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60 free Onward trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Onward is the Pixar film that had the worst luck of any in the studio's history: it opened in March 2020, cinemas closed within a fortnight, and it went from the big screen to Disney+ in under a month. It deserved better, and this quiz is a chance to give it a proper second look. The questions cover the whole story of Ian and Barley Lightfoot's quest, from the sixteenth-birthday gift and the half-finished visitation spell to Guinevere, the Pixie Dusters, Corey the tavern owner and the dragon made of a high school. Beyond the plot, there is plenty on how the film was made: director Dan Scanlon's real family story and the cassette recording that started it all, the voice cast, the Danna brothers' prog-rock score, the Brandi Carlile song, the box office collapse, the Gulf-state ban, the lawsuit over a unicorn van and the Oscar race it lost to another Pixar film. Easy questions suit kids who have watched it a dozen times; the harder ones are for the grown-ups who read the credits. Every answer has been checked against a primary reference and each question carries its source.
30 of 60 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Ian and Barley Lightfoot, the brothers at the centre of Onward, are what kind of mythical creature?
Elves
Their world is full of other mythical folk who have all let magic lapse in favour of technology.
Q 02Which actor voices the shy younger brother, Ian Lightfoot?
Tom Holland
He and his co-star recorded some sessions together and improvised lines, having already worked together on other films.
Q 03Who voices Barley, the older brother obsessed with role-playing games?
Chris Pratt
The two leads had shared the screen before as Star-Lord and Spider-Man in the Avengers films.
Q 04Which Seinfeld and Veep star voices the boys' widowed mother, Laurel?
Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Laurel gets her own heroic arc, ending up wielding a magic sword against a dragon.
Q 05Who voices Corey, the tavern owner who once inspired heroes on quests?
Octavia Spencer
Corey has a mid-life crisis on screen, trashing her own tavern when she realises how tame her life has become.
Q 06What kind of mythical creature is Corey?
A manticore
The manticore of legend has a lion's body, a human face and a scorpion's tail; Corey also has wings.
Q 07What is the name of the boys' late father?
Wilden
He died shortly before Ian was born, so Ian has no memory of him at all.
Q 08Laurel's boyfriend, police officer Colt Bronco, is what kind of creature?
A centaur
The brothers can't stand him, which makes his relentless pursuit during the quest even more awkward.
Q 09On which birthday does Ian receive the magical gift his father left behind?
His 16th
The gift includes a staff, a rare gem and a letter, and Laurel had been holding on to it for years.
Q 10The rare gem the father left behind is what kind of gem?
A Phoenix gem
It disintegrates during Ian's first botched attempt at the spell, which is why the brothers have to hunt for another.
Q 11The father's letter describes what kind of spell?
Visitation
It only brings him back for a single day, and it must be recast before sunset once the first attempt goes wrong.
Q 12For how long would the spell bring the boys' father back?
One day
The whole quest is a race against the sunset, which gives the film its ticking clock.
Q 13When Ian's first attempt at the spell is interrupted, which part of their father appears?
Only his lower half
The brothers dress up the pair of walking legs in a hoodie and sunglasses so they can take him along on the quest.
Q 21Barley eventually finds the second gem concealed in what?
A historic fountain
Removing it triggers the curse Corey had warned about.
Q 22The curse assembles a dragon-shaped golem out of pieces of what?
Ian's high school
The brothers had earlier emerged from the cave right back in town, convinced their whole quest had been a waste.
Q 23What makes Ian realise that Barley has been a father figure to him all along?
A to-do list for time with his dad
He works through the list of things he wanted to do with a father and finds his brother had done every one of them.
Q 14What is the name of Barley's beloved van?
Guinevere
It is decorated with a unicorn mural, which later prompted a real-life copyright lawsuit against Pixar.
Q 15Corey's tavern, once a gathering place for would-be adventurers, has become what?
A family restaurant
Its mascot costumes and karaoke stage are a long way from the days when it handed out quest maps.
Q 16After the tavern fire destroys the map, what is the only surviving clue to the gem's location?
A children's menu
The clue is a puzzle aimed at kids, which suits the film's joke that magic has been turned into a theme-restaurant gimmick.
Q 17The surviving clue after the tavern fire points the brothers to which nearby mountain?
Raven's Point
It turns out to be a series of raven statues leading down into a trap-filled cave, not the mountain itself.
Q 18Laurel and Corey steal Corey's curse-slaying sword from what kind of business?
A pawn shop
The shop is run by Grecklin, voiced by Tracey Ullman.
Q 19What is the name of the biker gang the brothers tangle with on the road?
The Pixie Dusters
Their leader Dewdrop is voiced by Grey Griffin, and they end up having to remember how to fly.
Q 20During the police chase, Barley sacrifices his van to trigger what?
A landslide
He sends the van careening into the rocks to block the road, one of the film's tear-jerker moments.
Q 24Who directed Onward?
Dan Scanlon
He based the story on his own family, having lost his father in a car accident when he was a baby.
Q 25Before Onward, the film's director had made which earlier Pixar feature?
Monsters University
He was encouraged to develop more personal stories after finishing that prequel in 2013.
Q 26The director was inspired to write the story after a relative found what?
An audio tape of his father's voice
He listened to it with his brother and mother; only a couple of words from their father could be made out.
Q 27The only words the director could hear his father say on the recording were "Hi" and what?
Goodbye
He described hearing those two words as "magical", and the film ends on the same note of a brief hello and farewell.
Q 28How old was the director when his own father died?
One
His older brother was three at the time, mirroring the age gap between Ian and Barley.
Q 29At which event was the film first announced, in July 2017?
D23 Expo
The title itself was not revealed until December 2018, alongside the four lead voice actors.
Q 30According to its director, how long did Onward spend in development?
Six years
He deliberately kept his brother in the dark about the project because animated films take so long to make.