11 Pixar Shorts for Teaching Elements of Literature (+ 2 Bonus Recommendations)

This poignant short film depicts the struggles parents face in letting go of their children when they grow from babies into young adults (we’re not crying, you’re crying). In this case, the mother is attached to a baby dumpling come to life, but it quickly becomes clear that the dumpling represents her actual son, who has grown up and left the house.
“Bao” is perfect for discussing conflict (internal and external), dynamic characters, symbolism, and theme. It was one of our regulars in our Pixar Shorts for Teaching Theme lesson because it dealt with complex emotions that many students could relate to (even if it was from the other side of the conflict).

Who doesn’t want to watch an adorable dog go on an adventure across town to rescue his beloved owner from the depression of heartbreak? This was the perfect choice for our students to practice creating a plot diagram.

(This is a Walt Disney Animation Studios short, not a Pixar short.)

We all love watching bullies get their comeuppance, even when those bullies are birds named Chipper, Snob, and Neurotic. 

This delightful short film earns a lot of giggles, and it works well for introducing conflict, connotation (if you give students those character names), and irony. It also works well for practicing writing theme statements, but it tends to lead students to write morals, which is why we eventually replaced it with some meatier options.

We absolutely love this one, and it’s a staple in our Pixar Shorts for Teaching Theme lesson. The film depicts three generations—grandfather, father, and son—going out to complete their nightly job of cleaning up the stars that have fallen on the moon. Both the grandfather and father are determined to teach the young boy their way of doing things, but it turns out that the boy might have some groundbreaking ideas of his own.

Students write great theme statements for this one, and it also works well for introducing symbolism (guide any struggling students to pay attention to the brooms and the mustaches!).

We could listen to this adorable musical love story on repeat, the sounds of a ukulele transporting us directly to an island in the middle of the Pacific.

The light and simple short film gives students the perfect opportunity to practice creating a plot diagram, and the lush setting is worth discussing as well (especially if your students need practice using imagery!).

Whenever we talk about alien abductions, we tend to work under the assumption that all aliens are powerful creatures, far more intelligent than us mere humans. But what if the aliens have to learn that intelligence, just like we do? 

If you teach sophomores and juniors going through driver’s education, they’ll find this humorous story quite relatable. We used it as an assessment in our Pixar Shorts for Teaching Theme lesson, giving students extra practice writing a theme statement after completing guided practice activities.

On the surface, this story about a playground bully learning a valuable lesson in empathy seems most useful for an SEL lesson, but we found students are also able to write interesting theme statements for it, so we used it as an additional assessment in our Pixar Shorts for Teaching Theme lesson.

As an added bonus, we also use “Lou” for a guided practice activity when we have our students practice identifying and writing hooks for essays.

Competition can be good, leading to innovation and improvement, but when things get too competitive, everyone loses, as we learn in this exchange between two street musicians vying for a young girl’s gold coin.

We’ve used this to practice discussing conflict, cause-and-effect and character development. It also works for students to practice writing effective theme statements.

It’s love at first sight when a young businessman sees a beautiful woman at the train station. But when they’re separated too soon, finding her becomes his top priority for the day (much to his boss’s frustration).

This is a touch longer than some of the other short films, making it a perfect “final” practice for our students when they were learning to create plot diagrams. With only three characters, it also made a great resource for our students to practice writing dialogue in preparation for a narrative creative writing assignment. There is no dialogue in the short film, but plenty of action, interaction, and emotion to inspire students to create their own.

(This is actually a Walt Disney Animation Studios short, not a Pixar short.)

We adore watching the short adventures of a young sandpiper, initially afraid of the powerful ocean, who learns that rich rewards await those who are willing to face their fears head on.

“Piper” makes a great opening activity for our Pixar Shorts for Teaching Theme lesson: we use it as our example when providing direct instruction on the six characteristics of an effective theme statement.

Steph stumbled upon SparkShorts film entirely by accident. It tells the story of Purl, a ball of yarn hired to work in a male-dominated company who gives up her sweet nature to fit in . . . until another ball of yarn is hired, becomes the target of bullying, and brings Purl to her senses.

This short film works well for additional practice writing theme statements, and while many students will connect to the themes relating to conformity, we think older students may appreciate the opportunity to discuss more “grown up” topics like toxic masculinity, particularly in the workplace. Unlike the other Disney and Pixar shorts described here, it does include dialogue.

2 Bonus Non-Pixar Short Film Recommendations

There are also many animated short films (of increasingly high quality) that are not produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios or Pixar. Not only are these short films easier to access on YouTube, but they often feature diverse characters and points of view, which make a refreshing break from the omnipresent (yet beloved) Disney.

This Sony Pictures Animation short film won an Oscar after its release in 2019. It depicts a Black father and daughter getting ready to bring his wife (and her mom) home from the hospital, where she has been receiving cancer treatment. The daughter wants to look nice for this important day, which means her father must face the daunting task of doing her hair for her.

The story is sweet and humorous with a touching conclusion, and we appreciate that it presents an experience that many of our students can relate to but may not have seen represented on screen.

We used this in an activity reviewing how to support claims with evidence: we provided students with a claim about the short film, and they had to select the piece of evidence from a list that BEST supported that claim. It would also work really well for practice creating plot diagrams.

Another award-winning short film, “The Present” (2014) tells the story of a teenage boy obsessed with playing video games until his mom brings him a puppy as a gift. The teenage boy is initially disappointed by the dog’s imperfections, but the puppy is persistent in winning him over, and in a surprising twist, we learn there is more to the boy’s initial reaction than we first realized.

We used this one in the same activity as “Hair Love,” giving students the opportunity to practice identifying evidence to support a claim, but it would be a great fit for discussing characterization (especially the difference between flat and round characters) and practice writing effective theme statements as well.