Ever since the creation of Disney+, it seems as though Disney has often struggled to figure out how their major brands can best utilize the streaming service. Just last year, Walt Disney Animation Studios decided to shift Moana 2 from a Disney+ series to a theatrical film. Marvel’s long-in-development Armor Wars, starring Don Cheadle, has apparently shifted from a Disney+ show to a movie, while the Star Wars universe on Disney+ has blown up to the point that The Mandalorian & Grogu is coming to theaters next year. Six years after Disney+’s creation, it appears that Disney is still working out the kinks in how to make this service work best for them.
No Disney brand has faced this as much as Pixar. With the pandemic, some great Pixar films like Soul, Turning Red, and Luca were relegated to a Disney+ release. Pixar shorts have gone from an expectation of a theatrical release to simply getting released on Disney+, while shows like Monsters at Work, Cars on the Road, Forky Asks a Question, Dug Days, and their latest, Dream Productions, have found decent ways for Disney+ to play in these Pixar worlds, even if they haven’t had the impact of the Pixar films. But Win or Lose, Pixar’s first original series, feels like Pixar finding just the right type of story for an episodic format.
What Is ‘Win or Lose’ About?

Win or Lose centers around eight different characters in the week before a big championship softball game. As the title implies, the first episode, “Coach’s Kid,” follows Laurie (voiced by Rosie Foss), the daughter of the softball team’s coach (Will Forte), as she struggles with the overwhelming pressure she puts on herself as a member of the Pickles softball team, which manifests itself in a giant ball of sweat (Jo Firestone) following her around and weighing her down.
In the first four episodes of Win or Lose, we learn more about those on the team and those who are important to the game, like Frank (Josh Thomson), the softball league’s umpire and middle-school teacher who is still dealing with a recent breakup. “Raspberry” focuses on Rochelle (Milan Elizabeth Ray), the star of the Pickles softball team who tries to earn some extra cash by helping other students cheat. The following episode, “Pickle,” focuses on Rochelle’s single mother, Vanessa (Rosa Salazar), trying to do what’s best for her family while reckoning with the fact that her daughter might not be who she thought she was. As we see all these people’s stories in the week before the championship game, Win or Lose does a lovely job of presenting these characters, who we might’ve seen in previous episodes, and shows there’s more than originally meets the eye with all of us.
‘Win or Lose’ Finds a New, Intriguing Way to Tell a Pixar Story

Image via Disney+

Written and directed by Carrie Hobson and Michael Yates, who have both worked on multiple Pixar projects and were story artists on Toy Story 4, Win or Lose’s greatest strength is that unique structure that shows us characters and moments from an entirely new perspective, fleshing out and building this world in wonderful ways. One of the best examples of this comes in the third and fourth episodes, “Raspberry” and “Pickle.” When we see Vanessa through the eyes of her daughter, Rochelle, she’s flippant, always stuck on her phone, and always going off in the middle of the night without any explanation. Yet when we see Vanessa’s point of view in “Pickle,” we discover just how hard Vanessa is working to keep her family afloat. She’s given up her job to do what’s best for her kids, she’s running off at night to work for a rideshare to keep a roof over their heads, and she finds the support she needs to keep her going through her social media presence. Both perspectives are equally valid, but both are a reminder of how we likely don’t know the whole story without seeing things through someone else’s eyes.
Given this structure, however, Win or Lose is still a series that almost demands to be watched in one sitting. Each episode informs what came before and after, with characters popping in here and there, and stories fleshing out in new ways based on new information. But since each of these episodes is building towards the night of the championship game, each episode ends on a cliffhanger — meaning that you’re basically only getting part of the story until the very last episode. The episodes themselves certainly stand on their own, but because of how they end, they still feel like a small, incomplete piece of a larger story that demands you finish the entire 3+ hour season.

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Pixar’s First Original Television Series Naturally Puts Character First

Image via Disney+

Character has always been essential to every Pixar project, and with Win or Lose, Pixar can play around with these characters in ways that simply couldn’t be done in a film. As we see each of these characters and their internal struggles, it’s hard not to think of Riley in Inside Out 2, dealing with the overwhelming nature of where her life and her decisions have taken her. Yet there’s more room for these characters to breathe, and in doing so, Hobson and Yates can explore topics that are too major for a short, but maybe not enough to center an entire film around. In the second episode, “Blue,” which follows ref/history teacher Frank, we watch the armor he puts up for himself, not only on the baseball field but when putting himself out there for love. Frank’s story is melancholy and ends on a tragic note, but it’s a beautiful story that couldn’t necessarily fit into the other formats Pixar has dealt with in the past.
Pixar also has the freedom to get into topics that have a more basic, day-to-day importance than they might be able to center an entire film around (although apparently, there are some limitations to this). Win or Lose gets into trying to live up to a parent’s expectations, online dating, handling social media with a child, financial responsibilities that make morality not so black or white, and many other intriguing topics. Almost every parent seen in the first four episodes is a single parent or divorced, and there’s a real-world grounding here that Pixar simply hasn’t explored before in their previous work. There are still moments of the fantastical, like Laurie being overtaken by a sweat monster, Frank getting into his “emotional armor,” and Vanessa diving into the social media world that keeps her sane, but it’s not as pronounced as other Pixar works.
‘Win or Lose’ Has an Excellent Ensemble Voice Cast

Image via Disney+

As always with Pixar projects, Win or Lose also has a fantastic voice cast that is more about getting the right person for the part rather than relying on big names. Both Rosie Foss and Milan Elizabeth Ray are excellent as Laurie and Rochelle, respectively. Both are wonderful at showing the pressure that school and parents can put on a child, but also that desire to not admit that pressure as to let down their parents. Jo Firestone is a particular standout as Laurie’s stress, named “Sweaty,” and while it’s the most overly comedic performance in the first four episodes of the series, it never feels out of place within Laurie’s story. Yet the most impressive performance comes from Rosa Salazar as Vanessa, as again, we see the duality of character through her two episodes. In one episode, she seems cheery and oblivious, while in another, she’s trying to put on a happy face to keep her family optimistic. It’s a layered, nuanced performance from a character that at first seems fairly one-note.
Pixar is still clearly trying to iron out the wrinkles in how to best use episodic television to tell their types of stories, but Win or Lose is a great step in the right direction. By putting their characters at the forefront, and exploring each one from new angles with other episodes, we see what made Pixar so great in the first place, and how they’re able to bring magic to even the most straightforward, relatable emotions. As Pixar attempts to figure out this new format, Win or Lose is the closest thing to a home run so far.

Win or Lose

Win or Lose shows Pixar finding an inventive way to utilize the television format with a story that takes its time to expand its cast of characters.

Release Date

February 19, 2025

Network

Disney+

Writers

Carrie Hobson, Michael Yates

Milan Ray

Rochelle (voice)

Pros & Cons

Pixar finds a way to use their gift for storytelling through this inventive TV series.
Each character his handled wonderfully, as they flesh out through the eyes of other characters.
As always, Pixar’s voice talent is entirely on point.

Win or Lose can still feel like a 3+ hour Pixar movie, with each episode ending on a cliffhanger.