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William Hanna and Joseph Barbera established the American animated media phenomenon Tom and Jerry in 1940, along with a series of comedic short films. The series, which is most known for its 161 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer theatrical short films, is centered on the rivalry between the main characters, a mouse named Jerry and a cat named Tom. Multiple recurring characters can also be found in many shorts.

Hanna and Barbera created 114 Tom and Jerry shorts for MGM during the series' initial run, which ran from 1940 to 1958.[1] They tied Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies for first place in the category with seven Academy Awards for Best Animated Short Film won during this time. Following the closure of the MGM cartoon studio in 1957, Gene Deitch directed 13 further Tom and Jerry films for Rembrandt Films in 1961–1962, as part of MGM's revival of the series. Looney Tunes was surpassed by Tom and Jerry to become the highest-grossing animated short film series of its era. Between 1963 and 1967, Chuck Jones and Sib Tower 12 Productions created another thirty-four short films. Since 2001, five more shorts have been made, for a total of 166 shorts.

Numerous spin-offs have been produced, such as the TV shows Tom and Jerry Comedy Show (1980–1982), Tom & Jerry Kids (1990–1993), Tom and Jerry Tales (2006–2008), and The Tom and Jerry Show (2014–2021). The Tom and Jerry Show was first broadcast in 1975. The first full-length movie based on the show, Tom and Jerry: The Movie, debuted in 1992. Since 2002, thirteen films have been released straight to video. A hybrid live-action/animated movie was released in 2021. A musical version of the series called Tom and Jerry: Purr-Chance to Dream made its Japanese premiere in 2019 ahead of the show's 80th anniversary.