20 best animated films submitted at the Academy Awards

As long as at least 16 films qualify, there will be five nominees in the feature-length animation category.

Most years, the category has had only three nominees, but 2009 has been a prolific year for animation. The only previous year when there were five nominees came in 2002, when 17 animated films were submitted.

Submissions include a wide variety of styles, including computer animation of such hits as "Up," "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs" and "Monsters vs. Aliens." There's also the stop-motion animation of "Coraline," "Fantastic Mr. Fox" and "Mary and Max"; and the hand-drawn animation of "The Princess and the Frog" and "Ponyo."