# The 22 Best Animated Movies of the 1990s

> Disney's renaissance, Pixar's first experiments and a run of anime landmarks all landed inside the same ten years. Ranking them means picking fights between studios.

*By YPB Team · Published August 10, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/the-22-best-animated-movies-of-the-1990s*

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## Current results (0 votes)

1. **The Lion King**
   Disney's 1994 Serengeti epic about a cub who flees his father's death and returns to reclaim Pride Rock.
2. **Princess Mononoke**
   Hayao Miyazaki's 1997 Studio Ghibli epic about a cursed prince caught between an iron-mining town and the gods of the forest.
3. **Beauty and the Beast**
   Disney's 1991 musical romance and the first animated film ever nominated for the Best Picture Oscar.
4. **Toy Story**
   Pixar's 1995 debut and the first fully computer-animated feature, about a cowboy doll threatened by a new spaceman toy.
5. **Aladdin**
   Disney's 1992 Arabian Nights musical, powered by Robin Williams' improvised Genie.
6. **The Iron Giant**
   Brad Bird's 1999 Warner Bros. Cold War fable about a boy who befriends a giant alien war machine.
7. **Toy Story 2**
   Pixar's 1999 sequel in which Woody is stolen by a collector and learns what he is worth.
8. **The Nightmare Before Christmas**
   Henry Selick's 1993 stop-motion musical about the Pumpkin King who hijacks Christmas.
9. **The Prince of Egypt**
   DreamWorks' 1998 retelling of the Exodus, staged as a hand-drawn epic between two brothers.
10. **Mulan**
   Disney's 1998 film about a young woman who takes her father's place in the Chinese imperial army.
11. **Ghost in the Shell**
   Mamoru Oshii's 1995 cyberpunk anime about a cyborg officer hunting a hacker who has no body.
12. **Perfect Blue**
   Satoshi Kon's 1997 psychological thriller about a pop idol whose identity unravels after she turns actress.
13. **Porco Rosso**
   Miyazaki's 1992 Ghibli adventure about an Adriatic seaplane pilot cursed with the face of a pig.
14. **Whisper of the Heart**
   Yoshifumi Kondo's 1995 Ghibli coming-of-age story about a bookish girl chasing her first novel.
15. **A Bug's Life**
   Pixar's 1998 colony adventure in which a misfit ant recruits circus bugs to fight off grasshoppers.
16. **Anastasia**
   Don Bluth's 1997 Fox Animation musical imagining the lost Romanov duchess retracing her past.
17. **The Hunchback of Notre Dame**
   Disney's 1996 adaptation of Hugo's novel, unusually dark for the studio's Renaissance run.
18. **Tarzan**
   Disney's 1999 jungle adventure with Deep Canvas painted backgrounds and a Phil Collins soundtrack.
19. **Batman: Mask of the Phantasm**
   The 1993 animated-series feature in which a masked killer stalks Gotham's mob and Batman takes the blame.
20. **South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut**
   The 1999 cut-out musical that turned a TV show into an Oscar-nominated satire of censorship.
21. **Antz**
   DreamWorks' 1998 CG debut about a neurotic worker ant voiced by Woody Allen.
22. **Balto**
   The 1995 Amblimation film based on the sled dog who carried medicine across Alaska in 1925.

Tags: movies, 90s, animation, classics