Mater and the Ghostlight

Mater, the tow truck from Radiator Springs, spends the day playing frightening pranks on the other residents of the town. That evening, Sheriff tells the story of the Ghostlight, a mysterious blue light said to haunt the area. After the tale, the other cars hurry home, leaving Mater to make his way back alone.

The short film is directed by John Lasseter and produced by Mark Nielsen, with Pixar and Walt Disney Pictures behind it. It followed Cars in Lasseter's filmography, arriving in the same year as that feature. Larry the Cable Guy returns as the voice of Mater, alongside Owen Wilson as Lightning McQueen, Bonnie Hunt as Sally, Paul Newman as Doc Hudson, Michael Wallis as Sheriff and Cheech Marin as Ramone. The seven-minute short was released in July 2006.

Audience response has been moderate: on IMDb it holds a rating of 6.5 from roughly 9,700 votes, while on TMDB it sits at 6.3 from just under 500 votes. The difference in vote counts reflects the wider reach of the former platform, while the similar scores suggest a comparable reception across both.