Disney and Pixar have released countless successful feature-length films. The two studios have also come out with lesser-known short films. Disney fans may not know that the introduction of the popular character Mickey Mouse didn't occur in a well-known feature-length film, but in a short called Steamboat Willie.

RELATED: 10 Classic Mickey Mouse Shorts That Still Hold Up 

While Pixar has a smaller library of short films than Disney, they are as successful. Some of the most iconic Pixar shorts are Geri's Game and For The Birds, alongside A Bug's Life and Monsters, Inc., respectively. Some shorts win Academy-Awards. These shorts deserve as much a chance as a feature-length film.

10 Bao Is A Tearful Story About A Living Steamed Bun

Bao - from the short film

Bao is a 2018 short film written and directed by Domee Shi, the first woman to direct a Pixar short film. It appeared alongside Incredibles 2 at the Tribeca Film Festival, and even won an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.

Bao is about a lonely middle-aged mother whose child moves out of the house. She unexpectedly encounters a living steamed bao bun and cares for it like a child. Angry when the bao bun also wants to leave, the mother eats him. However, the whole experience is a dream, and the mother reunites with her real-life son.

9 Steamboat Willie Is A Disney Short Film Classic

disney

Steamboat Willie is a 1928 classic Walt Disney Short and is regarded as the introduction of Mickey and Minnie Mouse. Steamboat Willie goes down in history as one of the first cartoons with the technological advancement of synchronized sound.

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It seems like Mickey is the captain of a steamboat until viewers realize that Pete is actually in charge. Mickey and Minnie entertain the audience by their musical talents, which Pete disapproves of. Pete puts Mickey to work when he makes him responsible for peeling potatoes alongside a laughing parrot.

8 Geri's Game Is A Common Short Film Favorite Among Pixar Fans

Geri's Game, a chess PIxar short

Geri's Game is a common favorite among animated short film fans. It was released alongside Pixar's A Bug's Life in 1997. Geri's Game begins the tradition of including a short film in conjunction with a feature-length film, and won an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. Geri's Game features an elderly man who plays chess by himself in a park. He removes his glasses and manoeuvres the chess board to make it seem like he's two different people. Geri not only stars in a short film, but also makes a cameo in Toy Story 2 as The Cleaner.

7 For The Birds Criticizes Bullies In This Heartwarming Tale

Bird in For the Birds Pixar Short

For The Birds is a Pixar short film shown alongside the 2001 film Monsters, Inc. It was re-released in 2012 in a 3-D format for the 3-D re-release of Monsters, Inc. For The Birds begins with over a dozen small blue birds sitting on a crowded telephone wire. Later on, a larger blue bird arrives and sits between them.

The smaller birds make fun of the clumsy heron and cause him to fall to the ground. When he falls, the smaller birds launch upwards and their feathers fly in to the air. The larger bird is left uninjured, while those who gossiped about him are now featherless.

6 Sulley Antagonizes Mike In Mike's New Car

Mike Wazowski by his new car in Pixar short

Another successful short film included in the DVD and VHS release of Pixar's Monsters, Inc is Mike's New Car. The short makes Pixar history by being the first to feature dialogue. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.

RELATED: 10 Best Pixar Characters, Ranked

Mike's New Car features Monsters, Inc. title characters Mike Wazowski and James P. "Sulley" Sullivan. Mike's New Car begins with Mike showing off his newly purchased six-wheel-drive car to Sulley, but all goes to disaster quickly. The car ultimately gets destroyed, and Mike and Sulley are forced to walk to work.

5 Feast Details The Life Of A Newly Adopted Stray Dog

Feast, a Disney short film

Feast is a 2014 short produced by Disney, which made its debut in conjunction with the release of Big Hero 6. Feast is written and directed by Patrick Osborne, who won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film and an Annie Award for Best Animated Short Subject.

Feast begins with a stray dog who encounters James, a human who feeds him french fries. James adopts the dog and continues to feed him junk food until he dates a health guru named Kirby. The dog gets upset at the new healthy leftovers, but the junk food quickly returns.

4 Jack-Jack Attack Reveals The Powers Of Youngest Parr Child

Jack-Jack Attack Jack-Jack On Fire

Jack-Jack Attack is the 2005 Pixar short introduced in the DVD release of The Incredibles. The short takes place during the events of The Incredibles, while Kari McKeen watches Jack-Jack, the youngest Parr child. A government agent interview Kari on the mysterious events while Jack-Jack's family are away. The Parrs believe Jack-Jack is powerless before they hire a babysitter.

Jack-Jack proves them wrong by displaying teleportation, speed, and many others. The government agent is forced to erase Kari's memory due to her traumatization from watching Jack-Jack's display of powers.

3 Paperman Is A Visually Pleasing Romantic-Comedy Short Film

Stars of Disney and Pixar's Paperman

The 2012 Disney short Paperman takes Disney's short films to a new level with its incorporation of computer and traditional animation in a black-and-white format. Paperman snags an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, the first Disney short to do so since the 1969 release of It's Tough To Be A Bird. Paperman is set in 1940s New York City and follows the life of an accountant named George, who gets hit by a paper flying in the wind.

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George encounters Meg near the paper, and quickly falls in love with her. George throws paper airplanes in Meg's direction to get her to notice him. The two of them are shown talking happily at a restaurant at the end of Paperman. 

2 Piper Is Praised For Its Realistic Depiction Of Sandpiper Birds

Disney Pixar short called Piper

Pixar released the short film titled Piper alongside the 2016 release of Finding Dory. Piper is the first Pixar animated short to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film since the 2002 short, For The Birds. Alan Barillaro, writer and director of Piper, draws inspiration from his encounter with birds at the shoreline nearby Pixar Studios in California. 

Piper closely follows the life of a sandpiper bird named Piper, who is afraid of water. Piper overcomes her fear of water when she discovers the behaviors of hermit crabs and emulates them in order to feed herself. Piper is especially praised for its realistic animation of sandpiper birds, which was achieved by visits to various California beaches.

1 Us Again Features Vibrant Colors And Excellent Choreography

Us Again

Us Again is a 2021 Disney short which released alongside Raya And The Last Dragon. Us Again follows the lives of Art and Dot, an elderly couple living in a magical big city. The rain transforms Art into his younger self and is able to energetically dance with his wife.

"It's a beautifully directed and choreographed short film that features such amazing animation (The colours. The water. The bokeh shots. The skin texture. Everything is mind-blowingly perfect. There’s even a Gene Kelly-Singin’ In The Rain reference) that it’ll make you wish it was a full-length feature film," said Pramit Chatterjee in a review for Mashable.

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