Minions and Despicable Me in order: the complete chronological watch guide

The Despicable Me franchise sneaks up on you. What started in 2010 as the story of a supervillain adopting three orphans has become one of the biggest animated series on the planet — six feature films, a scene-stealing army of yellow Minions, and a pile of mini-movies that most people have never watched in order. If you want to follow Gru’s life as it actually happens, from the Minions’ prehistoric beginnings to the arrival of his son, you need the chronological order, not the release order.

This guide lays out the entire Minions and Despicable Me saga in true in-universe order, shows you exactly where the short films slot in, and helps you decide which order is right for your rewatch.

Chronological order vs. release order

For most of the franchise, release order and story order line up neatly — the Despicable Me films came out in the same sequence they happen. The twist is the Minions spin-offs. "Minions" (2015) is a prequel set decades before Gru adopts the girls, and "Minions: The Rise of Gru" (2022) jumps back to 1976 to show him as an 11-year-old aspiring villain. Watched by release date, you meet adult Gru first and then rewind. Watched chronologically, you follow the little yellow henchmen from the dawn of time, through a pint-sized Gru, and only then into the movies that started it all.

Neither order is wrong. Release order preserves the surprise of learning Gru’s backstory after you already love him. Chronological order turns six films into one continuous life story — which is why it’s the better way to revisit the series once you know it.

The full Minions & Despicable Me timeline

Here is the complete run of feature films in in-universe chronological order, with the era each one covers:

• ✦Minions (2015) — set in 1968: the Minions search history for the perfect evil master and cross paths with supervillain Scarlet Overkill.
• ✦Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022) — set in 1976: a young Gru tries to join the Vicious 6 and earns the Minions’ loyalty.
• ✦Despicable Me (2010) — present day: Gru adopts Margo, Edith and Agnes while scheming to steal the moon.
• ✦Despicable Me 2 (2013) — Gru is recruited by the Anti-Villain League and meets Lucy Wilde.
• ✦Despicable Me 3 (2017) — Gru discovers his long-lost twin brother, Dru.
• ✦Despicable Me 4 (2024) — Gru and Lucy welcome Gru Jr. and go on the run from Maxime Le Mal.
• ✦Minions & Monsters (2026) — the latest feature, and the newest chapter in the saga.

Where the mini-movies fit

Illumination has released more than a dozen Minion mini-movies and specials over the years, and they’re some of the funniest things the franchise has made — yet they’re almost impossible to find in the right order on streaming. Because most of them are self-contained gags (a Minion fighting over a banana, babysitting a caveman baby, or losing his mind in a mailroom), they don’t have a strict place in the timeline. The sensible approach, and the one used by most fans, is to group each film’s bundled shorts right after that film, and to cluster the standalone Minion shorts alongside the "Minions" movie.

That means after "Minions" you can enjoy Competition, Cro Minion, Mower Minions and Yellow Is the New Black; after "Despicable Me" come Home Makeover, Orientation Day and Banana; "Despicable Me 2" is followed by Puppy, Panic in the Mailroom and Training Wheels; and later shorts like The Secret Life of Kyle, Mooned and the Minions: Holiday Special round things out. They’re optional extras — pure dessert — but they’re worth it.

• ✦With Minions: Competition, Binky Nelson Unpacified, Cro Minion, Mower Minions, Yellow Is the New Black, Minions & Monsters (2021 short).
• ✦With Despicable Me: Home Makeover, Orientation Day, Banana.
• ✦With Despicable Me 2: Puppy, Panic in the Mailroom, Training Wheels.
• ✦Later shorts & specials: Minion Scouts, The Secret Life of Kyle, Mooned, Minions: Holiday Special.

So which order should you watch?

If this is your first time through the franchise, release order is a great default — you meet Gru as a villain, fall for his makeshift family, and then get the joy of his origin story as a prequel treat. If you already know the films and want the fullest experience, go chronological: start in 1968 with the Minions, watch a young Gru come into his own, and let the whole saga play as one story about a bad guy who slowly becomes a dad.

For families, chronological order has a nice bonus — the humour scales gently, and kids love spotting the Minions’ running gags reappear across decades. Whichever you choose, the key is simply keeping your place, because between the features and all those scattered shorts, it’s easy to lose track of what you’ve seen.

• ✦New to it all? Release order, features first, shorts later.
• ✦Rewatching? Chronological — the Minions’ origin up front makes the whole thing sing.
• ✦Watching with kids? Chronological doubles as a gentle difficulty ramp.

Why watch a comedy franchise "in order" at all

It’s a fair question — these are gag-driven animated comedies, not a tightly-plotted saga. But watching in order rewards you more than you’d expect. Running jokes pay off, the Minions’ loyalty to Gru gains real weight once you’ve seen them audition masters for millennia, and the emotional throughline — a lonely villain building the family he never had — only lands if you follow it start to finish. Order turns a pile of movies into a story.

The other reason is purely practical: the franchise is bigger than it looks. Six films, a seventh on the way, and a small mountain of mini-movies add up fast, and streaming services scatter them across libraries with no sense of sequence. A single chronological checklist is the difference between "we’ll watch a Minions movie" and actually finishing the whole thing.

The complete Minions and Despicable Me timeline — every film and mini-movie in true chronological order, with your progress tracked item by item and the optional shorts one filter away — is live and free on MultiverseOrder. Start the journey in 1968 and follow it all the way to Gru Jr.