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Song of the Day #4,479: “The Ballad of the Lonesome Cowboy’ – Chris Stapleton

Continuing my countdown of every Pixar movie…

#7. Toy Story 4 (2019)
(no change from previous ranking)

One of the biggest shocks on this list (even to me) is the placement of Toy Story 4 above the first and second films in the series. It defies the conventional wisdom that this movie was unnecessary because the third movie tied things up so neatly.

I felt that way myself when this film was first announced. But after watching it (three times now), I strongly disagree. While Toy Story 3 offered perfect closure to the arc of the toys in Andy’s life, it left wide open the question of what was in store for Woody.

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Song of the Day #4,478: ‘Woody’s Roundup’ – Riders in the Sky

Continuing my countdown of every Pixar movie…

#8. Toy Story 2 (1999)
(down three spots from previous ranking)

I remember when Toy Story 2 was announced and everybody’s first response was to question why this inventive new animation studio was going to the sequel well so soon.

Pixar quieted those concerns quickly, delivering its first masterpiece. The movie doubled down on the ingenious plotting and wry humor of the first film, and pushed the characters into new emotional territory.

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Song of the Day #4,477: ‘Real Gone’ – Sheryl Crow

Continuing my countdown of every Pixar movie…

#10. Finding Nemo (2003)
(down two spots from previous ranking)

We’ve now reached the top ten, and every one of the films to come is excellent — a 4 1/2- or 5-star entry on Letterboxd.

Finding Nemo marked a huge advance in Pixar’s animation, with the undersea world rendered so beautifully it’s almost distracting.

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Song of the Day #4,476: ‘You’ve Got a Friend in Me’ – Randy Newman

Continuing my countdown of every Pixar movie…

#12. Finding Dory (2016)
(up two spots from previous ranking)

Pixar’s best non-Toy Story sequel, Finding Dory worked even better the second time around.

Dory was played for comic relief, with a hint of melancholy, in the first film, but this one digs into the trauma her condition would understandably cause. The movie plays similar heartstrings as its predecessor, with Dory’s parents’ commitment to finding her mirroring Marlin’s determination to find Nemo.

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Song of the Day #4,475: ‘Why Don’t You Write Me’ – Simon & Garfunkel

One of the more disposable tracks from Simon & Garfunkel’s classic 1970 album Bridge Over Troubled Water, ‘Why Don’t You Write Me’ falls on Side Two after the excellent trio of ‘The Boxer,’ ‘Baby Driver’ and ‘The Only Living Boy in New York.’

An early Paul Simon experiment with reggae that hinted at his future exploration of world music, this track has mistakenly been lumped in with ‘The Only Living Boy in New York’ as a reference to Art Garfunkel leaving for Mexico to film Catch-22 during the beginning stages of the album.

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