Cars is a 2006 American computer-animated comedy-adventure sports film produced by Pixar Animation Studios, and directed and co-written

by John Lasseter and rel eased by Walt Disney Pictures. It is Pixar's final, independently-produced motio n picture before its purchase by Disney. Set in a world populated entirely by an thropomorphic cars and other vehicles, it features voices by Paul Newman (in his final non-documentary feature), Owen Wilson, Larry the Cable Guy, Bonnie Hunt, Tony Shalhoub, Cheech Marin, Michael Wallis, George Carlin, Paul Dooley, Jenifer Lewis, Guido Quaroni, Michael Keaton, Katherine Helmond, and John Ratzenberger as well as voice cameos by several celebrities including Jeremy Piven, Jeremy Cl arkson, Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Bob Costas, Darrell Waltrip, Jay Len o, Michael Schumacher, Tom and Ray Magliozzi from NPR's Car Talk, and Mario Andr etti. The film is also the second Pixar film after A Bug's Life to have an entirely non-human cast. The film was accompanied by the short One Man Band for its theat rical and home media releases. Cars premiered on May 26, 2006 at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, North Caroli na, and was released on June 9, 2006, to positive reviews. It was nominated for two Academy Awards, including Best Animated Feature, and won the Golden Globe Aw ard for Best Animated Feature Film. It was released on DVD November 7, 2006 and on Blu-ray Disc in late 2007. Related merchandise, including scale models of sev eral of the cars, broke records for retail sales of merchandise based on a Disne yPixar film,[2] bringing an estimated $10 billion in 5 years since the film's rel ease.[3] The film was dedicated to Joe Ranft, who was killed in a car accident d uring the film's production. A sequel, Cars 2, was released on June 24, 2011,[4] and a spin-off, Planes, prod uced by DisneyToon Studios, will be released on August 9, 2013.[5] A series of s hort animated films, named Cars Toons, has been airing since 2008.