Pixar’s ‘Cars’ Rerelease Is Shaping Up to Be Disney’s Biggest Animation Reissue Since the Pandemic

Pixar has spent 2026 leaning hard into nostalgia, with ‘Toy Story 5’ dominating theaters earlier this year and a steady stream of anniversary celebrations keeping longtime fans engaged throughout the studio’s biggest franchises. That celebratory mood has now extended to one of the studio’s earliest breakout hits, giving audiences a chance to revisit a beloved classic on the big screen exactly two decades after it first raced into theaters.

That film is ‘Cars,’ which originally opened in 2006 and went on to gross $462 million worldwide while spawning an entire franchise built around Radiator Springs and its colorful cast of anthropomorphic vehicles. To mark its 20th anniversary, Disney and Pixar brought the film back to theaters in its original format beginning September 4, timed deliberately to coincide with the annual fan celebration known as Lightning McQueen Day on September 5.

That timing appears to be paying off in a big way at the box office. The 20th anniversary rerelease is on track to become the biggest reissue debut ever for any animated film distributed by Disney since the pandemic, after grossing a spectacular $2.2 million on its Friday reopening day.

Based on that opening-day performance, the rerelease is now projected to bring in somewhere between $6 million and $8 million over its three-day reissue opening weekend, a genuinely strong showing for a film that’s been available on home video and streaming for years. That kind of turnout for a 20-year-old animated title speaks to just how enduring ‘Cars’ and its merchandise-driven fandom have remained since the franchise first launched.

Part of what’s made this rerelease resonate so strongly is the sheer scale of activities Disney has organized around the anniversary. The celebration has included a Route 66 centennial integration with special screenings at the historic Tee-Pee Drive-In and Tulsa Circle Cinema, a life-size Lightning McQueen appearance at the Formula 1 Gran Premio d’Italia in Monza, and exhibits at automotive museums across the United States, England and Italy.

Disney has also rolled out new ‘Cars’-themed merchandise available through the Disney Store, along with a Lightning McQueen popcorn bucket now available at Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resort. That kind of expansive merchandising push underscores just how central ‘Cars’ has remained to Disney’s broader retail strategy, even two decades after the original film’s debut.

The original ‘Cars’ follows Lightning McQueen, an ambitious rookie race car voiced by Owen Wilson, who gets unexpectedly stranded in the sleepy Route 66 town of Radiator Springs while racing to compete in the Piston Cup Championship. Directed by Pixar legend John Lasseter, the film also features the voices of Paul Newman, Bonnie Hunt, Larry the Cable Guy and Tony Shalhoub, and holds a 76% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes alongside an 80% audience score.

The rerelease’s strong early numbers arrive as fans continue speculating about the franchise’s future beyond this nostalgic victory lap. Jay Ward, the franchise’s creative director, has previously teased that additional ‘Cars’ projects remain in development, without confirming specific details about what’s coming next.

One confirmed addition to the universe is ‘Cars: Lightning Racers,’ a new preschool-oriented animated series set to debut on Disney Jr. in 2027 before eventually moving to Disney+. The series will feature a new animation style alongside returning voice talent, with Wilson confirmed to reprise his role as Lightning McQueen and Larry the Cable Guy returning as Mater.

With the anniversary rerelease already outperforming expectations and additional franchise content already in the pipeline, ‘Cars’ looks positioned to remain a meaningful piece of Disney’s animation slate well into its third decade. Given how strongly nostalgia-driven rereleases have performed across the industry this year, this milestone weekend could encourage Disney to lean even further into revisiting its animated classics going forward.

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