21 Details From Pixar Movies That You Definitely Didn’t Notice
In its animation and storytelling, Pixar has always been a cut above the rest.
You're not just going to see an animated movie, you're going to see a PIXAR movie. Whether it's creating the first animated film in Oscar history to get nominated for Best Screenplay (Toy Story), or rendering 1.15 million individual hairs for Remy in Ratatouille, Pixar knows that hard work pays off. In their mind-boggling attention to detail, Pixar is also famous for hiding tons of Easter eggs that reference other films, creators, real-life inspirations, and more. These are some of our favorites!
1.Al says, "Don't touch my mustache," when he gets off the phone with a Japanese toy museum in Toy Story 2 (1999). This is a mispronunciation of Dōitashimashite (どういたしまして), which means "you're welcome" in Japanese.
2.In Soul (2020), you can see a travel poster for Portorosso, the town featured in Luca (2021).
3.In Up (2009), the other dogs cannot track Kevin because they are guarding breeds (English Bulldog, Doberman Pinscher, Rottweiler). Dug is able to find the bird because he's the only hunting dog (Golden Retriever).
4.The Moorish idol is a fish that is notoriously difficult to keep in captivity. So when the filmmakers of Finding Nemo (2003) needed Gill to be a fish that would escape at all costs, they knew exactly which species to make him.
Click here to learn more about why Moorish idols are so challenging to keep in captivity!
5.Unicorns are usually shown as majestic, elegant creatures, but that's not the case in Onward (2020). They are aggressive and untamed, which actually matches the original myths about the creature.
6.Cruz Ramirez plays some music to help train one of the newer cars in Cars 3 (2017). Turns out the car comes from Santa Cecilia, where Coco (2017) takes place. When we get a glimpse of the screen, there is even a scene from the movie.
7.Abuelita is based on a real-life Abuelita in Coco (2017), especially when it comes to her neck.
Abuelita is based on co-director Adrian Molina's mother-in-law. While her personality and badass attitude surely added a lot to the character, he flew out his mother-in-law from Mexico City to get one specific part of the animation just right: her neck. The animators wanted to perfectly portray the way Abuelita's neck moves, especially when she was angry. This was difficult to do, with Molina saying that his abuelita was a woman that did not get angry easily.
8.Even though he passed away in 2017, Don Rickles still voices Mr. Potato Head in Toy Story 4 (2019) thanks to some clever editing.
“We went back through all of the outtakes for all of the films, all the shorts, all the video games, all the ice-capades shows, every possible thing, and there was a lot of Don Rickles. So I wouldn’t say it was easy, but there was a lot to work with. So I’m very, very, very honored that he’s in this film.” —Director Josh Cooley
9.Bruce cries in Finding Nemo (2003), stating that he never knew his father. In nature, shark fathers immediately leave their pups, leaving the mothers to nurse the embryos.
10.In Incredibles 2 (2018), the painting in Helen's hotel room is an abstract representation of her separation from the rest of the Parrs.
The big stripe to the left is Bob, then Violet, Dash, and Jack-Jack, with Helen off to the right.
11.In Soul (2020), a soul is assigned the number 108,210,121,415. This roughly matches the amount of people that have ever lived, according to the Population Reference Bureau.
While the creators of Soul may have found that 108 billion number during the early stages of production, the Population Reference Bureau (PRB) has since updated that statistic. PRB now believes that we were around the 107 billion–108 billion mark in the 1950s, and currently sit at 117 billion humans that have ever lived. Of course, this is constantly changing as we redefine when the "start" of humanity is. Oh, and all the babies that keep getting born!
For more info, check out PRB's article "How Many People Have Ever Lived on Earth?"
12.Obviously, there's a lot of rats in Ratatouille (2007). Pixar kept rats as pets for over a year so that the animators could study their movements, fur, and behavior.
13.Forrest Woodbush from The Good Dinosaur (2015) makes an appearance in Inside Out (2015).
14.The Burger Shire in Onward (2020) shows a sign that says "Now serving 2nd breakfast," a reference to Pippin's hunger pains in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001).
Watch Pippin complain about a criminal lack of food here.
15.The carpet in Sid's house in Toy Story (1995) matches another (and perhaps the only) famous movie carpet pattern. The colors are slightly different, but the style is identical to the carpet in The Shining (1980).
16.The first 20 minutes of WALL-E (2008) feature no dialogue. To study visual storytelling, director Andrew Stanton and his team watched every film and short of Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin.
17.Mr. Incredible's first suit was blue and Elastigirl's was red in The Incredibles (2004). It only makes sense that they named their daughter Violet.
18.In Cars (2006), the animators paid perfect attention to the way different types of vehicles drive over various terrain.
Lightning McQueen may be a high-performance sports car, but he shakes much more violently off-road than Mater. This is especially noticeable when the pair are running away from Frank. McQueen's shakiness is because race cars have firm suspension made for a smooth track, while the average truck has softer suspension.
19.A familiar face (or snout) appears in Ratatouille (2007). Recognize that pooch? It's Dug, from Up (2009)!
Fun fact: Most people misspell his name as "Doug," but it's actually just Dug!
20.It happens in high school, college, work, and it happens at Pixar: corrupted files.
It's easy to imagine a huge studio like Pixar having countless safeguards when it comes to saving their work. But technology does not discriminate; it frustrates everyone equally. When animators sat down to get started on Toy Story 4 (2019), they discovered that they were unable to access any 3D models from the original movie. Their software had advanced so much that the models were incompatible, and they had to start from scratch. So next time you lose all your work in a freak tech accident, remember that it happens to the best!
21.In Cars (2006), not only are the cars cars, but the canyons are cars, too.
Cars!