Only four international animated features have ever won Best Animated Feature at the Oscars, and after Latvia's "Flow" pulled the upset in March 2025, a new crop of underdogs is lining up to become the fifth. Four of them used the Toronto International Film Festival as an awards springboard this season, following raves at Cannes and the Annecy Festival. Here's how the field shakes out.

The backdrop matters. 2025 was famously dire for American animation — Paramount's "Smurfs," DreamWorks' "Dog Man" and "The Bad Guys 2," Briarcliff's "Sneaks" — with Pixar's "Elio" scraping a nomination that read as a pity nod. 2026 reverses the picture: Pixar fields "Toy Story 5" and "Hoppers," plus Brad Bird's noir "Ray Gunn." Laika has "Wildwood," DreamWorks has "Forgotten Island," Universal has "Minions & Monsters," and Disney's Thanksgiving entry is "Hexed." The indie internationals are fishing for whatever votes the heavyweights leave on the table.

Which international contender leads the pack?

"Iron Boy" sits at No. 3 on the experts-only leaderboard, first among the international offerings. Louis Clichy's painterly coming-of-age story plays like a Gallic Peanuts strip: 11-year-old Christophe, forced into an iron corset to correct his perpetually leaning body, juggles his father's failing farm and his first crush. Clichy worked at Pixar on back-to-back winners "Wall-E" and "Up" — part of the studio's four-statuette streak from 2007 to 2010 — and Sony Pictures Classics hasn't announced an English dub, a sign of confidence in the subtitled version. If "Toy Story 5" and "Wildwood" can't marshal a clear majority, votes could very well Flow toward "Iron Boy."

"Tangles" ranks No. 6 on the same leaderboard and looks like the international feature most likely to benefit if the bubble pops on a bigger movie like "Ray Gunn" or "Hoppers." Animator Leah Nelson's hand-drawn debut adapts Sarah Leavitt's 2010 graphic novel about the six years between her mother's Alzheimer's diagnosis and her death. The creative team includes Canadian names like Seth, Lauren Miller Rogen and Evan Goldberg, with Abbi Jacobson, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Bryan Cranston and Bowen Yang in the cast.

What about the Netflix play?

"In Waves" adapts AJ Dungo's 2019 memoir about first love and surfing. Produced by France's Silex Films and directed by Vietnamese-born animator Phuong Mai Nguyen, it was acquired by Netflix after its Cannes premiere, with Stephanie Hsu and Will Sharpe voicing the English version. The streamer's reach and deep pockets help — but Netflix is also carrying the retro-futurist spectacle of "Ray Gunn," whose A-list cast and director could eclipse this quieter title. And "In Waves" overlaps in source material and subject matter with "Tangles"; voters may have room in their hearts for only one tear-wrenching story of love and loss.

Can a documentary hybrid get nominated again?

"The Violinist" won Annecy's prize for Best Film and tracks two childhood violinists separated by World War II and its aftermath. Co-directed by Disney veteran Raúl García and Ervin Han, it plays like a lushly animated version of a 1990s Miramax prestige picture — think "Il Postino" or "Farewell My Concubine." The film is still seeking U.S. distribution, but reps have confirmed it will be submitted for Best Animated Feature at the 2027 Oscars. Comparisons land on previous nominees "The Wind Rises" and "The Breadwinner," both war-haunted overseas features. It could appeal to voters hunting for an alternative to the kiddie fare dominating the American slate.

Further out, two hybrids hover at the edges. "Bouchra," from directors Orian Barki and Meriem Bennani, began as a Fondazione Prada commission before Film Movement booked it into theaters; it splits time between Brooklyn and Casablanca, but arrives five years after "Flee" went 0-for-3 on Oscar night, and its interior narrative may not travel as far. And "The Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act," the Australian YouTube phenomenon, opened to $20 million for its Fathom-handled theatrical finale — yet its dependence on prior chapters, and Fathom's pricier "Wildwood" campaign, make an Oscar push unlikely.

What does this change in the race?

The arithmetic is the story. Aardman's "The Beast of Mossy Bottom" could bring the Shaun the Sheep series a third nomination, and the major studios are stacked. But "Flow" proved the branch will reward a smaller house — no Ghibli, no Aardman pedigree required. Preferential voting (the ranked-ballot system where second-place votes can decide a winner) means a splintered studio field can funnel support straight to "Iron Boy." Two years ago, a little cartoon cat from Latvia stole Hollywood's thunder. The 2027 race is counting the candidates for a sequel.