Sesame Street videography There have been many " Sesame Street " videos over the years , usually featuring a mix of newly - produced material and segments from the series . Many video releases have also come with such bonus materials as activity booklets and song lyric posters . Many " Sesame Street " videos revolved around a certain theme , from such learning concepts as letters and numbers , to " best of " videos focusing on certain characters , to music - themed videos . Nearly every direct - to - video " Sesame Street " production began with a voice - over reading the title as it appeared on - screen . Early releases . The first releases of " Sesame Street " videos on VHS were a couple of storybook videos released by Golden Video in 1985 . These two featured stills from various storybooks , with limited animation and voices . Also around this time , " Sesame Street " ' s first movie , " Follow That Bird " , was released on video by Warner Brothers . Random House . In 1986 , Random House Home Video started releasing " Sesame Street " videos . The packaging for these usually featured an image in a border on the cover . The back covers didn ' t include any pictures , just a summary and usually a listing of other " Sesame Street " videos available on Random House Home Video . Most collections of videos featured a number in the " proof of purchase " box on the side panels . The first collection of " Sesame Street " videos from Random House was My Sesame Street Home Video , which were approximately 30 minutes long ( as opposed to an hour , like the average " Sesame Street " episode ) . These videos also originally came with special activity booklets . In 1987 , Random House started releasing " Sesame Street " television specials on video , with the first specials released on video being " Big Bird in China " , " Don ' t Eat the Pictures " , and " Christmas Eve on Sesame Street " . Around this time Random House also released another series of videos , Sesame Street Start - to - Read Video . These were similar to the Golden Video releases , being that they featured still images from various storybooks , but unlike those videos , the Start - To - Read videos did not include any animation . Also , while Caroll Spinney , Frank Oz , and Fran Brill provided voices to the Golden Video releases , only Caroll Spinney provided voices to this video series , narrating the videos as Big Bird , and also providing voices of all other characters . Also , in this video series , words appeared on - screen as Big Bird narrated . In 1990 , Random House started releasing another video series , Sesame Songs Home Video . All of these releases were themed around song sketches . The videos came with song lyric posters , and while past video series featured a listing of other videos in those collections on the back covers , this series didn ' t list other Sesame Songs releases , instead using the space to list the songs that appear on the videos . Also , during that year , Random House released its first two direct - to - video " Sesame Street " productions to not have segments from the show . These two videos were " Sesame Street Home Video Visits the Hospital " and " Sesame Street Home Video Visits the Firehouse " . Sony Wonder . In 1995 , Sony Wonder took over distribution of " Sesame Street " videos , rereleasing many past video releases in addition to releasing new - to - video releases . Unlike the Random House releases , Sony Wonder ' s releases didn ' t have a border on the cover , and the back covers featured an image on the back . Unlike Random House ( with the exception of the Sesame Songs videos ) , most Sony Wonder video releases had song listings on the back covers . " " was the only video rereleased by Sony Wonder to not have any major packaging changes . With some rereleases ( " Learning About Letters " , " Learning About Numbers " , etc ) the main packaging changes were the lack of a border and different background , while other rereleases ( " Getting Ready to Read " , " Play - Along Games and Songs " , etc . ) had much more significant cover changes . While quite a few video releases from Random House had detailed backgrounds , until 2004 nearly all of Sony Wonder ' s releases had plain - colored backgrounds . Sony Wonder released a handful of new " Sesame Street " videos with the My Sesame Street Home Video and Sesame Songs opening logo sequences , but these logos didn ' t appear on the video packaging . Many of Sony Wonder ' s other releases had a special animated " Sesame Street Home Video " sequence , which features Big Bird , Elmo , Snuffy , Cookie Monster , Ernie and Zoe building the words " Home Video " under the Sesame Street sign . Sony Wonder also released a few " Sesame Street " videos with a " Kids ' Guide to Life " series , which usually featured the major presence of a celebrity . In 2000 , Sony Wonder started to release various Elmo ' s World segments on video . Each video release included three Elmo ' s World segments , sometimes tied to a specific theme , sometimes not . In 2001 , Sony Wonder released " " , the first of a few direct - to - video Elmo ' s World specials . In fact , it was around this time that Sony Wonder started to regularly release direct - to - video " Sesame Street " releases that lasted more than a half hour ( some lasting up to 40 or 50 minutes in length ) . Although a few " Sesame Street " specials had been released on DVD when they were first released on video , in 2001 Sony Wonder started releasing past " Sesame Street " videos on DVD . At first , most " Sesame Street " DVDs didn ' t have any bonus features ( excluding a " preview other Sesame Street DVDs " feature , which featured short clips from other DVDs ) . Eventually , Sesame Street DVDs started to have features , usually a game or bonus segments from the show . In 2002 , " Sesame Street " changed its format . One of the changes was to make the street plot one long segment , with no inserts interrupting the plot . Following this change , Sony Wonder started to release videos featuring the street plots from these newer episodes , starting with " Elmo Visits the Firehouse " . Some releases included two or more street stories . Before the format change , the only videos to feature street plots ( with most of the segments edited ) were " Slimey ' s World Games " and " Computer Caper " . In 2005 , following a number of hurricanes , Sony Wonder released the street scenes from the Season 32 hurricane episodes , edited together for the video release " Friends to the Rescue " . In 2006 , Sony Wonder started to release mostly complete hour - long episodes of the show , in collections such as " Old School " , featuring episodes from the show ' s early years , and " TV Episode Fun Packs " , featuring more recent episodes . In 2004 , Sony Wonder made a significant change to the style of its packaging . While back covers had previously only had one image , now " Sesame Street " videos featured three to four pictures on the back covers , often with a small caption under the photo . These were originally presented vertically , but later they were presented horizontally ( the Elmo ' s World videos also had a style like this ) . In 2006 , video covers started to have a side border on the right of the cover . Some of these borders resembled the Sesame Street lamppost . Also in 2006 , Sony Wonder released a new direct - to - video series , " Sesame Beginnings " , featuring baby versions of the " Sesame Street " Muppets . Genius Entertainment . In 2007 , Genius Entertainment got the rights to release " Sesame Street " videos and DVDs . In addition to new - to - DVD releases , Genius rereleased past releases on one DVD each , packaged as " Sesame Street Double Features " . Afterwards , Genius Products rereleased a number of past DVDs in single - disc , single - program format . Warner Home Video . Genius Products ' contract distributing " Sesame Street " DVDs lasted only two years . Warner Home Video took over video rights in 2010 . In addition to rereleasing many Genius titles , Warner has usually released one new " Sesame Street " release per month . In 2012 , the releases started to get longer than usual , with some of the single - disc releases promoting " Over 2 hours of fun ! " on the covers . Around this time , DVD releases started to occasionally include an existing video release as a bonus feature . While there had previously been a handful of releases containing full hour - long episodes , most of which were multi - disc releases while a few single - disc releases contained only one hour - long episode , 2012 ' s " Elmo ' s Magic Numbers " started a new trend of releasing single - disc releases with two hour - long episodes . However , around this time , " Sesame Street " DVDs would generally stop including the theme song , with the opening and closing cut from releases of full episodes being cut ( though instances of an instrumental version of the theme appearing as an underscore in existing episodes would sometimes be retained ) . The opening would again be included on video releases as early as 2017 , with the opening included in a bonus episode in " Elmo and Cookie Monster Supersized Fun " ( though the closing was still omitted ) , and the season 46 opening would open the compilation " Elmo Loves Animals " . " Elmo Loves Animals " would also be the first " Sesame Street " DVD where the main program included a mix of full half - hour episodes and street stories . Also starting as early as 2017 , videos would no longer open with a title sequence . Other distributors . A DVD of the special " " was released in 2010 as " Sesame Street : 20 Years . . . and Still Counting ! " by Lions Gate Entertainment for the Jim Henson Company . ( This special is one of the few " Sesame Street " projects directly produced by the Jim Henson Company , who retained the rights . ) In 2011 , MUSE Film and Television , Inc . released " Don ' t Eat the Pictures " on DVD . In 2012 , " A Special Sesame Street Christmas " was released to DVD for the first time by Legendary Entertainment Alliance .