The Boy and the Heron won the Oscar for best animated feature on Sunday (March 10), 21 years after Spirited Away took the award. Hayao Miyazaki won for both films, making the Japanese filmmaker the first person who was born outside the U.S. to win twice in this category.
Animated films have a rich history at the Academy Awards. Walt Disney received a special award in 1938 for the previous year’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which was “recognized as a significant screen innovation which has charmed millions and pioneered a great new entertainment field for the motion picture cartoon.”
Fifty years later, Richard Williams received a special achievement award for the animation direction of Who Framed Roger Rabbit. The film also won three competitive Oscars.
But it wasn’t until 1991’s Beauty and the Beast that an animated film was nominated for best picture. Throughout the ’90s, the Oscars resisted adding a category for animated features, though John Lasseter received a special achievement award in 1996 “for his inspired leadership of the Pixar Toy Story team, resulting in the first feature-length computer-animated film.” In 2001, the Academy finally added a category for best animated feature. Shrek became the first winner in 2002.
This year, we had a close contest for best animated feature film between The Boy and the Heron, which won in this category at the BAFTA Awards in London on Feb. 18, and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. This year’s other nominees were Elemental, Nimona and Robot Dreams.
Here’s a year-by-year recap of all the Oscar winners for best animated feature film. The years shown are the years of the awards presentation.
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2002: Shrek
Image Credit: ©DreamWorks/courtesy Everett Studio: PDI/DreamWorks Production; DreamWorks
Oscar Went to: Aron Warner
Film’s Other Oscar Wins: none
Other Oscar Nods: adapted screenplay (written by Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio and Joe Stillman and Roger S.H. Schulman)
Notes: Shrek was inducted into the National Film Registry in 2020. The soundtrack reached No. 28 on the Billboard 200. It contains two hits by Smash Mouth, the 1999 smash “All Star” and a remake of The Monkees’ “I’m a Believer” recorded specifically for the movie.
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2003: Spirited Away
Studio: Studio Ghibli Production; Buena Vista [Japan]
Oscar Went to: Hayao Miyazaki
Film’s Other Oscar Wins: none
Other Oscar Nods: none
Notes: Spirited Away was the first Japanese, hand-drawn and non-English language film to win in the category. Miyazaki won an honorary Oscar in 2014. The Academy called him “a master storyteller whose animated artistry has inspired filmmakers and audiences around the world.”
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2004: Finding Nemo
Studio: Pixar Animation Studios Production; Buena Vista
Oscar Went to: Andrew Stanton
Film’s Other Oscar Wins: none
Other Oscar Nods: original score (Thomas Newman); sound editing (Gary Rydstrom and Michael Silvers); original screenplay (screenplay by Andrew Stanton, Bob Peterson and David Reynolds; original story by Andrew Stanton).
Notes: The soundtrack, Finding Nemo: Ocean Favorites, reached No. 156 on the Billboard 200.
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2005: The Incredibles
Image Credit: Walt Disney/courtesy Everett Collection Studio: Pixar Animation Studios Production; Buena Vista
Oscar Went to: Brad Bird
Film’s Other Oscar Wins: sound editing (Michael Silvers and Randy Thom)
Other Oscar Nods: sound mixing (Randy Thom, Gary A. Rizzo and Doc Kane); original screenplay (Brad Bird).
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2006: Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
Studio: Aardman Animations Limited Production; DreamWorks Animation SKG. [United Kingdom]
Oscar Went to: Nick Park and Steve Box
Film’s Other Oscar Wins: none
Other Oscar nods: none
Notes: Park and Box were the first creatives from the U.K. to win in this category. Park had won three previous Oscars for short film (animated) for Creature Comforts (1990), The Wrong Trousers (1993) and A Close Shave (1995). Wallace & Gromit… was the first stop motion animated film to win.
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2007: Happy Feet
Studio: Kingdom Pictures, LLC Production; Warner Bros. [Australia/U.S.A.]
Oscar Went to: George Miller
Film’s Other Oscar Wins: none
Other Oscar Nods: none
Notes: Miller was the first creative from Australia to win in this category. This was the only motion-capture-related computer-animated film to win before a rule change in 2010 disqualified such films. The soundtrack, which contained such songs as Prince’s “Song of the Heart” and The Beach Boys’ “Do It Again,” reached No. 51 on the Billboard 200. Prince’s song won a Golden Globe for best original song, but wasn’t nominated for an Oscar.
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2008: Ratatouille
Studio: Pixar Production; Walt Disney
Oscar Went to: Brad Bird
Film’s Other Oscar Wins: none
Other Oscar Nods: original score (Michael Giacchino); sound editing (Randy Thom and Michael Silvers); sound mixing (Randy Thom, Michael Semanick and Doc Kane); original screenplay (screenplay by Brad Bird; story by Jan Pinkava, Jim Capobianco, Brad Bird)
Notes: Bird was the first two-time winner in the category. He also won for The Incredibles (2004).
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2009: WALL-E
Studio: Pixar Animation Studios Production; Walt Disney
Oscar Went to: Andrew Stanton
Film’s Other Oscar Wins: none
Other Oscar Nods: original score (Thomas Newman); original song (“Down to Earth” by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman); sound editing (Ben Burtt and Matthew Wood); sound mixing (Tom Myers, Michael Semanick and Ben Burtt); original screenplay (screenplay by Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon; original story by Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter)
Notes: WALL-E was inducted into the National Film Registry in 2021. Stanton was the second two-time winner in the category. He also won for Finding Nemo (2003). The WALL-E soundtrack reached No. 127 on the Billboard 200.
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2010: Up
Image Credit: ©Walt Disney Co./courtesy Everett Collection Studio: Pixar Production; Walt Disney
Oscar Went to: Pete Docter
Film’s Other Oscar Wins: original score (Michael Giacchino)
Other Oscar Nods: best picture (Jonas Rivera, producer); sound editing (Michael Silvers and Tom Myers), original screenplay (screenplay by Bob Peterson, Pete Docter; story by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy)
Notes: Up was the second animated film, following Beauty and the Beast, to receive a best picture nomination.
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2011: Toy Story 3
Studio: Pixar Production; Walt Disney
Oscar Went to: Lee Unkrich
Film’s Other Oscar Wins: original song (“We Belong Together” by Randy Newman)
Other Oscar Nods: best picture (Darla K. Anderson, producer); sound editing (Tom Myers and Michael Silvers); adapted screenplay (screenplay by Michael Arndt; story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich
Notes: Toy Story 3 was the third animated film to receive a best picture nomination. This was the fourth consecutive year that a Pixar film won this award – a record.
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2012: Rango
Studio: Paramount Pictures Production; Paramount
Oscar Went to: Gore Verbinski
Film’s Other Oscar Wins: none
Other Oscar Nods: none
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2013: Brave
Studio: Pixar Animation Studios Production; Walt Disney
Oscar Went to: Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman
Film’s Other Oscar Wins: none
Other Oscar Nods: none
Notes: Chapman was the first woman to win in this category. The Brave soundtrack reached No. 33 on the Billboard 200.
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2014: Frozen
Image Credit: ©Walt Disney Pictures/courtesy Everett Collection Studio: Walt Disney Feature Animation Production; Walt Disney
Oscar Went to: Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee and Peter Del Vecho
Film’s Other Oscar Wins: original song (“Let It Go,” music and lyric by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez).
Other Oscar Nods: none.
Notes: Buck, Lee and Del Vecho were the first three-member creative team to win in this category. The Frozen soundtrack topped the Billboard 200 for 13 weeks. Idina Menzel’s “Let It Go” logged five weeks at No. 5 on the Hot 100.
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2015: Big Hero 6
Studio: Walt Disney Animation Studios Production; Walt Disney
Oscar Went to: Don Hall, Chris Williams and Roy Conli
Film’s Other Oscar Wins: none
Other Oscar Nods: none
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2016: Inside Out
Studio: Pixar Animation Studios Production; Walt Disney
Oscar Went to: Pete Docter and Jonas Rivera
Film’s Other Oscar Wins: none
Other Oscar Nods: original screenplay (screenplay by Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve, Josh Cooley; original story by Pete Docter, Ronnie del Carmen)
Notes: Docter was the third two-time winner in the category. He also won for Up (2009).
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2017: Zootopia
Studio: Walt Disney Animation Studios Production; Walt Disney
Oscar Went to: Byron Howard, Rich Moore and Clark Spencer
Film’s Other Oscar Wins: None
Other Oscar Nods: None
Notes: The soundtrack reached No. 121 on the Billboard 200.
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2018: Coco
Image Credit: © Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures /Courtesy Everett Collection Studio: Pixar Production; Walt Disney
Oscar Went to: Lee Unkrich and Darla K. Anderson
Film’s Other Oscar Wins: original song (“Remember Me” by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez)
Other Oscar Nods: none
Notes: Unkrich was the fourth two-time winner in the category. He also won for Toy Story 3 (2010). The Coco soundtrack reached No. 39 on the Billboard 200.
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2019: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Studio: Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation Production; Sony Pictures Releasing
Oscar Went to: Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller
Film’s Other Oscar Wins: None
Other Oscar Nods: None
Note: This was the first five-member creative team to win in this category. Ramsey was the first Black filmmaker to win here. The soundtrack reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200. Post Malone & Swae Lee’s “Sunflower” was the first song from an animated film to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 since Justin Timberlake’s “Can’t Stop the Feeling!” from Trolls (2016). “Sunflower” also received a Grammy nod for record of the year.
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2020: Toy Story 4
Studio: Pixar Animation Studios Production; Walt Disney
Oscar Went to: Josh Cooley, Mark Nielsen and Jonas Rivera
Film’s Other Oscar Wins: None
Other Oscar Nods: original song (“I Can’t Let You Throw Yourself Away” by Randy Newman)
Notes: With this win, Toy Story became the first franchise to win twice in this category. Rivera was the fifth two-time winner in the category. He also won for Inside Out (2015). The Toy Story 4 soundtrack included Chris Stapleton’s “The Ballad of the Lonesome Cowboy.”
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2021: Soul
Studio: Walt Disney Animation Studios Production; Walt Disney
Oscar Went to: Pete Docter and Dana Murray
Film’s Other Oscar Wins: original score (Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and Jon Batiste)
Other Oscar Nods: sound (Ren Klyce, Coya Elliott and David Parker)
Notes: With this film, Docter became the first three-time winner in the category. He had previously won for Up (2009) and Inside Out (2015).
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2022: Encanto
Image Credit: © Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection Studio: Walt Disney Animation Studios Production; Walt Disney
Oscar Went to: Jared Bush, Byron Howard, Yvett Merino and Clark Spencer
Film’s Other Oscar Wins: none
Other Oscar Nods: original score (Germaine Franco); original song (Lin-Manuel Miranda for “Dos Oruguitas”)
Notes: Merino was the first creative from Mexico to win in this category. Spencer and Howard had previously collaborated on Zootopia, the 2016 winner in this category. The Encanto soundtrack logged nine weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” logged five weeks atop the Hot 100.
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2023: Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
Studio: Netflix Animation; Netflix
Oscar Went to: Guillermo del Toro, Mark Gustafson, Gary Ungar and Alex Bulkley
Film’s Other Oscar Wins: none
Other Oscar Nods: none
Notes: With this win, del Toro became the first person to win Oscars for both best picture (The Shape of Water) and best animated feature film (Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio). del Toro co-wrote, co-directed and co-produced Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio. “Animation is cinema. Animation is not a genre. And animation is ready to be taken to the next step,” Del Toro said when he received the award.
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2024: The Boy and the Heron
Studio: GKids/Toho
Oscar Went to: Hayao Miyazaki, Toshio Suzuki
Film’s Other Oscar Wins: none
Other Oscar Nods: none
Notes: Miyazaki, who won the 2002 award for Spirited Away, is the first non-American to win twice in this category. He was born in Japan. Moreover, he is one of the first Asians to win two Oscars in any category, along with Taiwanese director Ang Lee. This is also the second Japanese film to win in this category.