Cars is an American animated film series and media franchise set in a world populated by anthropomorphic vehicles. The franchise began with the 2006 film, Cars, produced by Pixar and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The first two Cars films were directed by John Lasseter, then-chief creative officer of Pixar, Walt Disney Animation Studios, and Disneytoon Studios, while Cars 3 was directed by Brian Fee. The brand had sold nearly $10 billion in merchandise by the time of the release of Cars 2 in 2011.