Look Back at Dave Franco’s Year as the Sexiest Cat Dad Alive, as We Prepare to Crown a New Winner

Look Back at Dave Franco’s Year as the Sexiest Cat Dad Alive, as We Prepare to Crown a New Winner https://ift.tt/oOF1yMw

Franco joked “I’ve peaked” shortly after taking the title in 2025, and has spent the last 12 months making cat ownership look good

Credit: The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon/Youtube; Monica Schipper/WireImage

NEED TO KNOW

• Dave Franco accepted PEOPLE’s 2025 Readers’ Choice honor with tributes to his cats Max and Otis
• He and wife Alison Brie enjoy quiet date nights watching movies in bed with their cats
• Franco used the title to champion cats as heroes rather than villains in popular culture

When Dave Franco accepted his win for Sexiest Cat Dad Alive in PEOPLE’s 2025 Readers’ Choice Poll on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon in Oct. 2025, he did so with all his heart. He even stood to give his acceptance speech and thank some very special felines in his life.

“I feel like I have been silently campaigning for this my whole life,” Franco began. “I never realized how rare it was for a man to be obsessed with his cats until every journalist brought it up in every interview I’ve ever done. ... I of course have to thank Max and Otis. You guys — as if they’re watching — make me laugh more than anyone on Earth. I gotta give a shout-out to my old cats, Harry and Arturo.”

The band might have played him off as he protested, “This is my moment!” — but that moment was only beginning.

Franco’s reign as the most celebrated cat dad in America has been an eventful one (even making the New York Times in a trend piece called “It’s A Great Time to Be a Guy Who Loves His Cat”), and as we prepare to crown a new Sexy Cat Dad chosen by PEOPLE readers in 2026’s poll, we’re looking back on his reign.

Dave Franco with his cat
Credit: Courtesy Dave Franco

Shortly after his win, Franco told PEOPLE on the Now You See Me: Now You Don’t red carpet that he had “peaked” with the new title.

“I’m very proud. I’m an outspoken cat lover,” he said. “What’s wild is how many people bring it up. Shout out to my cats, Max and Otis, at home. I’ve peaked. I’ve peaked. It’s all downhill from here.”

Dave Franco with his cat
Credit: Alison Brie/Instagram

He continued with another faux acceptance speech to celebrate his win, once again thanking his late cats, Arturo and Harry, who were “18 pounders,” he recalled. “I remember when I was single and I would go on dates and I would tell these women that I had 36 cumulative pounds of cat at home, and then I would never see these women again.”

Franco concluded, “I want to thank the movie Flow, for changing the narrative of how cats are portrayed in film. They’re usually the villains. Flow showed that they can be the heroes, which is why it won the Academy Award, because it told the truth.”

Franco expanded on that sentiment in a Sept. 2026 interview with USA Today, saying that he was happy to use his “new platform” as Sexiest Cat Dad to change the narrative that “cats are always vilified in popular culture.” He reiterated that Flow was an Oscar winner because “it told the truth about cats” and joked that when he was around a fellow cat lover, like his groomer Kumi Craig, “you just can’t shut us up. It’s pictures all day, and everyone around is like, ‘Yeah...cute!’ “

Dave Franco in a recent photo with one of his cats
Credit: Courtesy Dave Franco

He has joked about the ongoing interest in him as a sexy cat dad, saying, “I never realized how rare it was for a man to be obsessed with his cats until every journalist brought it up in every interview I’ve ever done.” Dax Shepard was one such person who had questions about Franco’s feline affinity — and asked on Armchair Expert how he really felt about the Sexiest Cat Dad title.

“It’s all flattery, baby,” he said with a laugh. “What’s not to like? Here’s the thing: I realized a long time ago that being the guy who’s obsessed with cats, especially when I was a single guy obsessed with cats, that was a rarity. I was like, is this not normal for a single guy to have two 18 lb. cats? Having 36 cumulative lbs. of cats also weeded out the dating pool. Not a lot of girls are down with that!”

Dave Franco and wife Alison Brie
Credit: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic

Of course, Franco isn’t a single cat dad any longer: He and his wife, Alison Brie, share Max and Otis (and Brie has said in the past Franco is instrumental in preventing her from going overboard with pet purchases for the two of them). He told E! in Sept. 2026 that their ideal date night is a simple one: “The truth is, my perfect night these days is just like a full pile with my wife and my cats in bed, and we’re just watching two movies, going to bed by 9:30 p.m.”

Dave Franco’s throwback photo with his cat, shared on The Tonight Show
Credit: The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon/Youtube

With the year winding down (and some fierce competition for the 2026 title), Franco was determined to leave fans with one more major “cat dad” moment — this one a throwback. While back on The Tonight Show to promote his new film Forgotten Island in Sept. 2026, he brought a photo of himself in the ‘90s with spiky hair, puka shell necklace and an adorable kitten by his side. “That’s a vibe, Jimmy, and you know what that vibe is saying?” he said. “PEOPLE magazine’s Sexiest Cat Dad 2025.”

PEOPLE’s Sexiest Man Alive Readers’ Choice Poll results will be revealed Tues, Oct. 20 — stay tuned!