Tom and Jerry was a successful and long-running series of theatrical short subjects created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The cartoons centered around a never-ending rivalry between a housecat (Tom) and a brown mouse (Jerry), whose chases and battles often involved comic violence. Hanna and Barbera ultimately wrote and directed one hundred fourteen Tom and Jerry cartoons at the MGM cartoon studio in Hollywood, California between 1940 and 1957, when the animation unit was closed down. The original series is notable for having won the Academy Awards for Best Short Subject (Cartoons) seven times, tieing it with Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies as the most-awarded theatrical animated series.

In 1960, MGM had new Tom and Jerry cartoons produced by Rembrandt Films, led by Gene Deitch in Eastern Europe. Production of Tom and Jerry shorts returned to Hollywood with Chuck Jones' Sib-Tower 12 Productions in 1963; this series lasted until 1967. Tom and Jerry later resurfaced in TV cartoons produced by Hanna-Barbera and Filmation Studios during the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. Today, Warner Bros. owns the rights to Tom and Jerry, and produces the series Tom and Jerry Tales for The CW's Saturday morning "Kids WB" lineup, as well as a string of Tom and Jerry direct-to-video films.