherently a kid friendly type animated movie about an old person.

[Aisha Harris]

Yes.

[Stephen Thompson]

And an old person as an action hero. An old person with an interior life. An old person with life ahead of him. An old person paying tribute to a loved one who has died, who is also a deeply fleshed out, warm character that you care about who has a presence throughout this film. This movie is such an object lesson in the fact that like you can make a kids movie about almost anything if you have enough of an appreciation for the characters that you're talking about. Aisha up is not my number one favorite Pixar movie, but it is one that I feel really, really passionately about and I'm so glad it made this list.

[Aisha Harris]

Part of that sequence is we see that Carl and his wife were unable to conceive and it was, you know, it was devastating for them and they, but they still found ways to find happiness together and I love that aspect of it. And then it connects to, you know, the present day when he meets Russell who, you know, and in a way adopts.

[Stephen Thompson]

Adopts the child Russell for assisting the elderly and for performing above and beyond the call of duty. I would like to award you the highest honor I can bestow, the Ellie Badge.

[Aisha Harris]

I concur. It's not necessarily my go to Pixar movie, but every once in a while it is nice to revisit it and nice to be surprised again at how masterful this movie is. So can't be mad about up being in this top five.

[Stephen Thompson]

No, not the Pixar movie with the best grasp of physics, but I'll allow it.

[Aisha Harris]

It's okay.

[Stephen Thompson]

All right, Aisha, hit us with number three.

[Aisha Harris]

All right. Well, number three is actually a movie that I realized I had not seen in, like, well over a decade, at least in part, because when it originally came out, I probably watched it so, so many times. It was just imprinted in my brain. That is Finding Nemo from 2003. Albert Brooks voices Marlon, a clownfish who, again, talking about death and losing family members. He loses his w, I guess. Are they married? I don't know. He loses his partner. They're fish. I don't know.

[Stephen Thompson]

I don't know that there was a legal ceremony.

[Aisha Harris]

Maybe not, maybe not. But he loses her. But also all of their eggs that have not yet hatched, except for one, and that is Nemo, voiced by Alexander Gould. It's a story about overprotective parenting, fear of your child's safety.

[Stephen Thompson]

Okay, I was right.

[Sponsor/Ad Reader]

You know what?

[Stephen Thompson]

We'll start school in a year or two.

[Sponsor/Ad Reader]

No, dad.

[Aisha Harris]

Just because you're scared of the ocean,

[Stephen Thompson]

clearly you're not ready and you're not coming back until you are. You think you can do these things, but you just can't.

[Aisha Harris]

Nemo, That I think, is sort of a cross generational appeal that, like, you can kind of see in the earlier movies. Monsters, Inc. Also has a little bit of that as well, but I feel like this is the first movie where people were like, yes, Pixar has tapped into this.

[Stephen Thompson]

Like, this is for the parents just as much as it is for the

[Aisha Harris]

kids, if not more. To be honest, if not more so, I'm happy to see it here. It holds up. It really does.

[Stephen Thompson]

It's got a great cast. And once again, Aisha, you haven't yet acknowledged one of the things that really jumps out at this film, which is how it looks.

[Aisha Harris]

It's beautiful. Yes, it is beautiful.

[Stephen Thompson]

Gather round Grandpa's knee and he'll tell you about what it was like to walk into a Costco or any store that sold TVs for about five years after finding Nemo came out. This was what you would see, because if you wanted to show how Beautiful a TV was capable of being. You would look at Finding Nemo, get that sense, this deep blue color palette, but then these exquisite colors on top of it. It's worth noting. Ellen DeGeneres got Oscar buzz.

[Aisha Harris]

Yes.

[Stephen Thompson]

I remember this for her performance as Dory. And it was real Oscar buzz. She didn't get nominated, but it was talked about as, why not? Why wouldn't you?

[Aisha Harris]

I shall call him Squishy. And he shall be mine. And he shall be my Squishy. Come here, Squishy. Come here, little Squishy.

[Stephen Thompson]

Can you do Dory? That's a jellyfish.

[Aisha Harris]

Bad Squishy. Bad Squishy.

[Stephen Thompson]

Albert is so good in this and bringing so much pathos. I'm gonna come back to this point at least one more time in this conversation. Where you are in your life when you receive a Pixar movie is going to be very important to how you perceive it and how you rank it. And Finding Nemo came out in 2003, in between my first child and my second child and thinking about that feeling of needing to protect a fragile being that is your responsibility. This movie hit very hard. And it hit hard at the same time that it has this goofy surfer, stoner turtle character and the emotional support group for sharks who don't want to feed. I am a nice shark, not a mindless eating machine. If I am to change this image, I must first change myself. Fish are friends, not food. So many sweet, funny characters. There's just a little fish where they're describing their different maladies. And one of them just says, I'm obnoxious. I'm obnoxious. Should have been a greater catchphrase than it was. This film gave and gave. I don't think it's aged a day. I love it.

[Aisha Harris]

Yeah. Just keep swimming, Just keep swimming. It was part of my vocabulary for a very long time. When life gets you down, you know

[Sponsor/Ad Reader]

what you gotta do.

[Stephen Thompson]

I don't wanna know what you gotta do.

[Aisha Harris]

Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming what do we do?

[Sponsor/Ad Reader]

We swim.

[Stephen Thompson]

That's actually really good advice.

[Aisha Harris]

Yeah.

[Sponsor/Ad Reader]

Yeah.

[Aisha Harris]

Yes. Finding Nemo, so good. I was 15 when this movie came out, so, you know, I was not a child, but I was also not, I don't know, too cool.

[Stephen Thompson]

If you're too cool for Pixar, don't hang out with me.

[Aisha Harris]

Yeah, that's true.

[Stephen Thompson]

Aisha, I think you and I are of one mind on this one. I'm very intrigued to discuss it with you. Number two is.

[Aisha Harris]

All right. Well, we might have to rain on some parades. Number two is no surprise, I think.

[Stephen Thompson]

No, I'm not surprised by it. Wally.

[Aisha Harris]

Yes, it's Wally. Let's just get right to it. This is the other movie, I think, when people think of Pixar and think of great opening sequences, this is the movie everyone thinks of. Of course, you've got Wall E, voiced by Ben Burtt. He is the last remaining robot on Earth after everyone. All the humans have left because climate change, they ruined the Earth. It's very. It's very poignant. And then, of course, you have this amazing sequence of just being with this robot and he has sentience and it's just beautiful. And then you get the rest of the movie when we go to see the humans, and it's such a precipitous drop, in my opinion, to be fair

[Stephen Thompson]

to this film, unlike up, what people talk about when they talk about UP is often a sequence of about eight and a half minutes.

[Aisha Harris]

Sure.

[Stephen Thompson]

In the case of Wally, it is a much longer sequence.

[Aisha Harris]

Yes.

[Stephen Thompson]

It basically plays out as a masterful silent film, mostly wordless, largely wordless, in which this little robot kind of moves through the world and is, like. Still kind of. Is very dutiful. It's still like doing the tasks it was assigned to do, but it has such life and such personality.

[Aisha Harris]

It's a short film and it's an excellent short film.

[Stephen Thompson]

If it were just a short film, it would be, like one of the best short films I've ever seen. I do not wanna rain on the parade of how brilliant that movie is until the moment the rocket takes off with the little robot attached to it. And as soon as it goes into space, it becomes not only a fairly rote Pixar quest epic, but it is also Aisha. It is so deeply cynical about humanity in ways that I found shocking. It's not just like I can't handle the fact that it's this scathing indictment of humanity's worst excesses. It's a more cynical than accurate view of what humanity is capable of.

[Aisha Harris]

Well, also, so much of the criticism coming from within the movie hinges on this idea that being fat is the worst thing in the world. It's very kind of queasy to watch, to be honest.

[Stephen Thompson]

Yeah, and it's played for laughs, but it's also just like. It's also, you know, I mentioned the physics in up, the ending's also a complete cop out, like the world is not suddenly inhabitable. Just to me, it's like they made a perfect short film, but then grafted A best kind of c Pixar quest to the back of it and it just loses everything that's so magical about how it starts.

[Sponsor/Ad Reader]

Yeah.

[Aisha Harris]

I mean, here's the thing. Obviously a lot of people disagree with

[Stephen Thompson]

us because I know we're gonna get so much.

[Aisha Harris]

It's at number two and it is the first Pixar movie to be entered into the Criterion Collection. So, like, it has its fans and it has its defenders.

[Stephen Thompson]

In some ways it's the artiest Pixar movie, right?

[Aisha Harris]

It is the artiest in the Criterion fanboy film bro way. And I say this as someone who can absolutely play into all of those stereotypes.

[Stephen Thompson]

You can out film bro. A lot of people, sure.

[Aisha Harris]

And y look, I can hear them, our listeners typing now and being like, how dare you blast me.

[Stephen Thompson]

Ah.

[Aisha Harris]

But I also, I understand why people gravitate toward it. I think there are other movies that they may not come to the highest height of Wall E, but as a full picture execution of a story, you're not gonna convince me that Wall E is one of the top tier Pixars outside of that opening sequence. Sorry. Not sorry.

[Stephen Thompson]

All right, well, that's Wally at number two. After the break, we will reveal the number one pick, which by the way, is my favorite Pixar movie. So stick around.

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[Stephen Thompson]

I am so happy with our listeners right now because they picked my favorite Pixar movie at number one, the Good Dinosaur. The Good Dinosaur. Give us the pick.

[Aisha Harris]

It is, of course, inside out.

[Stephen Thompson]

Do you ever look at someone and wonder what is going on inside their head?

[Aisha Harris]

Well, I know, I know. Riley's head. I mean, duh, right? Even if it's not my personal favorite, it's definitely in my top three. And it is definitely. I remember when this movie came out in 2015, it made so many critics top 10 lists. But it wasn't just a critical hit. It was every audience person I talked to connected with it. And I think back to watching that movie and feeling as though I had been seen. I could remember being that age, the same age as Riley, and feeling all those feelings and talk about execution and big swing. Like, you know, this is not. It's not necessarily a wholly original concept. When it came out, a lot of people talked about Herman's Head and how this sort of concept has been explored before. But to do so in a movie directed at children and this idea of what happens when you're no longer an innocent who may be shielded from the world. And that first encounter with all these other feelings and Amy Poehler as Joy and trying to protect that. She's kind of the Woody of this movie. She is the one who's trying to keep the gang together. I get it.

[Stephen Thompson]

You guys have concerns, but we've been through worse.

[Sponsor/Ad Reader]

Tell you what, let's make a list

[Stephen Thompson]

of all the things Riley should be happy about. She's trying to hold everything together, but she can't.

[Aisha Harris]

And learning to accept that in the same way that Woody has to learn to accept that Andy cannot always be his person. Oh, man. And then of course, I will say it looks beautiful. It's gorgeous. Amazing. But also bing bong.

[Stephen Thompson]

Yeah. But we have not said the words Richard Kind in the Richard Kindest performance ever committed to screens. Shape wise. I'm part cat, part elephant, part dolphin. Dolphin. You gotta remember, when Riley was. Those three animals were all the rage. The cow goes moo, the horse goes neigh. It's all people talked about back then. Yeah, yeah.

[Aisha Harris]

Oh, bing bong. Just the idea of losing that creative spark, that imagination, the imaginary friend. Like, oh, my goodness.

[Stephen Thompson]

That sense of what you let go when you grow up, that the sense of imagination that you are not going to be able to access again and creating a sense of melancholy in a young audience that isn't just like making them sad to make them sad, it's making them sad in ways that introduce them to the workings of their brain. And we haven't mentioned Phyllis Smith from the Office as sadness. Part of what is so great about Inside out is it's not just about finding balance among our different emotions. It's about finding strength from Our different emotions. It's finding strength from darkness. It's finding strength from sadness. It's understanding that all of these things have to work together. And they're all there to regulate something. They're all there to make our brains work in the best possible way. I just think like what an incredibly valuable lesson this film put out there. Kind of like Finding Nemo. Not only for kids, but also for their parents. You need me to be happy, but I want my old friends and my hockey team.

[Aisha Harris]

I want to go home.

[Stephen Thompson]

Please don't be mad. I took my 11 year old daughter to the screening in 2015 and was an absolute wreck. And I really felt like we were sitting there understanding each other a little bit.

[Aisha Harris]

Yeah.

[Stephen Thompson]

And so this movie came out at a perfect time in my life. A perfect time in her life. I think it is an absolute masterpiece. There is one scene I in this film I hate.

[Aisha Harris]

I know we all know, we've talked about it many times. But please remind listeners who may not be, may not know where this is going.

[Stephen Thompson]

At one point we get the parents emotions. The mom's emotions are like a panel on the View and dad's emotions are just trying to watch the hockey game. Uh oh, she's looking at us. What did she say?

[Sponsor/Ad Reader]

Well.

[Stephen Thompson]

Oh, sorry sir, no one was listening. Is it garbage night? We left the toilet seat up. What? What is it, woman?

[Sponsor/Ad Reader]

What?

[Aisha Harris]

He's making that so irritating, Steven. Tapping into his disgust.

[Stephen Thompson]

Yes, it did. My disgust. My little disgust goblin got very, very, very sick during that scene. But look, it delighted a lot of people. I'm not here to yuck anybody's yum. That scene just made me very mad.

[Aisha Harris]

Yes.

[Stephen Thompson]

It's like two minutes I would have excised from what was otherwise to me. And a perfect film.

[Aisha Harris]

Yes.

[Stephen Thompson]

So those are the six top vote getters. I'm guessing just in terms of sheer odds that there is a very strong possibility that we did not get to your favorite Pixar movie today. I mean, the Incredibles and Monsters Inc. Were in the top 10, but not the top five. Ratatouille didn't quite make the cut. There are some other truly great Pixar movies that did not make the cut. I was sad not to see Turning Red, which is one of my favorite Pixar movies. Same same full list over on our Letterboxd page. You can find [e-mail] nprpopculture we'll have a link to that in our episode description. So you can kind of pore over what our listeners did and didn't get right. That brings us to the end of our show. Aisha Harris, thanks so much for being here.

[Aisha Harris]

You have saved our lives. We are eternally grateful. Ah, thank you, Stephen.

[Stephen Thompson]

This episode was produced by Liz Metzger, Hafsa Fathoma, and Mike Katsif and edited by our showrunner, Jessica Reedy. Hello. Come in. Provides our theme music. Thank you for listening to Pop Culture Happy Hour from npr. I'm Stephen Thompson, and we will see you all next time.

[Sponsor/Ad Reader]

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