Disney's 10 Longest Animated Films

Disney's feature films have set the gold standard for animation for the last 80 years, but which of their animated movies is the longest? After producing successful short films, Walt Disney set his sights on another ambitious project. Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was the first professionally-made animated feature film, and it revolutionized the medium forever.

At 83 minutes, the 1937 triumph matched the standard running time for features from that era. Disney would continue to make features in the ensuing decade, but rising costs and the outbreak of WWII caused a drastic reduction in the movies' running times. They produced many of their shortest movies during that period, but returned to normal after the war.

There has never been a standard length for Disney's animated feature films, but there has been a consistent trend across the 80 years since Snow White. Like most movies, Disney's features have gotten progressively longer over the decades, with many of their longest works releasing in the last 10 years. However, the longest Disney movie might come as a surprise.

10 Encanto (2021) - 102 Minutes

Released during the COVID-19 era, Encanto was a box office disappointment that found its audience on streaming. It concerns the Madrigal family, who each have a magical gift, except young Mirabel. With charming music and eye-catching visuals, Encanto grabbed viewers from the start, and has already assumed its place among modern Disney classics.

At 102 minutes, Encanto is shorter than many of Disney's modern efforts. The 100-minute length is perfect for the type of story the film tells, and it allows the musical moments to play out without feeling like padding. Disney's storytelling is always the studio's best talent, and they can do a lot in an hour and 40 minutes.

9 Frozen (2013) - 102 Minutes

It's impossible to overstate the importance of Frozen to modern Disney, and the blockbuster remains the crown jewel of their recent catalog. When her sister, Elsa, plunges the kingdom into perpetual winter, a precocious young princess must reunite with her sibling and convince her to break the curse. After years of successful experiments, Disney finally returned to their roots.

Frozen was one of the first Disney movies to go over 100 minutes, and the studio hasn't looked back. Instead of feeling bloated, 102 minutes is the sweet spot. It's hard not to see how the success of Frozen proved to Disney that slightly increasing running time could allow them to squeeze a bit more magic into their movies.

8 Big Hero 6 (2014) - 102 Minutes

Despite its status as a bona fide blockbuster, Big Hero 6 was somewhat overshadowed. The comic book-inspired tale follows a teen who uses his technological know-how to turn himself and his friends into a superhero team. Beneath the movie's action and creative design is a story about grief and growing up.

Disney got the memo with Frozen, so Big Hero 6 had the same running time as its predecessor. There's a lot to unpack, so it uses every second of its screentime effectively. Instead of trying to squeeze in more fluff to fill the 102 minutes, Big Hero 6 speeds up and slows down for maximum emotional effect.

7 Frozen 2 (2019) - 103 Minutes

Disney didn't rush out a sequel to Frozen, but the hype was still quite high when it finally came in 2019. Elsa finds herself unsatisfied by her royal life, and embarks on a quest of self-discovery. Though it has all the same visual flair and lovable characters, Frozen 2 couldn't quite live up to its predecessor.

It exceeded its predecessor at the box office, and stretched its running time too. Coming in at 103 minutes, Frozen 2 is essentially the same length as the first. Unfortunately, the sequel does feel overlong, and could have easily been trimmed down to a more manageable 90 minutes. It's not a terrible film, but it pales in comparison.

6 Moana (2016) - 107 Minutes

The 2010s were an excellent decade for Walt Disney Animation, and movies like Moana showed they couldn't miss at the box office. A teen leaves her island home on a daring quest across the sea to save her people. Incorporating elements of Polynesian culture and mythology, Moana continued Disney's globe-trotting storytelling.

Moana is slightly longer than most of its 2010s contemporaries, though the five extra minutes is barely noticeable in the overall running time. The musical moments don't drag on too long, and there's enough space for the emotional aspects of the story to have appropriate weight. Moana proves that a good story can really fit into any running time.

5 Raya And The Last Dragon (2021) - 107 Minutes

Like Encanto, Raya and the Last Dragon was a COVID-19 casualty that massively underperformed at the box office. Years after the dragons sacrificed themselves to save humanity, a lone warrior must find the last remaining dragon to save the world once again. In an era of sameness at Disney, Raya and the Last Dragon was surprisingly ambitious.

It's unclear how the film would have done under normal circumstances, but its streaming success is undeniable. The movie is 107 minutes, and it needs every second to fit its mythology and story background. Unlike most longer Disney movies, Raya could have used a few extra minutes to expand on its ideas and to make everything feel less rushed.

4 Zootopia (2016) - 108 Minutes

2016 was a banner year for Disney with Moana and Zootopia raking in oodles of cash. The former is the story of an ambitious young police rabbit who teams with a sly fox to uncover a massive conspiracy that threatens the entire community. Anthropomorphizing animals is what Disney does best, and never was that clearer than in Zootopia.

Establishing its unique environment, building its beloved characters, and finding time for heartfelt moments, Zootopia is a masterclass in runtime management. The 108-minute movie is efficient, keeping the audience entertained while inviting them into a rich and creative world. Any longer and it would have made the film worse, and the same could be said if it was shorter.

3 Zootopia 2 (2025) - 108 Minutes

Disney is nothing if not consistent, and Zootopia 2 took all the correct lessons from its predecessor. Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde are back on the case as they track down a missing snake who is the key to a much larger mystery. With massive box office success and stellar reviews, the sequel proves the post-COVID slump is over.

The brilliance of Zootopia 2 is that it feels like its predecessor without being a copy. The characters grow over the course of the movie, and evolve from where they were in the first installment. It has the same runtime as the first movie, and uses it just as efficiently. Disney would be foolish not to make another sequel soon.

2 Ralph Breaks The Internet (2018) - 112 Minutes

The Wreck-It Ralph sequel came faster than most Disney follow-ups, and Ralph Breaks the Internet arrived six years after its predecessor. To save Vanellope's game from extinction, Ralph and his little sidekick must go onto the internet to find the right parts. The sequel expands the original concept of Wreck-It Ralph, but it also falls short in many areas.

At 112 minutes, Ralph Breaks the Internet is the longest film Disney has made in decades. However, it does almost nothing with the time. The characters are woefully undercooked, and the plot meanders. The ideas are smart and contemporary, but it gets lost in its own epic scope. A narrower focus would have made the sequel more engaging and pointed.

1 Fantasia (1940) - 126 Minutes

After Snow White was a hit, Disney followed it up with a string of masterpieces, including Fantasia. Composed of a series of shorts, Fantasia celebrates the marriage of music and visual arts. The movie not only broke new ground in the world of animation, but pushed boundaries for cinematic sound as well.

Disney's first 10 movies were of varying lengths, but Fantasia is the longest by far. Surpassing two hours, the animated epic is the longest feature in Disney's canon. Because the film is made up of short segments, the length is irrelevant to the overall experience. All the shorts are magnificent in their own right, so the film's exaggerated runtime isn't beholden to plot.