You’ve probably seen the lists online. They usually start with a grainy image of Snow White and end with whatever CGI spectacle Disney just dropped in theaters. But looking at disney movies in order animated isn't just about a timeline. It’s actually a pretty chaotic history of a studio that almost went bankrupt about five times.
Everyone remembers the hits. The Lion King. Frozen. Aladdin.
But honestly, the "package films" of the 1940s like Make Mine Music or the weird experimental era of the early 2000s tell a much more interesting story about how animation actually works. If you want to understand Disney, you have to look at the gaps between the masterpieces.
The Golden Age and the Risk That Changed Everything
It started with a gamble that everyone in Hollywood called "Disney’s Folly." Before 1937, nobody thought people would sit through a feature-length cartoon. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs changed that, but it nearly ruined Walt Disney financially during production.
Following that, the studio entered what purists call the Golden Age. You have Pinocchio (1940), Fantasia (1940), Dumbo (1941), and Bambi (1942).
Here is the thing people miss: Fantasia was a massive box office failure at the time. It was way too ambitious. Walt wanted a sensory experience with "Fantasound," which required theaters to install expensive new equipment. Most theater owners just said no. So, while we look at it now as a high-art masterpiece, in 1940, it was a headache.
Then World War II hit.
The US government literally moved onto the Disney lot. Most of the staff were drafted or assigned to make training films for the military. This is why, when you look at disney movies in order animated, there is a weird gap where they stopped making single-story features. Instead, they churned out "package films."
These are basically collections of shorts edited together. We’re talking Saludos Amigos (1942), The Three Caballeros (1944), Make Mine Music (1946), Fun and Fancy Free (1947), Melody Time (1948), and The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949).
Most casual fans skip these. That’s a mistake. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow segment in Ichabod and Mr. Toad is some of the most atmospheric animation the studio ever produced. It’s dark, moody, and genuinely scary.
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The Silver Age and the Rise of the "Nine Old Men"
By 1950, Disney finally had enough cash to return to single-narrative features. Cinderella saved the studio. If that movie had flopped, there would be no Disney World. No Marvel acquisition. No Star Wars. Nothing.
This era—the Silver Age—ran from 1950 to 1967. It’s defined by the work of the "Nine Old Men," the core group of animators who refined the Disney style.
- Alice in Wonderland (1951)
- Peter Pan (1953)
- Lady and the Tramp (1955)
- Sleeping Beauty (1959)
- One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961)
- The Sword in the Stone (1963)
- The Jungle Book (1967)
Sleeping Beauty is the standout here for its visual style. Eyvind Earle, the production designer, wanted it to look like a living medieval tapestry. It’s gorgeous, but it was incredibly slow and expensive to produce. Because of the high costs, the studio pivoted to a cheaper, "scratchy" look using Xerox technology for 101 Dalmatians. You can actually see the pencil lines on the characters. It was a massive technical shift that lasted for decades.
The Dark Age: When Disney Lost Its Way
Walt Disney died in 1966 during the production of The Jungle Book. For the next twenty years, the studio was basically a ship without a captain.
The movies from this era are... polarizing. Some people have deep nostalgia for The Aristocats (1970) or Robin Hood (1973), but if you look closely, you’ll see the animators were recycling animation. They literally traced over old sequences from Snow White and The Jungle Book to save money.
The Rescuers (1977) was a hit, but then came The Black Cauldron (1985).
This movie was a disaster. It was the first Disney animated film to get a PG rating, and it was so dark and disjointed that it almost killed the animation department. Jeffrey Katzenberg, who had just joined the company, reportedly tried to edit the film himself, which was unheard of for an executive.
The Renaissance: A Broadway Revolution
In the late 80s, something clicked. Disney realized their movies shouldn't just be cartoons; they should be Broadway musicals. They hired Howard Ashman and Alan Menken, and the result was the Disney Renaissance.
- The Little Mermaid (1989)
- The Rescuers Down Under (1990)
- Beauty and the Beast (1991)
- Aladdin (1992)
- The Lion King (1994)
- Pocahontas (1995)
- The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)
- Hercules (1997)
- Mulan (1998)
- Tarzan (1999)
Beauty and the Beast was the first animated film ever nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. Not Best Animated Feature—Best Picture. Period. This was the peak of 2D hand-drawn animation. The ballroom scene in Beauty and the Beast used early CGI for the background, blending two worlds in a way that felt like magic at the time.
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The Post-Renaissance Slump and the Digital Pivot
After Tarzan, Disney hit another rough patch. Pixar was eating their lunch with 3D animation like Toy Story. Disney tried to keep up by experimenting.
This led to some of the most unique, weirdest movies in the disney movies in order animated catalog. The Emperor's New Groove (2000) was originally supposed to be an epic drama called Kingdom of the Sun, but it was scrapped mid-production and turned into a buddy comedy. It’s now a cult classic, but at the time, it felt like a departure from the "Disney brand."
Then you have Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) and Treasure Planet (2002). They were trying to capture a male teen audience with sci-fi action. It didn't work. Both were box office disappointments.
The studio finally went full CGI with Chicken Little (2005), which... let’s just say it hasn't aged as well as Finding Nemo.
The Modern Era: The Revival
Everything changed when Disney bought Pixar and put John Lasseter in charge of the animation studio. They went back to basics: strong storytelling, emotional depth, and catchy music.
Tangled (2010) was the turning point. It proved Disney could do the "Princess" formula in 3D and make it feel fresh. Then Frozen (2013) happened. You couldn't go to a grocery store for three years without hearing "Let It Go."
The recent lineup has been a mix of massive sequels and culturally specific stories:
- Zootopia (2016)
- Moana (2016)
- Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018)
- Frozen II (2019)
- Raya and the Last Dragon (2021)
- Encanto (2021)
- Strange World (2022)
- Wish (2023)
Encanto is a fascinating case study. It wasn't a massive theatrical hit, but once it landed on Disney+, it exploded because of the soundtrack by Lin-Manuel Miranda. It showed that the way we consume these movies has fundamentally changed.
Why the Order Matters
When you watch disney movies in order animated, you see the technical evolution of the medium. You see the shift from hand-painted backgrounds to Xerox lines, then to the clean "Caps" digital ink and paint system of the 90s, and finally to the complex fluid dynamics and lighting of modern CGI.
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But you also see the cultural shifts. The way women are portrayed has changed drastically from the passive waiting of Snow White to the agency of Moana or Mirabel.
The most common misconception is that Disney is a monolithic "magic" factory where every hit is guaranteed. It’s not. It’s a history of narrow escapes. The Lion King was considered the "B-team" project while everyone thought Pocahontas would be the big winner. Animation is unpredictable.
Practical Steps for Your Own Disney Marathon
If you're planning to watch through the library, don't just go 1 to 62. It's exhausting. Try these themed approaches instead.
The "Saviors of the Studio" Pack Watch Snow White, Cinderella, The Little Mermaid, and Tangled. These are the specific films that financially rescued the company when it was on the brink of shutting down the animation wing.
The Experimental Era Watch Fantasia, The Black Cauldron, and The Emperor's New Groove. These show Disney when they weren't following a formula and were actually taking risks (with varying degrees of success).
The Musical Evolution Compare the music of the Sherman Brothers in The Jungle Book to the Menken/Ashman era of Aladdin, then to the modern style of Encanto. It tracks the history of American musical theater just as much as it tracks animation.
To truly appreciate the craft, keep an eye on the backgrounds. In the early films, they were literal oil paintings. In the 90s, they became digital layouts. Today, they are fully realized 3D environments with simulated physics. The tech changes, but the goal—making you believe a puppet can talk or a house can fly—remains exactly the same.
For the most accurate list, always refer to the official "Disney Animated Canon" count. This excludes the direct-to-video sequels (like Cinderella II) and the Pixar films, focusing strictly on the output of Walt Disney Animation Studios. As of early 2026, the count sits at 63 feature films, with more in development that continue to push the boundaries of what a "cartoon" can actually be.
Start with the films that defined an era, then look for the "failures." Often, the movies that didn't make money are the ones where the artists were having the most fun.