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Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Rankings
Comprehensive ranking of every animated milestone honored with the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature since 2001. Rank landmark films from Pixar, Studio Ghibli, DreamWorks, and independent animation houses worldwide.
World Ranking
▲ Top 5
#1
Toy Story 3 (Unkrich, 2010)
A poignant reflection on mortality, growing up, and letting go that earned over a billion dollars and capped Pixar's original trilogy with an incinerator sequence for the ages.
+105
#2
Spirited Away (Miyazaki, 2002)
Hayao Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli masterpiece remains the only hand-drawn, non-English-language film to win Best Animated Feature, exploring a magical bathhouse of spirits.
+88
#3
Up (Docter, 2009)
Famous for its devastating opening 'Married Life' montage, this high-flying wilderness adventure became only the second animated film nominated for Best Picture.
+59
#4
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (Persichetti/Ramsey/Rothman, 2018)
Revolutionized cinematic animation by fusing classic hand-drawn comic book halftone printing with modern CGI, bringing Miles Morales to global acclaim.
+58
#5
Coco (Unkrich, 2017)
A colorful celebration of Mexican heritage and Día de los Muertos traditions, exploring ancestral memory and family reconciliation through 'Remember Me'.
+36
▼ Bottom 5
#1
Happy Feet (Miller, 2006)
George Miller blended tap dancing, ecological preservation themes, and pioneering motion-capture choreography in the icy landscapes of Antarctica.
-147
#2
Brave (Andrews/Chapman, 2012)
Pixar's Scottish highland fantasy centered on Merida breaking ancient marriage traditions, renowned for technical advances in simulating curly red hair dynamics.
-111
#3
Rango (Verbinski, 2011)
Gore Verbinski's visually gritty, surreal animated Western featured photorealistic reptile textures, cinematic lighting, and Johnny Depp as a chameleon sheriff.
-82
#4
Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (del Toro/Robbins, 2022)
A dark, anti-fascist stop-motion reimagining set in 1930s Italy that examined obedience, mortality, and unconditional paternal love.
-57
#5
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (Park/Box, 2005)
Aardman Animations took home the statuette for this lovingly crafted stop-motion claymation comedy honoring classic British Hammer Horror films.
-29
You should check out
The Animator's Survival Kit: A Manual of Methods, Principles and Formulas by Richard Williams
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Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration by Ed Catmull
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The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation by Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas
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Oscars.org
Official Academy Awards Database: Best Animated Feature
ASIFA-Hollywood
The International Animated Film Society Archives
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All Items (25)
Toy Story 3 (Unkrich, 2010)+105
Spirited Away (Miyazaki, 2002)+88
Up (Docter, 2009)+59
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (Persichetti/Ramsey/Rothman, 2018)+58
Coco (Unkrich, 2017)+36
Finding Nemo (Stanton, 2003)+24
The Incredibles (Bird, 2004)+22
WALL-E (Stanton, 2008)+17
Inside Out (Docter, 2015)+13
Ratatouille (Bird, 2007)+10
Shrek (Adamson/Jenson, 2001)+7
Frozen (Buck/Lee, 2013)+4
KPop Demon Hunters (Kang/Appelhans, 2025)+4
Zootopia (Howard/Moore, 2016)+1
Big Hero 6 (Hall/Williams, 2014)—
Soul (Docter, 2020)—
Flow (Zilbalodis, 2024)—
The Boy and the Heron (Miyazaki, 2023)-5
Encanto (Bush/Howard, 2021)-6
Toy Story 4 (Cooley, 2019)-11
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (Park/Box, 2005)-29
Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (del Toro/Robbins, 2022)-57
Rango (Verbinski, 2011)-82
Brave (Andrews/Chapman, 2012)-111
Happy Feet (Miller, 2006)-147