Pixar undoubtedly seems to have an agenda nowadays, which essentially relies on pocketing our tears the same way it does our money. As an adult, I'm always expecting to at least tear up about something, even if I don't outright sob, as I did with certain movies. Whether it's what we're going through in our personal lives that tethers us to the movie, or just how agonizingly well they encapsulate a universal feeling, it's unclear how they manage it all the time.
It's gutting, really, and when kids cry, too? You know they've cut deep. Disney classics might feature tearjerkers here and there, but at this point, Pixar is almost diabolical because even their shorts can be heartbreaking. Here are the saddest Pixar moments so far, and if you need a good cry, they're waiting for you to stream on Disney+.
Up (2009) - Ellie Gives Carl the Adventure Book
You know something is heartbreaking when even kids who don't understand the magnitude of what they're watching are moved to tears over a scene. There's so much in the married life montage that beautifully epitomizes a lifetime of love while simultaneously showing us how heartbreaking it is when forever is cut short.
There's very little dialogue in those early moments between Ellie and Carl, yet the animation and score from Michael Giacchino are so beautifully drawn out that we get the entire story in a way that's enough for us to understand the immensity of Carl's grief. He was always her greatest adventure, and she was his, and seeing it in this tiny montage makes Up the hardest Pixar movie to rewatch. It’s breathtaking from start to finish and genuinely so profound, but few are as heartbreaking as its opening moments.
Coco (2017) - Mama Coco Remembers
Like Up, the way Coco explores grief is utterly devastating, but completely comforting. It's a movie that made me make sense of my own grandmother's death, and I imagine that countless viewers had their own unique journey with it. Still, it might be the movie that makes me sob the hardest. Between Héctor saying that he'll fade away if he's no longer remembered by any of his living relatives, or the final few moments where Mama Coco does remember, there's so much depth in this scene I can't imagine getting through it with dry eyes.
The heart in Coco is unmatched, and how the movie emphasizes legacies and remembering our loved ones is no small feat. It's a beautiful gem that can be healing for those who are grieving because the hope and heartbreak are not only gorgeously balanced, but the way these scenes pan out is so stunning, I'll never find the words for them.
Toy Story 3 (2010) - Andy Gives Away His Toys
I sobbed so hard the first time I watched Toy Story 3, I don't even remember the details I watched unfold in front of me. Then a few years later, I decided I'd give it another try, thinking I was braver, and jokes on me because I cried even harder. There's something so haunting about Andy giving away his toys and recognizing that another kid needs them more, but it's also about how deeply Woody loves him back and how much the animation emotes in those final few moments.
It’s absolutely wild to think that a toy can evoke as much, but with stunning animation and Tom Hanks voicing Woody, those last few lines are an absolute gut punch. "So long, partner," encapsulates years of friendship so beautifully that it's absolutely breathtaking to see it come to life in front of us. For a lot of us '90s kids, we grew up right alongside Andy, so it ultimately hits us just as hard because it feels like a goodbye to our childhoods, too. It feels personal and all too real.
Inside Out (2015) - "Take Her to the Moon"
Like with Toy Story 3, there's something about looking at our childhoods through a grown-up lens that punctures something deeply moving in us. There were a number of cathartic and poignant moments in Inside Out, but I always lose it every time Riley's invisible friend Bing Bong sacrifices himself to get Joy and Sadness back home to her.
The words "take her to the moon for me" evoke such a visceral reaction that I immediately started crying once I wrote this. This wholesome idea that maybe the invisible friends we had as kids might still care about us enough to want us to reach our highest potential is so heartbreaking that it's healing. Inside Out does a tremendous job of showing people the significance of each of our emotions, but it also nails the importance of reminding us to strive for what we've always wanted. I highly recommend a back-to-back marathon with Inside Out 2 (2024) for the most cathartic cry session.
Toy Story 2 (1999) - Jessie's Backstory
The Toy Story franchise really is the most diabolical of the Pixar films because of how it continues to take something seemingly ordinary and turn it into a gut-punch, needs to be studied. But unlike in Toy Story 3, what we see in Toy Story 2 with Emily forgetting Jessie is so utterly heartbreaking that there are very few words. For a moment, there's no hope of new beginnings here; there's only the reminder that abandonment leaves a scar unlike anything else.
Between the music and the animation that showcases the passage of time, Pixar delivers a major blow by showing what happens when humans forget the toys that kept them company. People often find Monsters, Inc. (2001) to be heartbreaking as well when Boo and Sully say goodbye, and while I do, too, the hope in that scene at least makes it easier to watch. But I almost always want to leave the room during Jessie's memory.
