Jimmy Neutron is a Nickelodeon-owned and computer-animated kids' media franchise created by John A. Davis in the 1980s and commenced in 1998 with the pilot Runaway Rocketboy. The franchise focuses on its titular protagonist (voiced by Debi Derryberry), a young boy with a genius-level intellect.

After the pilot was completed, Nickelodeon executives, who were impressed by the pilot and still enthusiastic about the show's potential, raised the prospect of creating a theatrical film to accompany the TV series, much to the surprise of Davis and his team at the studio. During the initial pitch to Nickelodeon, Oedekerk had highlighted the idea that using computer animation would allow the same models and assets to be reused between both a film and a TV show, an idea which Nick held a strong faith in. Davis further suggested that the feature film be created first, since the characters being modeled could be created at a higher quality than they would have been on a TV budget. Nick was worried that it would be more difficult to attract a movie-going audience without the TV show to build an install base for the series, but these concerns were answered by a series of short TV interstitials that began airing to hype the upcoming film. The film was a box-office and critical success and was nominated for the first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 74th Academy Awards along with Pixar's Monsters, Inc. but lost to DreamWorks Animation's Shrek.

In February 2002, a sequel was reported to be in development for a 2004 release. Producer Albie Hecht told the Los Angeles Times the sequel "would be made on the same budget as the first, but with a new batch of inventions and adventures in Jimmy's town of Retroville." On June 20, 2002, The Hollywood Reporter reported that writer Kate Boutilier had signed a writing deal with Nickelodeon Movies and Paramount Pictures to write the sequel, but the film was canceled because the writers could not agree on a story. Alcorn later said, "once the TV series came out, there wasn't a lot of incentive to make a movie when fans could simply watch Jimmy Neutron for free at home."

In 2016, director John A. Davis said he had a story for a Jimmy Neutron reboot feature he wanted to make but was waiting for the "right situation".

When asked about a reboot in 2020, Rob Paulsen said: "Well, I've got to tell you, man. I go all over the world when we don't have the coronavirus, and people love Carl. They love Carl. I don't think it would be a bad thing at all to reboot Jimmy Neutron. I think that's one of those shows that a lot of people would love to see again. It was very good. Really smart. That wouldn't surprise me."

In 2025, screenwriter Adam Pava said a potential new film project based on the character had been in the works since December 2023.

The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius (the first series): Throughout the show, various mishaps and conflicts occur on these adventures, as Jimmy's various inventions go awry. The series was well-received. DNA Productions retooled their pipeline when moving from the film to the TV series, to reuse assets for the episodes. Some of the programming team at the studio programmed a special code that allowed the animators to animate scenes in Maya, which can then be rendered in Lightwave. This helped the team keep up with the deadline and avoid going over budget.

Planet Sheen (the second series) was a spin-off focusing on Sheen. Originally designed as a series called Red Acres, it was unrelated to Jimmy Neutron, but after multiple network rejections, including Cartoon Network and Disney Channel, the series was re-developed to what would become Planet Sheen. The series was not well received by fans, but critics had mixed reviews.