The Art of Pixar Posters

1995

Toy Story

Pixar's first feature film's poster does a textbook job with it's poster. It shows off its main characters in one unique and showy poster. You can see who the main characters are going to be, along with nice glimpses of the supporting characters. I like this poster, it's colourful, simple enough and shows off a great amount of the technical prowess which all other animated films did not have at the time.

1997

 A Bug's Life

This poster features some great things and some bad things. Firstly, I like Flik peeking over the top of the leaf (this was used in all subsequent posters for A Bug's Life), it's just a nice feature. I also like the shadow showing through the leaf, another simple but effective addition. I don't like the characters used in this poster. For me, posters should either feature the main characters (a la Toy Story) or just the main, and perhaps one other, character (a la Ratatouille). I'd just prefer a better selection of characters (Flik on his own would work best for me).

 

1999

Toy Story 2

Simplicity is the key to a good poster in my opinion. Too much information overloads the audience and makes it immensely complicated. This poster is as simple as it can acceptably get. I like that just Woody and Buzz feature, as their narrative arcs are most important and most prominent in the story. I like Woody's "2" gesture too, it adds a bit of charm to the simplicity.

2001

 Monsters Inc

Another one of Pixar's classics, with a simple, but cheerful poster. It relies all of the key information, shows us the two main characters and even a little bit about them. Sulley leaning on Mike is a nice touch, it adds a little of the charm which the film possesses. However, I would like some kind of tag line at the top instead, although that's a small ask. 

2003

 Finding Nemo

At this point, Pixar go back to, quite literally this time, adding all of the characters to the poster, just like Toy Story. The result is a frantic, colourful and very fun poster. Wherever you look you can see a gaudy new character, exciting for little kids and Pixar fans. Although I love this poster and its characters, I'd like a bit more focus on the two main characters (you can just about make them out in the middle), especially considering the very personal story of the film.

2004

The Incredibles

This is how you make a fun, lively poster with focus on the main characters. It's a great poster. I love the old fashioned action style and the hints to all the unique characters. The small glimpse of the Omnidroid is a great move, showing us what to expect but not giving away absolutely everything. Edna Mode's small cameo at the bottom is strange (and slightly out of place) but I understand why she's there: she was one of my highlights of the whole film.

2006

Cars

 The film may not be quite up to Pixar standard, but the poster is. Lasseter's first feature since Toy Story 2 has a great poster, stuffed with great characters and vibrant colours. I do think that the line of Cars should've stopped sooner than it did (after the line containing Chick Hicks perhaps), but the formation is neat and the most important characters are the most prominent (unlike Finding Nemo's). The inclusion of Radiator Springs (instead of a track or something similar) is another good touch.

2007

Ratatouille

Now, is it just me or do Brad Birds' films have great posters? This is my favourite Pixar poster. It's strongly focused on the main character - with a sturdy tag line, giving you a hint about the character and the plot. It's got humour and Remy is the centre point of the poster, crucial if you are creating a film based around its characters so much. I like the chefs had and whiskers on the dot on the "i" too. Small touches like that add charm to things like this.

2008

WALL-E

A nice poster, if not as groundbreaking as its film. The focus on WALL-E is good, but I'd like more EVE in the poster, considering the role she plays in the film. Despite the lack of EVE, the background is good, suggesting a different style Pixar adventure. I like the line of text at the top too: "From the humans who brought you 'Finding Nemo'". It's a small thing, but it displays Pixar's imagination.

2009

 Up

Probably my third favourite poster of the lot, Up's theatrical poster is fun, gives us a good idea about our new main characters and shows us how original this film is. It's at this point where I realise how much the Pixar posters have evolved. From the simple plain backgrounds of Monsters Inc and Toy Story 2, to the exciting and colourful posters which Up and The Incredibles have spawned.

2010

 Toy Story 3

Second only to Ratatouille's, this is a poster I absolutely adore. It may be cramped, but in a fun, realistic way. I also like the simple 3 in the middle, in the same recognisable font as the other films. The poster allows us to see all our favourite characters (freshly rendered and coloured) and plenty of new ones. It's just a glorious design.

2011

 Cars 2

Yeah that film which is awkward for Pixar enthusiasts to talk about. The poster isn't bad though. In fact it's pretty good. The characters are displayed clearly and the background shows us that this sequel will be very different to the previous one. Despite the film feeling lacklustre, the poster benefits from being vibrant and simple.

2012

Brave

Although I much prefer the poster featuring all of Merida's family, Brave's poster is sufficiently suited to the key elements of the film. Merida is given the limelight (her fiery hair especially) but for me what makes this poster good is the background. The dark colours are great and I love the font and styling used on the lettering, but the glimpse of Mor'du is subtle and quite frightening. The tagline "change your fate" is effective too, it works better on this poster than any other.

2013

Monsters University

I like this poster too (I've liked most of them to be honest). It rammed with colour, fur, tentacles, slime, teeth, eyes and horns, but you can distinctly see the college theme emerging, with great flashes of Monsters University's well designed campus. Ultimately this is well designed, clearly themed and just nice to look at.

All posters are the original theatrical posters used at the time of release.