Animation studio in the context of Toei Animation

The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Founded on October 16, 1923, as an animation studio by brothers Walt Disney and Roy Oliver Disney as Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Disney operated under the names Walt Disney Studio and Walt Disney Productions before adopting its current name in 1986. In 1928, Disney established itself as a leader in the animation industry with the short film Steamboat Willie. The film used synchronized sound to become the first post-produced sound cartoon, and popularized Mickey Mouse, who became Disney's mascot and corporate icon.

After becoming a success by the early 1940s, Disney diversified into live-action films, television, and theme parks in the 1950s. However, following Walt Disney's death in 1966, the company's profits, especially in the animation sector, began to decline. In 1984, Disney's shareholders voted Michael Eisner as CEO, who led a reversal of the company's decline through a combination of international theme park expansion and the highly successful Disney Renaissance period of animation from 1989 to 1999. In 2005, under the new CEO Bob Iger, the company continued to expand into a major entertainment conglomerate with the acquisitions of Pixar in 2006, Marvel Entertainment in 2009, Lucasfilm in 2012, and 21st Century Fox in 2019. In 2020, Bob Chapek became the head of Disney after Iger's retirement. However, Chapek was ousted in 2022 and Iger was reinstated as CEO.

Pixar (/ˈpɪksɑːr/), doing business as Pixar Animation Studios, is an American animation studio based in Emeryville, California, known for its critically and commercially successful computer-animated feature films. Pixar is a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, a division of the Disney Entertainment segment of the Walt Disney Company.

Pixar started in 1979 as part of the Lucasfilm computer division. It was known as the Graphics Group before its spin-off as a corporation in 1986, with funding from Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, who became its majority shareholder. Disney announced its acquisition of Pixar in January 2006, and completed it in May 2006. Pixar is best known for its feature films, technologically powered by RenderMan, the company's own implementation of the industry-standard RenderMan Interface Specification image-rendering API. The studio's mascot is Luxo Jr., a desk lamp from the studio's 1986 short film of the same name.

Illumination (formerly known as Illumination Entertainment) is an American animation studio founded by Chris Meledandri on January 17, 2007. It is a division of Universal Pictures, which itself is a division of Comcast through the Universal Filmed Entertainment Group, a unit of NBCUniversal; Illumination produces the films, while Universal finances and distributes them. The studio is best known for creating the Despicable Me, The Secret Life of Pets, and Sing franchises; the adaptations of Dr. Seuss' books The Lorax and How the Grinch Stole Christmas!; and Nintendo video games, starting with The Super Mario Bros. Movie. The Minions, characters from the Despicable Me series, are the mascots of the studio.

Illumination has produced 15 feature films, with an average gross of $711 million per film. Three of the studio's films—Minions (2015), Despicable Me 3 (2017) and The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)—are all among the 50 highest-grossing films of all time, with the latter having the highest-grossing opening for an animated film in its initial release; eight of their films are also among the 50 highest-grossing animated films. Its first film, Despicable Me, was released on July 9, 2010, and its latest film, Despicable Me 4, was released on July 3, 2024; their upcoming slate of films includes The Super Mario Galaxy Movie on April 3, 2026, and Minions 3 on July 1, 2026. Additionally, an untitled film is scheduled for release on April 16, 2027.

DreamWorks Animation LLC (DWA, also known as DreamWorks Animation Studios or simply DreamWorks) is an American animation studio, owned by Comcast's NBCUniversal as part of Universal Pictures, a division of Universal Filmed Entertainment Group. The studio has produced 53 feature films; its first film, Antz, was released on October 2, 1998, and its latest film, Gabby's Dollhouse: The Movie, was released on September 26, 2025. Their upcoming slate of films Forgotten Island on September 25, 2026, Cocomelon: The Movie in February 26, 2027, the live-action remake of How to Train Your Dragon 2 on June 11, 2027, Shrek 5 on June 30, 2027, and an untitled film on September 22, 2028.

Formed as a division of DreamWorks Pictures on October 12, 1994, with alumni from Amblin Entertainment's former animation branch Amblimation, it was spun off into a separate company on October 27, 2004. NBCUniversal acquired DreamWorks Animation for $3.8 billion in 2016. The studio initially made some traditionally animated films, as well as three stop-motion co-productions with Aardman Animations, but now exclusively relies on computer animation. However, in 2022, President Margie Cohn stated that the studio is open to traditional animation.

Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS), sometimes shortened to Disney Animation, is an American animation studio which produces animated feature films and short films for the Walt Disney Company. The studio's current production logo features a scene from its first synchronized sound cartoon, Steamboat Willie (1928). Founded on October 16, 1923, by brothers Walt and Roy O. Disney after the closure of Laugh-O-Gram Studio, it is the longest-running animation studio in the world. It is currently organized as a division of Walt Disney Studios and is headquartered at the Roy E. Disney Animation Building at the Walt Disney Studios lot in Burbank, California. Since its foundation, the studio has produced 64 feature films, from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)—which is also the first hand-drawn animated feature film—to Zootopia 2 (2025), and hundreds of short films.

Founded as Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio (DBCS) in 1923, renamed Walt Disney Studio (WDS) in 1926 and incorporated as Walt Disney Productions (WDP) in 1929, the studio was dedicated to producing short films until it entered feature production in 1934, resulting in 1937's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, one of the first full-length animated feature films and the first U.S.-based one. In 1986, during a large corporate restructuring, Walt Disney Productions, which had grown from a single animation studio into an international media conglomerate, was renamed the Walt Disney Company and the animation studio became Walt Disney Feature Animation (WDFA) in order to differentiate it from the company's other divisions. Its current name was adopted in 2006 after Pixar Animation Studios was acquired by Disney.

Nickelodeon Animation Studio Inc. (also known as Nickelodeon Animation Studios and Nick Animation) is an American animation studio owned by Paramount Skydance Corporation through the Nickelodeon Group. It has created many original animated television programs for Nickelodeon, Nicktoons, and Nick Jr., such as SpongeBob SquarePants, The Fairly OddParents, Rugrats, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and The Loud House, among various others. Since the 2010s, the studio has also produced its own series based on preexisting IP purchased by Paramount Skydance Corporation, such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Winx Club. In November 2019, Nickelodeon Animation Studio signed a multiple-year output deal for Netflix, which will include producing content, in both new and preexisting IP, for the streaming platform, while also doing so for Paramount+.

The studio was founded in 1992 under the name Games Animation Inc. as a subsidiary of a pre-existing company named Games Productions (now known as Nickelodeon Productions). It oversaw the production of three animated programs for Nickelodeon: Doug, Rugrats and The Ren & Stimpy Show. In 1992, Nickelodeon began work on Games Animation's first fully in-house series, Rocko's Modern Life. Games Animation produced much of the network's mid-1990s output in partnership with other animation companies like Klasky Csupo. In 1998, the studio moved from Studio City, California to Burbank with the construction of a new facility. It was renamed Nickelodeon Animation Studio and later Nickelodeon Studios Burbank. In 1999, a second facility in New York City was opened, named Nickelodeon Animation Studio New York.

Fleischer Studios (/ˈflaɪʃər/) was an American animation studio founded in 1929 by brothers Max and Dave Fleischer, who ran the pioneering company from its inception until its acquisition by Paramount Pictures in 1942, the parent company and the distributor of its films. In its prime, Fleischer Studios was a premier producer of animated cartoons for theaters, with Walt Disney Productions being its chief competitor in the 1930s.

Fleischer Studios included Out of the Inkwell and Talkartoons characters like, Koko the Clown, Betty Boop, Bimbo, Popeye the Sailor, and Superman. Unlike other studios, whose characters were anthropomorphic animals, the Fleischers' most successful characters were humans (with the exception of Bimbo, a black-and-white cartoon dog, and Betty Boop, who started off as an anthropomorphized dog, but evolved into a human). The cartoons of the Fleischer Studio were very different from those of Disney, both in concept and in execution. As a result, they were rough rather than refined and consciously artistic rather than commercial, but in their unique way, their artistry was expressed through a culmination of the arts and sciences. This approach focused on surrealism, dark humor, adult psychological elements, and sexuality. Furthermore, the environments were grittier and urban, often set in squalid surroundings, reflecting the Great Depression as well as German Expressionism.

Warner Bros. Pictures Animation (WBPA), formerly known as Warner Animation Group (WAG), is an American animation studio that serves as the animated feature film label of Warner Bros.' theatrical film production and distribution division, Warner Bros. Pictures. Established in January 2013, the studio is the successor to the traditional animation studio Warner Bros. Feature Animation, which dissolved in 2004, and is also a sister to the regular Warner Bros. Animation studio.

The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California, with Disney’s New York operations, including ABC, are headquartered at 7 Hudson Square. Founded on October 16, 1923, as an animation studio by brothers Walt Disney and Roy Oliver Disney as Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Disney operated under the names Walt Disney Studio and Walt Disney Productions before adopting its current name in 1986. In 1928, Disney established itself as a leader in the animation industry with the short film Steamboat Willie. The film used synchronized sound to become the first post-produced sound cartoon, and popularized Mickey Mouse, who became Disney's mascot and corporate icon.

After becoming a success by the early 1940s, Disney diversified into live-action films, television, and theme parks in the 1950s. However, following Walt Disney's death in 1966, the company's profits, especially in the animation sector, began to decline. In 1984, Disney's shareholders voted Michael Eisner as CEO, who led a reversal of the company's decline through a combination of international theme park expansion and the highly successful Disney Renaissance period of animation from 1989 to 1999. In 2005, under the new CEO Bob Iger, the company continued to expand into a major entertainment conglomerate with the acquisitions of Pixar in 2006, Marvel Entertainment in 2009, Lucasfilm in 2012, and 21st Century Fox in 2019. In 2020, Bob Chapek became the head of Disney after Iger's retirement. However, Chapek was ousted in 2022 and Iger was reinstated as CEO.

King Features Syndicate, Inc. is an American content distribution and animation studio, consumer product licensing and print syndication company owned by Hearst Communications that distributes about 150 comic strips, newspaper columns, editorial cartoons, puzzles, and games to nearly 5,000 newspapers worldwide. King Features Syndicate also produces intellectual properties, develops new content and franchises (like The Cuphead Show!, which it produced with Netflix), and licenses its classic characters and properties.

King Features Syndicate is a unit of Hearst Holdings, Inc., which combines the Hearst Corporation's cable-network partnerships, television programming, distribution activities, and syndication companies. King Features' affiliate syndicates are North America Syndicate and Cowles Syndicate.

The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio (also commonly referred to as MGM Cartoons) was an American animation studio operated by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer during the Golden Age of American animation. Active from 1937 until 1957, the studio was responsible for producing animated shorts to accompany MGM feature films in Loew's Theaters, which included popular cartoon characters and series such as William Hanna and Joseph Barbera's Tom and Jerry series and Tex Avery's Droopy.

Prior to forming its own cartoon studio, MGM released the work of independent animation producer Ub Iwerks, and later the Happy Harmonies series from Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising. The MGM cartoon studio was founded to replace Harman and Ising, although both men eventually became employees of the studio. After a slow start, the studio began to take off in 1940 after its short The Milky Way became the first non-Disney cartoon to win the Academy Award for Best Short Subjects: Cartoons. The studio's roster of talent benefited from an exodus of animators from the Warner Bros. and Disney studios, who were facing issues with union workers. Originally established and run by executive Fred Quimby, Hanna and Barbera became the heads of the studio in 1955 following Quimby's retirement. The cartoon studio was closed on May 15, 1957, at which time Hanna and Barbera took much of the staff to form their own company, Hanna-Barbera Productions, then named H-B Enterprises.

Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc. was an American animation studio, serving as the in-house animation division of Warner Bros. during the Golden Age of American animation. One of the most successful animation studios in American media history, it was primarily responsible for the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of animated short films. The characters featured in these cartoons, including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Porky Pig, are among the most famous and recognizable characters in the world. Many of the creative staff members at the studio, including directors and animators such as Chuck Jones, Friz Freleng, Robert McKimson, Tex Avery, Robert Clampett, Arthur Davis, and Frank Tashlin, are considered major figures in the art and history of traditional animation. Warner Bros. Cartoons was founded in 1933 by Leon Schlesinger as Leon Schlesinger Productions.

Schlesinger sold the studio to Warner Bros. in 1944, after which the Warner Bros. Cartoons name was adopted. The studio closed in 1963, and Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies were subsequently subcontracted to Freleng's DePatie–Freleng Enterprises studio from 1964 to 1967. Warner Bros. Cartoons re-opened that year, under Warner Bros.-Seven Arts, before closing again in 1969. It was succeeded by Warner Bros. Animation, which was established in 1980.

MGM Animation/Visual Arts was an American animation studio established in 1962 by animation director/producer Chuck Jones, producer Les Goldman and executive Walter Bien as Sib Tower 12 Productions. Its productions include the last series of Tom and Jerry theatrical shorts, the TV specials Horton Hears a Who! and How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, and the feature film The Phantom Tollbooth, all released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The studio closed in December 1970.

This is a list of productions produced by Illumination (formerly known as Illumination Entertainment), an American film and animation studio based in Santa Monica, California, United States. This includes feature films, shorts, television specials, and digital series. As of 2025, Illumination has released 15 feature films, which were all distributed by Universal Pictures, with their first being Despicable Me on July 9, 2010, and their latest being Despicable Me 4 on July 3, 2024.

Their upcoming slate of films includes The Super Mario Galaxy Movie on April 3, 2026, and Minions 3 on July 1, 2026. In addition, an untitled film is slated to be released on April 16, 2027.

Kyoto Animation Co., Ltd. (Japanese: 株式会社京都アニメーション, Hepburn: Kabushiki-gaisha Kyōto Animēshon), often abbreviated KyoAni (京アニ, Kyōani), is a Japanese animation studio and light novel publisher located in Uji, Kyoto Prefecture. It was founded in 1981 by husband and wife Hideaki and Yoko Hatta, who remain its president and vice-president respectively, along with a number of Mushi Production staff members; although the present enterprise dates to July 12, 1985.

Kyoto Animation has produced anime films and series including The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (2006), Clannad (2007), K-On! (2009), Nichijou (2011), Free! (2013), Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions (2014), Sound! Euphonium (2015), A Silent Voice (2016), Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid (2017) and Violet Evergarden (2018).