Academy Award for Best Animated Feature facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Academy Award for Best Animated Feature
Maggie Kang Chris Appelhans 2026 co-recipients
Presented by	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS)
Country	United States
First awarded	Shrek (2001)
Currently held by	KPop Demon Hunters (2025)

The Academy Award for Best Animated Feature is a special prize given out every year by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It celebrates the best animated feature film of the year. To be considered, a film must be longer than 40 minutes. Most of its main characters must be animated, and at least 75% of the movie's running time needs to be animation. This award was first given in 2002 for movies released in 2001.

For a long time, the Academy didn't have a regular award for animated movies. They thought there weren't enough animated films made each year to have a special category. Instead, they sometimes gave out honorary Oscars for amazing animated films, often to Walt Disney Pictures. For example, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs received a special award in 1938. Later, Who Framed Roger Rabbit in 1989 and Toy Story in 1996 also got special recognition. Before this award existed, only one animated film, Disney's Beauty and the Beast from 1991, was ever nominated for the top prize, Best Picture.

By 2001, many new animation studios, like DreamWorks Animation, started making great animated movies. This meant there were enough animated films released each year to create a new award category. So, the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature was officially introduced at the 74th Academy Awards, which took place on March 24, 2002.

Celebrating Animated Film Winners

Hayao Miyazaki won twice for Spirited Away (2001) and The Boy and the Heron (2023).

Andrew Stanton won twice for Finding Nemo (2003) and WALL-E (2008).

Brad Bird won twice for The Incredibles (2004) and Ratatouille (2007).

Pete Docter won three times for Up (2009), Inside Out (2015) and Soul (2020).

Lee Unkrich won twice for Toy Story 3 (2010) and Coco (2017).

Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman won in 2012 for Brave.

Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee won in 2013 for Frozen.

Film directors Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, and Rodney Rothman, and producers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller won for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018).

Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson won in 2022 for Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio.

When this award first started, the people nominated were usually those most involved in making the film, like the producer or director. Over time, the rules changed. For example, at the 76th Academy Awards in 2003, only the director(s) were nominated. Later, for the 86th Academy Awards, the rules allowed one producer and up to two directors. By the 91st Academy Awards, up to four people could be nominated, including at least one director and one producer. If two people worked as a team with equal director or producer credit, they could both receive a statuette.

The Academy also had a rule that the award wouldn't be given if fewer than eight eligible animated films were released in theaters that year. This rule helps ensure there's enough competition and variety for the award.

The Academy also made a rule about films that use motion capture technology. This rule was put in place to make sure that movies like A Christmas Carol (2009) and The Adventures of Tintin (2011), which use a lot of motion capture, are not confused with fully animated films. The rule states that an animated feature must be longer than 40 minutes, with movement and character performances created frame-by-frame. Motion capture by itself is not considered an animation technique for this award. Also, a large number of the main characters must be animated, and animation must make up at least 75% of the film's total running time. This rule helps prevent live-action films that use a lot of special effects, like Avatar (2009), from being nominated in this category.

Only a few films, mostly those mixing live-action and animation, have been disqualified for not meeting the 75% animation requirement. For example, there was some discussion about whether Marcel the Shell with Shoes On would be eligible for the award at the 95th Academy Awards. This film used stop-motion animation mixed with live-action parts. The filmmakers had to provide documents to prove that the movie had enough animation to qualify. The Academy agreed, and the film was nominated.

Winners and Nominees by Year

The following tables show the winners and nominees for the Best Animated Feature Oscar each year.

2000s

2010s

2020s

Multiple Wins and Nominations

This section highlights individuals, studios, and film series that have received many Academy Awards or nominations for Best Animated Feature.

Individuals with Multiple Nominations

Studios with Multiple Nominations

Film Franchises with Multiple Nominations

Amazing Records and Facts

This section shares some interesting facts and records about the Best Animated Feature award.

Age Records

Film Length Records

International Animated Films

Many films not in English or without much dialogue have been nominated or won this award. Most non-English films on this list were also released with English voiceovers. Winners are shown in bold.

Japanese Nominees

Studio Ghibli Films

• Spirited Away
• Howl's Moving Castle
• The Wind Rises
• The Tale of the Princess Kaguya
• When Marnie Was There
• The Boy and the Heron

Other Japanese Films

• Mirai

French Nominees

Les Armateurs Films

• The Triplets of Belleville
• Ernest & Celestine

Other French Films

• Persepolis
• The Illusionist
• A Cat in Paris
• My Life as a Zucchini
• I Lost My Body
• Arco
• Little Amélie or the Character of Rain

Films in Other Languages

• Chico and Rita (Spanish)
• Boy and the World (Portuguese)
• Flee (Danish)

Films with No Dialogue or Fictional Languages

• Shaun the Sheep Movie
• The Red Turtle
• A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon
• Robot Dreams
• Flow

Milestones and Achievements

Films and Production Companies

• Pixar has won the most awards for a studio with 11 wins. They also have the most nominations with 20. Pixar also holds the record for the most consecutive wins (4, from 2007 to 2010).
  • Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios are both owned by the Walt Disney Company. Together, they have won 15 awards in this category.
• Laika has the most nominations (6 films) without ever winning the award.
  • DreamWorks Animation has the most nominations (10 films) since their last win.
• The Toy Story series is the only film franchise to win this award twice, for its third and fourth movies. These two films are also the only sequels to have won this award so far.
• Shrek and Wallace & Gromit are the most-nominated film series, with 4 nominations each (and one win each). Other series with three nominations include How to Train Your Dragon and Cartoon Saloon's "Irish Folklore Trilogy" (which includes The Secret of Kells, Song of the Sea, and Wolfwalkers). These two hold the record for most nominations without a win.
• The Boy and the Heron became the first PG-13 rated film to win the award.
• Studio Ghibli from Japan has the most wins (two) and nominations (seven) for a non-U.S. studio. Spirited Away and The Boy and the Heron are the only non-English language films to win.
• Flee is the first animated documentary film to be nominated.
• Since 2019, every year has had at least one nominated film that was mainly released through streaming services. Two of these films have won: Soul (Disney+) in 2020 and Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (Netflix) in 2022.
• 2005 and 2011 are the only years when no Disney or Pixar film was nominated in this category.
• Flow is the first independent film to win the award.
  • Because it was an independent film with a small budget, Flow is the only film with a budget under ten million dollars to win.
• Before 2022, only six non-Disney/Pixar films had won the award. The wins of Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio, The Boy and the Heron, Flow, and KPop Demon Hunters from 2022 to 2025 marked the first time that a non-Disney/Pixar film won the award four years in a row.

People Achievements

• Pete Docter has won the most awards as an individual (3). He is tied with Hayao Miyazaki and Chris Sanders for the most nominations (4). Hayao Miyazaki also has the most wins and nominations for someone from outside the U.S.
• Chris Sanders has the most nominations (4) without winning an award.
• Hayao Miyazaki became the oldest winner in 2024 at 83 years old. He held this record for many years.
• Matīss Kaža became the youngest winner in 2025 at 29 years old. Gints Zilbalodis was also the second youngest winner at 30 years old, breaking a 21-year streak held by Andrew Stanton (who won at 38 in 2004).
• In terms of diversity, Brenda Chapman was the first woman to win for Brave. Peter Ramsey was the first Black director to win for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Maggie Kang became the first Korean director to win for KPop Demon Hunters.

Award's Impact

The success of animated films from studios other than Disney/Pixar or Dreamworks Animation has greatly influenced animation studios. It has also helped animation gain more recognition in mainstream cinema.

• On March 20, 2024, Studio Ghibli displayed Hayao Miyazaki's Oscar statuette for a short time at Ghibli Park's "Ghibli's Grand Warehouse" in the Broadcast Room.
• In 2025, after Flow won the Best Animated Feature award, its statuette, along with its Golden Globe and European Film Award, was displayed at the Latvian National Museum of Art for a week.

Images for kids

• 

  Nick Park won for Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005).

• 

  George Miller won for Happy Feet (2006).

• 

  Gore Verbinski won in 2011 for Rango.

• 

  Jonas Rivera won twice for Inside Out (2015) and Toy Story 4 (2019).

• 

  Byron Howard won twice for Zootopia (2016) and Encanto (2022).

• 

  Toshio Suzuki won in 2024 for The Boy and the Heron as a film producer.

• 

  Gints Zilbalodis won in 2025 for Flow.

• 

  Matīss Kaža won in 2025 for Flow.

See also

In Spanish: Anexo:Óscar a la mejor película de animación para niños

• List of submissions for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature
• Lists of animated films
• List of animation awards
• List of animated feature films nominated for Academy Awards
• List of Academy Award–nominated films