Animation is not just for children anymore. While television shows directed at adults, like The Simpsons and Family Guy have been successful, animation geared toward children is drawing an older audience as well.

Disney released Frozen, its mega-hit tale starring two princess sisters, last November. The film has become a cultural phenomenon, and not just among the preschool set. Its main character Elsa’s icy theme song, “Let It Go,” sung by Broadway star Idina Menzel, became a number-one single, and a Broadway show based on the film is already in the works.

Most recently, ABC’s fairy-tale drama Once Upon a Time had its Sept. 28 season premiere bolstered by the new cast additions of Frozen’s Elsa, her sister Anna and other major characters in the film. ABC is, smartly, capitalizing on the success of its parent company’s film in order to attract new viewers. While the show features a slew of Disney characters, it also caters to an older audience. Grown-ups, clearly, are just as enchanted by princesses and magic.

Nickelodeon’s Avatar: The Last Airbender, which ran from 2005 to 2008, was a surprising hit for the network, whose other animated shows, such as Spongebob Squarepants, are clearly aimed at children. Avatar attracted an almost cult-like following, appealing to adult anime lovers and kids at heart alike. Avatar was so successful that it spawned a spinoff, The Legend of Korra, the fourth season of which premieres this Friday on the network’s website. The decision to move the show this season from its television lineup to strictly online streaming seems odd, given its success, but makes sense. Like the original Avatar, Korra deals with themes that don’t fit in with the rest of the kid-friendly network’s programming, and the older audience is more likely to stream the episodes than to tune in live.

Two films from established foreign animation studios premiered to enthusiastic crowds at this month’s Toronto Film Festival. Song of the Sea, from Irish animation studio Cartoon Saloon, is director Tomm Moore’s follow-up to 2009’s Oscar-nominated The Secret of Kells. Like Kells, this film is rooted in Irish folklore and features young protagonists. The film’s gorgeous, unusual hand-drawn animation and heartwarming story about a little girl who, instead of speaking, finds her voice through a magical flute, is already generating buzz for this year’s Oscar animation race.

Another film that premiered at the festival was The Tale of Princess Kaguya, from renowned Japanese animation company Studio Ghibli. Directed by Ghibli co-founder Isao Takahata, the film is based on a Japanese folktale about the life of a young girl who is found in a bamboo stalk. The studio’s films have been highly successful in the United States, purchased and released theatrically by Disney with star-studded English casts.

Disney’s next animated feature film is Big Hero 6, premiering in November. Loosely based on an obscure superhero team from Marvel comics, the film appears to be the anti-Frozen. The film features a male lead, Hiro, and his inflatable robot, Baymax, who looks like a marshmallow version of a Transformer. Time will tell whether or not the film will attract an older audience, but as the recent trends indicate, the animation market is not only geared towards kids anymore.