NPR called Newman a “national treasure” in its album review, saying that he “remains first and foremost a craftsman of song, capable of telling ordinary stories in ways no one quite has before,” and the Chicago Tribune said, “Newman is one of the best songwriters of the last half-century … a master of orchestrating mood and playing a range of flawed characters, depicted in mini aural movies compressed into three verses and three minutes.”

Besides writing songs for films, he also writes songs for television series such as the Emmy Award-winning theme song of Monk, " It's a Jungle Out There". Newman also composed the Emmy Award-winning song "When I'm Gone" for the final episode.Since the 1980s, Newman has worked mostly as a film composer. He has scored nine Disney- Pixar animated films, including all four Toy Story films (1995–2019), A Bug's Life (1998), both Monsters, Inc. films (2001, 2013), and the first and third Cars films (2006, 2017), as well as Disney's James and the Giant Peach (1996) and The Princess and the Frog (2009). His other film scores include Cold Turkey (1971), Ragtime (1981), The Natural (1984), Awakenings (1990), Cats Don't Dance (1997), Pleasantville (1998), Meet the Parents (2000), Seabiscuit (2003), and Marriage Story (2019).

His cousin is the well-known film and TV composer, Thomas Newman who has recently received wide acclaim for his score for World War I epic, 1917. Randy Newman: Bet No One Ever Hurt This Bad". Rolling Stone. November 1, 1979 . Retrieved August 7, 2017. All Songs Considered (August 4, 2008). "Guest DJ Randy Newman". NPR. Archived from the original on August 4, 2011 . Retrieved September 19, 2011. I've never seen anyone whose goal was to make money be happy because of that," says Newman. "They are never satisfied, never. I find myself not liking rich people, even though I am one... well, I never liked myself that much either. All that talk about private planes and Air France first class and lasering their underarms. I hear it but I don't like it much. I like musicians, unless they get rich." He laughs. "And even when they do."Nicholas Everett; Paul R. Laird (December 9, 2002). The Cambridge Companion to the Musical. Cambridge University Press. p.241. ISBN 978-0-521-79639-2. Archived from the original on July 4, 2023 . Retrieved January 11, 2017.

A revue of Newman's songs, titled Maybe I'm Doing It Wrong, was performed at the Astor Place Theatre in New York City in 1982, and later at other theaters around the country. The New York cast featured Mark Linn-Baker and Deborah Rush, [36] and at one point included Treat Williams. [37] In 2000, South Coast Repertory (SCR) produced The Education of Randy Newman, a musical theater piece that recreates the life of a songwriter who bears some resemblance to the actual Newman. Set in New Orleans and Los Angeles, it was modeled on the American autobiography, The Education of Henry Adams.Born in 1943, Randy Newman grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana, before the family moved to Los Angeles when he was 11. In 1968, Newman finally recorded his debut album, which unfortunately didn’t even make the Billboard 200. Despite this, some of the biggest names in popular music such as Dusty Springfield, Nina Simone, Everly Brothers and Pat Boone still went on to cover his material. Newman’s rise was gradual with him writing the entire album “Nilsson Sings Newman”. Again, the album wasn’t a commercial success, but it gained critical acclaim. It even won the “Record of the Year” award in the Stereo Review magazine. It wasn’t until the album “Little Criminals” released on September 23rd 1977, that Randy Newman had a hit record on his hands. The album peaked at number 9 on the Billboard 200 chart, which is his highest charting album to date. In addition to his solo recordings and regular international touring, Newman began composing and scoring for films in the 1980s. The list of movies he has worked on since then includes The Natural, Awakenings, Ragtime, all four Toy Story pictures, Monsters Inc. and Monsters University, Seabiscuit, James and the Giant Peach, A Bug’s Life, and Meyerowitz Stories.