“If someone wins, somebody has to lose.” – Win or Lose
Everyone’s heard the phrase, “You win some, you lose some,” but not everyone realizes for every winner, there is also a loser. This is not only true in life but also in sports. Enter Pixar’s first-ever feature-length series, Win or Lose, that examines what it feels like to be on the winning and losing side and the consequences that come with it.
As seen in the trailer above, we are first introduced to shy Pickles umpire Frank (voiced by Will Forte), reading Lacey Lace’s romantic novel Cosmic Desire as he waits for his single soy latte (emphasis on the single) to be fixed by Lena. Mustering up some confidence, he has a crush on Lena, asking if she would like to go on a date with him. She is stunned and not interested in him as he quickly panics, no longer seeing himself as the knight in shining armor (similar to the cover of Cosmic Desire). ‘Oh God, I can’t believe this is happening again,’ she says to herself in an embarrassed tone as Frank panics. Things become more embarrassing for Frank when Lena declares to the coffee shop that Frank is ‘like a younger brother’ to her. Clearly this was not his winning moment.
The trailer switches to the Pickles co-ed middle school softball team that just made it to their championship game. The team is clearly excited, but one player is sweating nervously as she’s up next at bat. Despite her fellow teammate cheering her on and looking confident, she is about that. Sweat pours from her to the point the sweat becomes its own being, ‘This is good because it’s high-stakes, and that’s the kind we like,’ the sweat says to the girl who doesn’t seem to be in agreement. She strikes out as kids proceed to make fun of her filming her most low moment. ‘Everyone is chasing the feeling of a win,’ says one kid. ‘Everyone makes it look so easy,’ says an exasperated mom on the floor. ‘I feel like I’m barely hanging on.’ ‘But if someone wins, somebody has to lose,’ the kid says.
Win or Lose is about the ups and downs of the Pickles, but it’s also about its individual members. Each episode takes place that same week, highlighting the perspective of a different main character—players, their parents, the umpire—each reflected in a unique visual style, though it has a distinctly Pixar feel.

“The series reveals what it actually feels like to be in the shoes of each character — the insecure kids, their helicopter parents, even a lovesick umpire — with incredibly funny, very emotional and uniquely animated perspectives,” Pixar teased.
“I played softball growing up,” said Carrie Hobson, who wrote, directed, and executive produced the series with Michael Yates. “Inspired by that experience, we felt fast-pitch softball was the perfect backdrop for the show. There are so many facets to playing sports that I love — it can bring out the best and worst of a person, the calmest person can lose their temper. And when it comes to winning and losing — the consequences are nothing, and yet, they’re everything. We really felt like it was the best arena for the themes we loved.”
According to Yates, the idea of spotlighting different perspectives was born of everyday life at Pixar. “Carrie and I were officemates on Toy Story 4,” he said. “We were both story artists on the film, and we would talk about a lot of things going on in the film, as well as things going on in the world — current events, news. We would always have different reactions or different interpretations of the same meeting. One of us would say, ‘That went great!’ and the other would say, ‘No! It was terrible, what are you talking about?’ We realized that our own experiences that we bring to the table change our perception of an event. We wanted to tell a story that illustrated all of that.”
Releasing February 19th, Win or Lose features the voices of Will Forte, Rosie Foss, Josh Thomson, Milan Elizabeth Ray, Rosa Salazar, Dorien Watson, Izaac Wang, Chanel Stewart, Lil Rel Howery, Melissa Villaseñor, Jo Firestone, Flula Borg, Kyleigh Curran, Jaylin Fletcher, Erin Keif, Tom Law, Beck Nolan, Orion Tran, and Rhea Seehorn. The series, which presents incredibly funny, very emotional, and uniquely animated perspectives, is produced by David Lally and includes music by composer Ramin Djawadi and original songs by CAMPFIRE and Djawadi.
To learn more about Win or Lose, check out the trailer above and the key and posters in the gallery below.





