Provided are a rubber composition for tires preventing discoloration and improving ozone resistance while maintaining or improving good elongation at break, and a pneumatic tire using the rubber composition. Included is a rubber composition for tires including: a rubber component; a naturally occurring wax containing 40-98% by mass of an ester component; a phenylenediamine antioxidant and/or a quinone antioxidant; and a specific nonionic surfactant, the rubber composition having an amount of diene rubber of 70-100% by mass per 100% by mass of the rubber component, the rubber composition having an amount of the naturally occurring wax of 0.01-5.0 parts by mass, an amount of petroleum-derived wax of 0-6.0 parts by mass, a combined amount of the phenylenediamine antioxidant and the quinone antioxidant of 1.0-8.0 parts by mass, and an amount of the nonionic surfactant of 0.1-5.0 parts by mass, each per 100 parts by mass of the rubber component.