Pixar's "Elio" and "Win or Lose" Among Top Titles as 53rd Annie Award Nominations Revealed

The nominees for the 53rd Annie Awards were announced today. The awards were populated with plenty of noms from around the world of animation, as the Annies represent the best of the artform. This year, we have a tie for who is going home with the most nominations, with Pixar’s Elio and the smash-hit KPop Demon Hunters both scoring 10 nominations. Pixar also secured six noms for their Disney+ series, Win or Lose. Walt Disney Animation Studios’ box office powerhouse Zootopia 2 also garnered seven noms this year. 

Other nominees that appear throughout- Little Amelie or the Character of Rain also have seven noms, with The Bad Guys 2 coming in with five. Arco also has five noms, and The Twits and Scarlet each have three. The one man show, Snow Bear, a short film completely crafted by Disney Veteran Aaron Blaise, also comes in with two nominations. Check out the full list below, with animated films and programs from the many arms of the Walt Disney Company highlighted in bold. 

The 53rd Annie Awards are set to take place on February 21st, 2026 at UCLA’s Royce Rall. 

Best Feature

• Elio, Pixar Animation Studios
• KPop Demon Hunters, Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix
• Little Amélie or the Character of Rain, Maybe Movies, Ikki Films, Distributed by GKIDS
• The Bad Guys 2, DreamWorks Animation
• Zootopia 2, Walt Disney Animation Studios

Best Feature — Independent

• A Magnificent Life, Mediawan, What the Prod and Bidibul productions
• Arco, Remembers, MountainA France, France 3 Cinéma
• I’m Frankelda, Cinema Fantasma, Warner Bros. Discovery, Woo Films, Cine Vendaval
• Lost In Starlight, Netflix / Climax Studio
• Scarlet, Studio CHIZU

Best Special Production

• A Loud House Christmas Movie: Naughty or Nice, Nickelodeon Animation Studio & Jam Filled Entertainment
• Adult Swim’s The Elephant, Titmouse and Williams Street
• Not Just a Goof, Venturia Animation Studios for CNEK Films LLC
• Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical, WildBrain Studios in association with Apple
• The Night Before Christmas in Wonderland, Lupus Films, Universal Pictures Content Group

Best Short Subject

• Cardboard, Locksmith Animation
• Ovary-Acting, Klipp og Lim, Jante Films, Apparat Filmproduktion AB
• Pillowzzz, Animoshe
• Snow Bear, The Art of Aaron Blaise
• The Girl Who Cried Pearls, National Film Board of Canada

Best Sponsored

• Animated Short: “Trek” | Honkai: Star Rail, FLiiiP Design
• Fortnite x The Simpsons: Apocalypse D’Oh!, A Gracie Films Production in Association with 20th Television Animation
• LouiMax Dreams of Being An Adult, Imagine Create Media Inc. in conjunction with Maileg APS
• Olipop Yeti, Screen Novelties & Passion Pictures
• Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds – The Animation, SEGA of America in association with GXS Productions

Best TV/Media – Preschool

• Eva The Owlet
  Episode: Welcome to Treetopington
  Brown Bag Films / Scholastic Entertainment in association with Apple
• Kindergarten: The Musical! 
• Episode: Gotta Go!
• Oddbot Entertainment, Disney Branded Television
• The Tiny Chef Show
  Episode: Tiny Chef’s Spooky Stump Spectacular
  Imagine Entertainment, Tiny Chef Productions and Nickelodeon Productions
• Wow Lisa
  Episode: Rainy Day
  Punkrobot
• Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum 
• Episode: I am Jackie Robinson
  9 Story Media Group, Brown Bag Films

Best TV/Media – Children

• My Melody & Kuromi
  Episode: All For Our Best Friend
  Sanrio Company for Netflix
• Spice Frontier: Escape From Veltegar 
• Episode: 1
  Steamroller Animation
• Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
  Episode: Rise of the Night Ninja
  Nickelodeon Animation Studios and PointGrey Pictures
• The Wonderfully Weird World of Gumball 
• Episode: The Rewrite
  Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe
• Wylde Pak
  Episode: Sungandeul
  Nickelodeon Animation Studios / Jam Filled Entertainment

Best TV/Media – Mature

• Bob’s BurgersEpisode: Grand Pre-Pre-Pre Opening
  20th TV
• Common Side Effects
  Episode: Pilot
  Green Street Pictures, Bandera Entertainment and Williams Street Productions
• Haha, You Clowns
  Episode: 107 – Duncan Holds a Baby
  Williams Street
• Il Baracchino
  Episode: Claudia entra in un caffè
  Luckyred, Megadrago
• South Park
  Episode: Sermon on the ‘Mount
  Comedy Central LLC

Best TV/Media – Limited Series

• Asterix & Obelix: The Big Fight
  Episode: Episode III
  Netflix / Banijay Productions France / Légende Films
• Eyes of Wakanda
  Episode: Into The Lion’s Den
  Marvel Studios
• Marvel ZombiesEpisode: 2
  Marvel Studios
• Star Wars: Visions – Volume 3
  Episode: BLACK
  david production
• Win Or Lose
  Episode: Episode 8: Home
  Pixar Animation Studios

Best Student Film

• A Sparrow’s Song
  Student director: Tobias Eckerlin
  Student producer: Tobias Eckerlin
  School: Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg GmbH
• Acrobats
  Student directors: Eloïse Alluyn, Hugo Danet, Anna Despinoy, Antonin Guerci, Alexandre Marzin, Shali Reddy
  School: Gobelins
• Jour de vent
  Student directors: Martin Chailloux, Ai Kim Crespin, Elise Golfouse, Chloé Lab, Hugo Taillez, Camille Truding
  School: École des Nouvelles Images
• The Undying Pain of Existence
  Student director: Oscar Jacobson
  Student producers: Franz Rügamer, Nadiia Yunatska
  School: Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg GmbH
• TRASH
  Student directors: Maxime Crançon, Alexis Le Ral
  Student producers: Robin Delaporte, Romain Fleischer, Mattéo Durand
  School: ESMA

Best FX– TV/Media

• Marvel Zombies 
• Episode: Episode 4
  Production Company: Marvel Animation
  FX Production Company: Stellar Creative Lab, Inc.
  Emma Badia, Tristan Fairclough, Jimmy Dumont, Sheng Hung, Arth Vasavada
• Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age 
• Episode: The Big Freeze
  Production Company: BBC Studios Natural History Unit
  FX Production Company: Framestore
  Edward Ferrysienanda, Kevin Christensen, Guy Shuleman , Benedikt Roettger, Kevin Tarpinian
• Spice Frontier 
• Episode: 1
  Production Company: Steamroller Animation
  FX Production Company: Steamroller Animation
  Steamroller Animation Effects Department
• Star Wars: Visions – Volume 3 
• Episode: The Bird of Paradise
  Production Company: Polygon Pictures
  FX Production Company: Polygon Pictures
  Takashi Okamoto, Kohei Yamamoto, Genyo Sasaki, Chizuru Nakamura, Erika Matsui
• WONDLA
  Episode: Lost
  Production Company: Skydance Animation
  FX Production Company: ICON Creative Studio
  EP 209 ICON Creative Studio FX Team

Best FX – Feature

• Elio
  Production Company: Pixar Animation Studios
  FX Production Company: Pixar Animation Studios
  Ferdi Scheepers, Shaun Galinak, Alyssa Lee, Nate Skeen, Gary Bruins
• In Your Dreams
  Production Company: Netflix, Kuku Studios
  FX Production Company: Sony Pictures Imageworks
  Dmitriy Kolesnik, Stephen Paschk, David Sellares, Stephanie McNair
• KPop Demon Hunters
  Production Company: Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix
  FX Production Company: Sony Pictures Imageworks
  Filippo Macari, Nicola Finizio, Simon Lewis, Naoki Kato, Daniel La Chapelle
• The Bad Guys 2
  Production Company: DreamWorks Animation
  FX Production Company: DreamWorks Animation
  Landon Gray, Michael Losure, Zachary Glynn, Chris Wombold, Olivier Malric
• Zootopia 2
  Production Company: Walt Disney Animation Studios
  FX Production Company: Walt Disney Animation Studios
  Le Joyce Tong, Shamintha Kalamba Arachchi, Dimitre Berberov, Chris Carignan, Cristiana Covone

Best Character Animation – TV/Media

• Asterix & Obelix: The Big Fight
  Episode: Episode III
  Netflix / Banijay Productions France / Légende Films
  Floriane Caseiro
• Forevergreen Special Production
  Nathan Engelhardt and Jeremy Spears
  Brendan Gottlieb
• Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical Special Production
  WildBrain Studios in association with Apple
  Chris Derochie
• The Simpsons Various Episodes
  A Gracie Films Production in Association with 20th Television Animation
  Nik Ranieri
• Win Or Lose Various Episodes
  Pixar Animation Studios
  Alli Sadegiani

Best Character Animation – Feature

• Elio
  Pixar Animation Studios
  Jonah Sidhom
• KPop Demon Hunters
  Sony Pictures Animation, Netflix
  Ryusuke Furuya
• Little Amélie or the Character of Rain
  Maybe Movies, Ikki Films, Distributed by GKIDS
  Juliette Laurent
• The Bad Guys 2
  DreamWorks Animation
  Ludovic Bouancheau
• Zootopia 2
  Walt Disney Animation Studios
  Tony Smeed

Best Character Animation – Live Action

• A Minecraft Movie
  Production Company: Warner Bros. Pictures, Legendary Pictures, Mojang Studios, Vertigo Entertainment, On the Roam
  FX Production Company: Weta FX
  Kevin Estey, Anthony McIndoe, Jade Lorier, Caroline Ting, Luisma Lavin Peredo
• Captain America: Brave New WorldProduction Company: Marvel Studios, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
  FX Production Company: Weta FX
  Sidney Kombo-Kintombo, Andrew William Park, Marco Röth, Paul Seyb, Thien Ly
• How To Train Your Dragon
  Production Company: DreamWorks Animation
  FX Production Company: Framestore
  Kayn Garcia, Jean-Denis Haas, Meena Ibrahim, Nathan McConnel, Nick Tripodi
• Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age
  Production Company: BBC Studios Natural History Unit
  FX Production Company: Framestore
  Adrien Annesley, Alvise Avati, Riyad Chalakkara, Daniel Mizuguchi, Liam Russell
• Superman
  Production Company: DC Studios
  FX Production Company: Framestore
  Loic Mireault, Michael Elder, Philipp Winterstein, Victor Dinis, Diego De Paula Pereira Batista

Best Character Animation – Video Game

• Bye Sweet Carole
  Little Sewing Machine
  Chris Darril
• Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
  Kojima Productions
  Hideo Kojima, Masaaki Kawata, Kojima Productions, PlayStation Studios XDEV
• Ghost of Yōtei
  Sucker Punch Productions
  Sucker Punch Productions Animation Team
• Keeper
  Double Fine Productions
  Zach Baharov, Alex Turner, Jerry Matsko, Anne-Sophie Savard, Geneviève Desbiens
• South of Midnight
  Compulsion Games
  Mike Jungbluth, Sebastien Dussault, Vincent Schneider, Remi Edmond

Best Character Design – TV/Media

• Asterix & Obelix: The Big Fight
  Episode: Episode IV
  Netflix / Banijay Productions France / Légende Films
  Borja Montoro
• Bat-Fam
  Episode: A Knight at the Movies
  Amazon MGM Studios, Warner Bros. Animation, DC Entertainment
  Benjamin Tong
• Love, Death + Robots
  Episode: 400 Boys
  Blur Studio for Netflix
  Robert Valley
• Wednesdays with Gramps Short Film
  DreamWorks Animation
  Seth St. Pierre
• Win Or Lose
  Episode: Episode 8, Home
  Pixar Animation Studios
  Lou Hamou-Lhadj

Best Character Design – Feature

• Elio
  Pixar Animation Studios
  Matt Nolte, Yingzong Xin, James Woods, Kaleb Rice, Bob Pauley
• Fixed
  Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix
  Craig Kellman
• KPop Demon Hunters
  Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix
  Scott Watanabe, Ami Thompson
• The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants
  Paramount Animation / Nickelodeon Movies
  Adam Paloian, Thaddeus Couldron, Alvi Ramirez
• The Twits
  Netflix Presents / The Roald Dahl Story Company
  Kei Acedera, Tristan Poulain, Jules Rigolle, Fernando Peque, Remi Salmon

Best Direction – TV/Media

• Common Side Effects
  Episode: Cliff’s Edge
  Green Street Pictures, Bandera Entertainment and Williams Street Productions
  Vincent Tsui
• DAN DA DAN
  Episode: Clash! Space Kaiju vs. Giant Robot!
  Science SARU, Mainichi Broadcasting System, Distributed by GKIDS
  Fuga Yamashiro, Abel Góngora
• Not a Box Episode: It’s a Boat
  Silver Creek Falls Entertainment / Passion Pictures in association with Apple
  Siri Melchior
• Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
  Episode: Rise of the Night Ninja
  Nickelodeon Animation Studios and PointGrey Pictures
  JJ Conway, Kevin Molina-Ortiz
• The Quinta’s Ghost Short Film
  Martirio Films & Illusorium films
  James A. Castillo

Best Direction – Feature

• Arco
  Remembers, MountainA France, France 3 Cinéma
  Ugo Bienvenu, Adam Sillard, Anaëlle Saba
• Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc
  MAPPA Studios
  Tatsuya Yoshihara
• KPop Demon Hunters
  Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix
  Maggie Kang, Chris Appelhans
• Little Amélie or the Character of Rain
  Maybe Movies, Ikki Films, Distributed by GKIDS
  Maïlys Vallade, Liane-Cho Han
• Scarlet
  Studio CHIZU
  Mamoru Hosoda

Best Music – TV/Media

• Common Side Effects
  Episode: Lakeshore Limited
  Green Street Pictures, Bandera Entertainment, and Williams Street Productions
  Nicolas Snyder
• Devil May Cry
  Episode: The First Circle
  A Netflix Series / Studio Mir / Adi Shankar Animation / Capcom
  Power Glove, Alex Seaver
• Éiru
  Short Film
  Cartoon Saloon
  Leo Pearson, Ceara Conway
• Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical Special Production
  WildBrain Studios in association with Apple
  Ben Folds, Jeff Morrow, Alan Zachary, Michael Weiner
• Win Or Lose
  Episode: Episode 6, Mixed Signals
  Pixar Animation Studios
  Ramin Djawadi, Shane Eli, Johnny Pakfar

Best Music – Feature

• Arco
  Remembers, MountainA France, France 3 Cinéma
  Arnaud Toulon
• Elio
  Pixar Animation Studios
  Rob Simonsen
• KPop Demon Hunters
  Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix
  KPop Demon Hunters Music Team
• Little Amélie or the Character of Rain
  Maybe Movies, Ikki Films, Distributed by GKIDS
  Mari Fukuhara
• Zootopia 2
  Walt Disney Animation Studios
  Shakira, Ed Sheeran, Blake Slatkin, Michael Giacchino

Best Production Design – TV/Media

• Asterix & Obelix: The Big Fight
  Episode: Episode II
  Netflix / Banijay Productions France / Légende Films
  Aurélien Prédal
• Forevergreen Special Production
  Nathan Engelhardt and Jeremy Spears
  Jeremy Spears, Gregory Culp
• Love, Death + Robots
  Episode: How Zeke Got Religion
  Blur Studio for Netflix
  Gigi Cavenago
• ParaNorman: The Thrifting Special Production
  LAIKA
  Thibault Leclercq, Santiago Montiel, Jung Woonyoung, Stephanie Bray-Lee
• Wednesdays with Gramps Special Production
  DreamWorks Animation
  Frederic Stewart

Best Production Design – Feature

• Elio
  Pixar Animation Studios
  Harley Jessup, Ernesto Nemesio, Maria Lee, Kristian Norelius, Kyle Jones
• KPop Demon Hunters
  Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix
  Helen Chen, Dave Bleich, Wendell Dalit, Scott Watanabe, Celine Kim
• The Bad Guys 2
  DreamWorks Animation
  Luc Desmarchelier, Floriane Marchix
• The Twits
  Netflix Presents / The Roald Dahl Story Company
  Estefania Pantoja, Alexandre Diboine, Clement Dartigues, Fernando Peque, Remi Salmon
• Zootopia 2
  Walt Disney Animation Studios
  Cory Loftis, Limei Z. Hshieh

Best Storyboarding – TV/Media

• Love, Death + Robots
  Episode: How Zeke Got Religion
  Blur Studio for Netflix
  Edgar Martins
• ParaNorman: The Thrifting Special Production
  LAIKA
  Coleton Palmer, Katherine Jay Myong, Heewon Jeong
• Snow Bear Short Film
  The Art of Aaron Blaise, LLC.
  Aaron Blaise
• Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
  Episode: Rise of the Night Ninja
  Nickelodeon Animation Studios and PointGrey Pictures
  Richard Chi, Matthew Kim, Sheldon Vella, Lyndsay Simpson
• Win Or Lose
  Episode: Episode 8, Home
  Pixar Animation Studios
  Esteban Bravo

Best Storyboarding – Feature

• Arco
  Remembers, MountainA France, France 3 Cinéma
  Ugo Bienvenu
• Elio
  Pixar Animation Studios
  Tony Rosenast
• Little Amélie or the Character of Rain
  Maybe Movies, Ikki Films, Distributed by GKIDS
  Nicolas Pawlowski
• The Bad Guys 2
  DreamWorks Animation
  Anthony Holden, Young Ki Yoon
• Zootopia 2
  Walt Disney Animation Studios
  Hikari Toriumi

Best Voice Acting – TV/Media

• Bob’s Burgers
  Episode: Don’t Worry Be Hoopy
  20th TV
  Dan Mintz (Character: Tina Belcher)
• Hazbin Hotel
  Episode: Behind Closed Doors
  Amazon MGM Studios, A24, Bento Box Entertainment
  Erika Henningsen (Character: Charlie Morningstar)
• Long Story Short
  Episode: Shira Can’t Cook
  Tornante Television and ShadowMachine for Netflix
  Abbi Jacobson (Character: Shira Schwooper)
• Smiling Friends
  Episode: Shmaloogles
  Williams Street
  Zach Hadel (Character: Evil Wizard)
• The Wonderfully Weird World of Gumball Episode: The Amadain
  Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe
  Alkaio Thiele (Character: Gumball Watterson)

Best Voice Acting – Feature

• Dog Man
  DreamWorks Animation
  Lil Rey Howery (Character: Chief)
• Elio
  Pixar Animation Studios
  Remy Edgerly (Character: Glordon)
• In Your Dreams
  Netflix Presents a Kuku Studios Production / Sony Pictures Imageworks
  Craig Robinson (Character: Baloney Tony)
• KPop Demon Hunters
  Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix
  Arden Cho (Character: Rumi)
• The Twits
  Netflix Presents / The Roald Dahl Story Company
  Maitreyi Ramakrishnan (Character: Beesha)

Best Writing – TV/Media

• #1 Happy Family USA
  Episode: Episode 101: NINE TEN
  Amazon MGM Studios, A24, Cairo Cowboy
  Ramy Youssef, Pam Brady
• Adult Swim’s The Elephant Special Production
  Titmouse and Williams Street
  Pendleton Ward, Ian Jones-Quartey, Rebecca Sugar, Patrick McHale
• Common Side Effects
  Episode: Pilot
  Green Street Pictures, Bandera Entertainment, and Williams Street Productions
  Joe Bennett, Steve Hely
• Lulu is a Rhinoceros Special Production
  Bento Box and Propagate in association with Apple
  Allison Flom
• Win Or Lose
  Episode: Episode 4, Pickle
  Pixar Animation Studios
  Carrie Hobson, Michael Yates

Best Writing – Feature

• Elio
  Pixar Animation Studios
  Julia Cho, Mark Hammer, Mike Jones
• KPop Demon Hunters
  KPop Demon Hunters Editorial Team
  Danya Jimenez , Hannah McMechan, Maggie Kang, Chris Appelhans
• Little Amélie or the Character of Rain
  Maybe Movies, Ikki Films, Distributed by GKIDS
  Liane-Cho Han, Aude Py, Maïlys Vallade, Eddine Noël
• Scarlet
  Studio CHIZU
  Mamoru Hosoda
• Zootopia 2
  Walt Disney Animation Studios
  Jared Bush

Best Editorial – TV/Media

• Asterix & Obelix: The Big Fight
  Episode: Episode III
  Netflix / Banijay Productions France / Légende Films
  David Boyadjian
• Common Side Effects
  Episode: Raid
  Green Street Pictures, Bandera Entertainment and Williams Street Productions
  Tony Christopherson, Joie Lim
• Haunted Hotel
  Episode: The Acolytes of Abaddon
  Titmouse for Netflix
  Benjamin Morse, Benjamin Martian, Marshall Wetta
• Invincible S3
  Episode: I Thought You’d Never Shut Up
  Amazon MGM Studios, Skybound Animation
  Luke Asa Guidici, Matt Michael, Lea Carosella, Liam Johnson
• Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Deathwatch Episode: Up From the Grave
  Ubisoft Film & Television
  Thomas Belair, Nicolas Bourgeois, Julien Perez

Best Editorial – Feature

• Arco
  Remembers, MountainA France, France 3 Cinéma
  Nathan Jacquard
• Elio
  Pixar Animation Studios
  Anna Wolitzky, Steve Bloom, Noah Newman, Greg Snyder, Ben Morris
• KPop Demon Hunters
  Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix
  KPop Demon Hunters Editorial Team
• Little Amélie or the Character of Rain
  Maybe Movies, Ikki Films, Distributed by GKIDS
  Ludovic Versace
• Olivia & las Nubes
  Cine Chani, Historias de Bibi & Guasábara Cine
  Tomás Pichardo Espaillat