One of the most famous animation studios in the world, Pixar, is best known for creative storylines, groundbreaking 3D animation techniques, and emotional moments that stick with audiences for years and years. Normally, these moments fall into the heartwarming/heartbreaking categories. But, sometimes, even Pixar knows that an audience needs a good scare.
The most terrifying moments in Pixar usually revolve around a plot point and either further the story or occur at the climax. This is because it gives the moment a bit more emphasis and can occasionally be a precursor to one of the more stereotypical emotional Pixar moments. In either case, it is clear that when it comes to scaring the audience, Pixar isn’t playing around with these scenes.
The Fishing Net Fiasco in Finding Nemo
Just as Nemo has been found and rescued in Finding Nemo, the fish face another problem when a fishing net catches Dory. Nemo is small enough to go in and help her, but Marlin is reluctant, and both of them have to find their bravery and trust in each other to help save their friend and all of the other fish in the net.
There is the initial fear of seeing Dory afraid and trapped, then the worry of Nemo possibly being trapped and Marlin not being able to convince the fish to swim down, then seeing Dory and Nemo flopping around in the air, then the relief that their plan is working and the net goes free. And yet, the scariest moment of them all is that even though the plan did succeed, it still almost killed Nemo, who afterward lay motionless on the sea floor, making the audience wonder if he was dead.
The Ancient Ruins Scene in Brave
Brave showcases more than one scary bear scene during its runtime. But it’s the chilling scene in the ancient ruins that truly scared the audience the most. In an attempt to discover a way to reverse the spell on her mother, Merida finds the ruins of a throne room and realizes that she is not the only one to have used the bear spell before, as the antagonist bear Mor’du was transformed years ago as well.
Upon realizing this and how to fix it, Mor’du himself comes out and chases her in a scene, leaving her scrambling over the bones of others and through the dark to try and reach her mother in the light. She barely manages to escape, and viewers are left on the edge of their seats as one scarred paw from Mor’du almost captures her.
Hopper Is Eaten by a Bird in A Bug’s Life
The scariest moment in A Bug’s Life does not, in fact, come from a bug, but rather a bird. Honestly, this makes sense, as a predator would likely be the biggest fear for many creatures. In the scene, Hopper is terrorizing the ants, and there’s a battle going on between ants and grasshoppers, along with the circus bugs.
The ant’s plan of using a fake bird to scare Hopper doesn’t work, but luckily, a real bird appears. But, as the bird isn’t the antagonist of the movie, it makes the moment an odd mix of terrifying but also satisfying when the Hopper is captured by it, and then fed to its babies (in the rain, no less).
Muntz Tries To Kill Russell and Carl in Up
For a while, viewers wondered if Up would even have a villain. Then, they were introduced to one of the most quietly sadistic villains in all of Pixar, with Charles Muntz. In an earlier scene, Muntz reveals that he has killed every other explorer who came after the bird he so prizes. Then, at the end of the movie, Carl tries to rescue the captured Kevin and Russell.
The resulting battle between Muntz and Carl takes place between the Spirit of Adventure and Carl’s house, where swords, guns, and canes with tennis balls are brought out as weapons. The audience is fully aware that Muntz will kill without mercy, so they watch with bated breath as the group escapes, only to be chased out by Muntz again. Then, Muntz is caught by balloon strings and falls to his death. A long scene of impending doom and fear ends up with death off-screen – truly a terrifying combo.
Arlo Saves Spot Twice in The Good Dinosaur
A long scene where terror is only increased as the battle goes on, this scene from The Good Dinosaur is underrated in the Pixar lexicon. First, a moment that alludes to Jaws, where pterodactyls use their wings in the clouds to show their impending descent, and then they attack and steal Spot away from Arlo. Arlo runs to help Spot, gets caught, loses hope, and finds it again.
Once he finds Spot in a hollowed tree trying to fend off the pterodactyls, the two are eventually able to scare them away, but a mudslide is caused due to worsening weather, and it triggers a flash flood. This, of course, harkens back to the most traumatic moment of Arlo’s life when his dad was washed away by a flash flood to his death right in front of Arlo’s eyes. But he runs forward to save Spot, and the two are caught in the flood. They are separated again, and Spot looks too weak to save himself, but before they go over the waterfall, Arlo can reach Spot and use his body as a shield against the force of the falls, saving them both.
Much of Monsters, Inc. is spent trying to keep Boo away from Randall, but it isn’t until Mike is taken in place of Boo that the audience realizes what Randall’s plan actually is. Randall wants to forcibly tear screams away from children with a tube that would be suction-cupped onto their mouths.
This, in and of itself, is a terrifying notion, as it is heavily implied that such a thing would be enough to kill the child. But watching Boo eventually get captured, strapped in against her will, and then having to see her scared face as the machine comes closer and closer to her, but she can’t get away, is utterly terrifying. Her screaming, “Kitty!” in an attempt to ask Sully to help her doesn’t help the fear level either.
The Toys Face Down the Incinerator in Toy Story 3
The Toy Story saga has no shortage of emotion-packed moments, even terrifying ones. But nothing seems to come close to this scene from Toy Story 3, where Andy’s toys face the chilling (or, melting) reality that they’re about to be burned “alive” and there’s nothing they can do about it.
After being pushed along what looks like a river of garbage and unsuccessfully trying to escape, the toys come into a large room where all the garbage is slowly being swept down to an incinerator. The toys try to scramble away, but quickly realize there’s no hope. The petrified look in their eyes when they realize this is one of the most bone-chilling and heartbreaking moments in all of Pixar, as is the moment where they come to terms with it, hold hands, and face down their fate.
Titus Chases After Mabel With His Body Falling Apart in Hoppers
Released in 2026, Hoppers is one of Pixar’s newest releases, but also contains one of its most terrifying moments. In the final battle scene, Mabel faces Titus in robot form, and the two race to the top of the sound tree to gain control of a remote that could release a noise that would kill all surrounding humans.
In the rush to do this, Mabel pulls off the skin-like mask on his robotic body, and the resulting visual is sure to remain in the nightmares of both children and adults for years to come. Luckily, pulling this off means that Titus can’t unlock his phone with his image, and his plan is thwarted. So, a frightening scene for a good cause.