Frozen Timeline: Every Film and Short in Story Order

The oldest events in the Frozen timeline are not shown in the first film at all, because they surface in Frozen II as family history. The sisters' father, King Agnarr (voiced by Alfred Molina), tells them as children about a past battle in an enchanted forest that left the place trapped in mist. Later we learn that their grandfather, King Runeard (voiced by Jeremy Sisto), built a dam to weaken the Northuldra people and killed their leader.

Their mother, Queen Iduna, came from the Northuldra and once saved Agnarr. The sequel also introduces a fifth spirit who can link people with nature, and by the end Elsa realizes she is that spirit. Read this way, the Arendelle of the first film sits on top of a buried injustice. You will not see any of this on screen until the second film, so first time viewers should watch in release order and let the backstory land as a reveal. For more on the royal family, see our Frozen characters guide and the profile of Queen Iduna.

Frozen (2013), directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee, opens the story with a young Elsa, a princess of Arendelle born with ice powers, who accidentally strikes her younger sister Anna with a blast of ice. Trolls heal Anna and erase her memory of the magic, the king and queen close the castle gates, and the girls grow apart. The parents are later lost at sea in a shipwreck, leaving the sisters alone in the closed castle.

The main events begin on the day of Elsa's coronation, when the gates reopen and Anna quickly gets engaged to Prince Hans of the Southern Isles. Elsa refuses to bless the match, loses control in front of the court and flees to the North Mountain, leaving the kingdom in endless winter. Anna follows with the ice deliverer Kristoff, his reindeer Sven and a living snowman called Olaf. At Elsa's ice palace, Elsa strikes Anna in the heart by accident and a giant snow monster drives the group away.

The trolls tell Kristoff that only an act of true love can save Anna. Kristoff rushes her back to Hans, who instead reveals he wants the throne and leaves her to die. Anna then throws herself between Hans and Elsa's sword and freezes solid, and that sacrifice thaws her. Elsa learns that love lets her control her powers, ends the winter and promises never to close the gates again. Hans is sent home in disgrace, and Kristoff becomes the royal ice deliverer. The film runs 102 minutes and is rated PG in the US. Read more about Elsa, Anna, Hans, Kristoff, Sven and Olaf, the kingdom of Arendelle and the rules of Elsa's powers, or go straight to the Frozen (2013) film page.

Once Upon a Snowman fits inside Frozen (2013), in the stretch right after Elsa builds her ice palace and brings Olaf to life, and before he meets Anna and Kristoff. The short was directed by Dan Abraham and Trent Correy and arrived on Disney+ on October 23, 2020, which is why its release date looks out of place beside the story order.

The story follows Olaf waking alone on the snowy mountain outside Arendelle, taking his first steps and wondering who he is. He visits Oaken's trading post, tries out a new nose, and later gives it away to help a wolf in need. He also recalls the childhood play between Anna and Elsa, which he carries as part of himself. By the end he settles on a simple answer about who he is, built around warm hugs and the love of the sisters who made him, and the short lines up with the start of his friendship in the main film. It works as an origin story for one character, so it suits a rewatch of the first film rather than a first viewing.

Frozen Fever, directed by Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck, is the first story set after the events of Frozen (2013). It opened in US theaters on March 13, 2015, ahead of the live action Cinderella, and runs about 8 minutes.

Elsa plans a surprise birthday party for Anna with help from Kristoff, Sven and Olaf, but she has caught a cold and tries to hide it. Each sneeze produces small living snow creatures called Snowgies, who start causing trouble and damage the party decorations. Her fever worsens as she pushes on, and she nearly falls from a clock tower before Anna pulls her to safety. Elsa admits she is sick and goes home to rest while the party carries on at the castle, and the Snowgies join in.

A last sneeze sends a giant snowball flying toward Hans, who is cleaning stables far away, a comic callback to the first film. The Snowgies then move to Elsa's old ice palace, where Marshmallow lives. The short sets up nothing further, so it can be skipped without losing the plot of the saga.

Olaf's Frozen Adventure takes place during the first Christmas season since the gates of Arendelle reopened, so it sits after Frozen Fever and before Frozen II. Directed by Stevie Wermers-Skelton and Kevin Deters, the short played with Coco in US theaters starting November 22, 2017. TMDB lists it at 22 minutes, while TheWrap and Sky give 21.

After a town celebration, the guests head home to their own family customs, and Anna and Elsa realize they have no holiday traditions of their own. Olaf borrows Kristoff's sleigh and Sven and travels around Arendelle collecting keepsakes from households that celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah and Winter Solstice customs. A piece of coal picked up at Oaken's sauna sets the sleigh on fire, and it races down a mountainside and explodes. Olaf is left with only a fruitcake, wolves attack him, and then a hawk steals the fruitcake as well.

Discouraged, he sits down by a tree, until Anna and Elsa find him while leading a search party. They tell him their tradition is already him, since Anna has slipped cards and dolls of Olaf under Elsa's door for years. Elsa then builds an ice Christmas tree decorated with lanterns, and Olaf places a small Olaf sculpture on top. Like Frozen Fever, it is a standalone story that sets up nothing further.

Frozen II (2019) is the last main film so far on the Frozen timeline, set some years after Elsa takes the throne, and it was directed by Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck. US audiences saw it on November 22, 2019. It runs 103 minutes and carries a PG rating in the US.

The story begins with a childhood bedtime tale from King Agnarr about a battle in an enchanted forest, and it jumps to a calm Arendelle where Elsa keeps hearing a voice she cannot place. Following it rouses the elemental spirits, the town is emptied, and the whole group (Anna, Kristoff, Olaf, Sven and Elsa) heads north. The wall of mist opens for Elsa, and behind it the Northuldra and a stranded band of Arendelle soldiers are still facing each other after decades.

Two discoveries drive the middle of the film: Iduna was Northuldra and once rescued Agnarr, and a fifth spirit is said to connect people and nature. Elsa then sails for Ahtohallan, the river that stores memories, and finds that King Runeard built the dam to weaken the Northuldra and killed their leader. She freezes, and Olaf fades away. Anna carries on alone, decides the dam has to fall, and has the earth giants smash it, which sends water rushing toward Arendelle. Elsa thaws, rides the water spirit and holds the flood back, and the mist clears.

So, did Anna and Kristoff get married? Not here: the film stops at his proposal. Olaf is restored, Elsa understands that she is the fifth spirit, and she passes the crown to Anna so she can guard the Enchanted Forest. A post credit scene shows Olaf at Elsa's ice palace, telling the whole adventure to Marshmallow, the snow giant, and the Snowgies. The Frozen II (2019) film page has the full cast and crew.

The Frozen timeline explained in one line: the story moves forward in a straight line, and the only trick is that Once Upon a Snowman was released after Frozen II but belongs inside the first film. In my opinion, that makes this one of the easier animated sagas to order, since there are no reboots and no parallel versions of the sisters to untangle.

What changes the shape of the timeline is Frozen II, because it reaches back before the first film and reframes it. The accident that starts Frozen (2013) looks like a family tragedy at first, and by the end of the sequel it reads as part of a much older story involving King Runeard, the dam and the Northuldra. I would argue that the sequel works well on its own because the history is explained clearly, though Frozen (2013) still plays better first, since Elsa's isolation hits harder before you know why the forest matters. It could be argued that the quiet gap between the two main films is where the shorts do their best work.

The two shorts set after the first film, Frozen Fever and Olaf's Frozen Adventure, are optional, and neither sets up anything further. Frozen Fever is a light birthday comedy, and Olaf's Frozen Adventure is the better pick if you want a story about the sisters' bond, since, perhaps, the card and doll reveal is the warmest moment of the shorts. My pick for the saddest scene is Olaf fading away in Frozen II (an opinion, and others will say Anna freezing as she steps between Hans and Elsa). For a first viewing, watch the two films in release order and add the shorts afterward; our Frozen movies ranked page gives my full ordering, and where to watch Frozen shows what is streaming in the US, UK and Australia.