Music like The Backyardigans

The Backyardigans is a computer-animated musical children's TV series created by Janice Burgess. The series was written and recorded at Nickelodeon Animation Studio, with animation provided by Nelvana. It centers on a group of five anthropomorphic best friends who use their imaginations to embark on fantastic adventures in their shared backyard. Each episode is set to a different musical genre like reggae, country, or rock, and features at least four songs, written by various songwriters and performed by the characters with original dance choreography.

The series was based upon a live-action pilot produced in 1998 titled Me and My Friends. The pilot featured life-sized puppets who danced to songs on an indoor stage. In 2001, Nickelodeon's studio in New York retooled the concept into an animated pilot, using motion capture techniques to animate the dances. The newer pilot was greenlit, and the series entered production as a co-production between Nickelodeon and Nelvana. Nickelodeon called the show "a home-grown Nick Jr. property," as "the whole creative team... [had] been part of the Nick Jr. family for years."