What is Sausage Party?

Sausage Party is a 2016 R-rated computer-animated comedy about sentient grocery items who discover their fate at the checkout counter, co-written by and starring Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg.

Where did Sausage Party come from?

Rogen and Goldberg pitched the film in the early 2010s as an adult parody of Pixar and Disney animated features, and it was formally announced in September 2013 after Annapurna Pictures agreed to fund it.

What does Sausage Party mean?

Outside the film, 'sausage party' is US slang for a party or gathering where men heavily outnumber women.

How do you use Sausage Party?

People use the slang casually to describe any social event skewed toward men, and the film title borrows that double meaning by centering on a hot dog protagonist.

Is Sausage Party still popular?

The film was a summer 2016 hit that still gets cited as the first R-rated CGI-animated feature, and the slang usage remained in circulation long before and after the release.

Sausage Party

2016film / catchphraseclassic

Published September 26, 2026

Sausage Party is Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg's 2016 R-rated computer-animated comedy about sentient grocery items who discover humans plan to eat them, styled as a raunchy parody of Pixar and Disney1. It hit theaters in August 2016 and pushed the older 'sausage party' slang phrase back into public conversation.

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Overview

The film pushes cartoon food characters through R-rated territory, with a talking hot dog named Frank (voiced by Rogen) chasing his bun girlfriend Brenda through a supermarket that hides horrors past the checkout counter1. Sight gags borrow the Pixar visual language of bright colors, googly eyes, and musical numbers, then interrupt those beats with graphic violence, drug humor, and a gonzo finale that plays like a food-based fever dream.

'Sausage party' was already US slang for a male-heavy gathering well before the film hit theaters3, and the marketing leaned into that double meaning across trailers and posters. The MPAA originally assigned the movie an NC-17 rating because of visible pubic hair on a scrotum character, before a digital edit brought it down to R2. The clash between kids' movie aesthetics and hard-R content is what made the title work as a punchline for years afterward.

Gallery

Origin & Background

Platform

Theatrical release (Sony Pictures)

Creator

Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg

Date

2016

Rogen and Goldberg conceived the concept as an adult parody of the Pixar and Disney formula built around anthropomorphic objects, but the pitch was turned down by multiple Hollywood studios before Annapurna Pictures' Megan Ellison agreed to finance it2. Sony Pictures Entertainment and Point Grey Pictures later joined as partners, and the project was formally announced in September 2013 as an R-rated computer-animated film1. Greg Tiernan and Conrad Vernon directed, with a voice cast that included Kristen Wiig, Jonah Hill, Bill Hader, Michael Cera, Salma Hayek, and Edward Norton alongside Rogen.

How It Spread

Sony premiered a rough cut at SXSW on Monday, March 14, 2016, and Rogen warned the audience up front that it was 'a fucking work in progress' with unfinished computer visuals and occasional still frames1. The screening featured the opening song of every grocery item singing about 'the great beyond' and a shopping-cart crash staged like the Omaha Beach landing in Saving Private Ryan1.

The August 2016 theatrical release drew commercial success and positive critical reviews, making it the first CGI-animated film to earn an R rating from the MPAA2. The slang usage of 'sausage party' for a male-heavy gathering still gets used interchangeably in casual conversation, and the film's title kept the phrase in circulation long after the release window3.

Timeline

2013-09

Project formally announced as an R-rated CG animated film after Annapurna Pictures' Megan Ellison agreed to finance it, with Sony and Point Grey joining as partners.

2016-03-14

Unfinished work-in-progress cut screens at SXSW in Austin, with Seth Rogen warning the audience the film was not yet done.

2016

MPAA initially assigns the film an NC-17 rating; producers digitally edit a scrotum character to secure an R rating.

2016-08

Theatrical release in August 2016, drawing strong box office and becoming the first CGI-animated feature rated R by the MPAA.

How to Use This Meme

The slang predates the movie and slots into casual speech, someone might complain that a house party is 'a total sausage party' when the room is mostly men, or turn down an invite to avoid one3. The film title works as a double meaning, pairing the hot dog protagonist with the older party slang.