Cars is an animated film series and Disney media franchise set in a world populated by anthropomorphic vehicles created by John Lasseter Joe Ranft and Jorgen Klubien. The franchise began with the 2006 film Cars produced by Pixar and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The film was followed by Cars 2 in 2011. A third film Cars 3 was released in 2017. The now-defunct Disneytoon Studios produced the two spin-off films Planes (2013) and Planes: Fire & Rescue (2014). The first two Cars films were directed by Lasseter then-chief creative officer of Pixar Walt Disney Animation Studios and Disneytoon Studios while Cars 3 was directed by Brian Fee a storyboard artist on the previous installments. Lasseter served as executive producer of Cars 3 and the Planes films. Together all three Cars films have accrued over $1.4 billion in box office revenue worldwide while the franchise has amassed over $10 billion in merchandising sales within its first five years.