WIN OR LOSE features the voice of Will Forte as Coach Dan. Pixar’s first-ever original long-form animated series follows a co-ed middle school softball team in the week leading up to their championship game. Each episode highlights the perspective of a different character—like Coach Dan—and explores the drama of bad calls being made on and off the field. A story about love, rivalry and the challenges we all face in our struggle to win at life, “Win or Lose” streams on Disney+ in Fall 2023.
It’s staggering to me that Pixar has barely scratched the streaming surface.
Oh, there has been content before. But, other than short series (of shorts, no less) such as Dug Days or Cars on the Road, the only official Pixar series to be release has been the Inside Out spin-off, Dream Productions… and that was only 2 months ago. For a company known for its emotional content, it almost boggles the mind that they have yet to truly explore the power of Disney+.
But thanks to Win or Lose, maybe that’s about to change.
As Pixar’s first original series on Disney+, Win or Lose takes us to the field of a little league softball championship game. As the series follows the stories of eight different characters, we see how their preparation for the big game is shaped by their lives. Whether they’re insecure kids or helicopter parents, everyone here has something at stake. And everyone here has something to lose.
Created by Carrie Hobson and Michael Yates, Win or Lose feels almost experimental. Though the entire series deals with a single moment, every episode leans into the story from the perspective of a different character. In doing so, Hobson and Yates lean into each person’s backstory and highlight the ways that it affects their behaviour in the big game.
In short, this is Pixar’s Rashomon.
As a result, the series is also Pixar at its finest. Every episode remains tied to the central moment yet breathes its own emotional tale. Each character is present on the field but their stories have followed them to the game. Whether it a young hitter who desperately wants to impress her father or an umpire crippled by loneliness, everyone has a story that matters.
After all, the series opens with a reminder that, for every winner, there are also losers. And those losers have stories to tell as well.
In terms of animation, Win or Lose feels more closely related to Luca and Turning Red than titles like Inside Out or The Incredibles. This is meant to be a world where anything can happen—and frequently does. As we delve into the minds of each character, their mental realms feel unique. Whether it’s mental ‘armour’, immersive dating apps or sweaty imaginary friends, every character’s way of viewing the world establishes the way that they interact with it. Carrying their burdens, fears and hurts, their lives are blurred with the events on the field. And nobody else really knows what’s going on. (I mean, how many times have you booed the decision by an umpire without considering what their lives are like off the field?)
What’s more, because each episode feels (almost) self-contained, Hobson and Yates give us the opportunity to genuinely care about them. These may be ‘side characters’ but the beauty of them is the value that lies in their perspectives. Shifting the voice entirely ensures that everyone of them becomes the protagonist at one point of the story. Each viewpoint is unique as each story weaves in and out of the others. They’re funny. They’re earnest. And, most of all, they’re important.
But that’s when Pixar is allowed to be Pixar. By shifting perspectives, we feel as though we’re engaging the hearts and minds of these characters in meaningful ways. Themes of loneliness, shame and anxiety may seem on paper like they’ve been taken out of the pages of a lost script for Inside Out but Win or Lose makes them entirely new experiences. Since they broke through with Toy Story in 1995, Pixar has always been the leader in making characters feel like one of us, whether they’re a toy cowboy, a race car or a baseball player.
And that’s on full display with Win or Lose.
Because everyone matters in Win or Lose, we are guaranteed to find someone that feels like… us. (And, maybe, more than one of them.) For that reason, the series is an absolute home run. Whether you’re drenched in sweat or afraid for your kids, you’ll probably find yourself somewhere on the field. And, maybe, it’ll show you what it means to really win as well.
The first two episodes of Win or Lose are available on Disney+ on Wednesday, February 19th, 2025, with new episodes weekly until April 2nd, 2025.
