Beginning with Red's Dream and its references to previous Pixar short films, Pixar has included references in its films to other works produced by the studio. [1] These have included cameo appearances, references to characters, objects, and titles of works. Additionally, such easter eggs or in-jokes can refer to Pixar staff, associates, or places or events from the company's past. Lastly, some things, such as A113, Pizza Planet, or actor John Ratzenberger have appeared in the majority of Pixar films, establishing a set of traditions that subsequent Pixar films try to include.
The following is a list of all documented self-referential nods contained within Pixar films and shorts that the various filmmakers have incorporated into their movies.
A113 is an Easter egg that has been inserted into several animated television shows and feature films [1] [2] as a homage to a classroom at CalArts, the alma mater of former Pixar/Disney executive John Lasseter and director Brad Bird, among others. Bird was the first to use the A113 Easter egg, [3] on a car license plate in an animated segment entitled Family Dog in a 1987 episode of the television series Amazing Stories .
Described as "Pixar's good luck charm" by John Lasseter, actor John Ratzenberger played a role in every Pixar feature from Toy Story to Onward , [12] [30] including a few not produced by Pixar. [a] Soul is the first film where John Ratzenberger uses his likeness instead of a voice role, [31] while he is not present at all in original films starting with Luca . [32]
A yellow ball with a blue stripe and a red star, which was first shown in the short Luxo, Jr. , has been shown in several Pixar feature films and shorts, most prominently in the Toy Story franchise, as well as the print Pixar icon. [33]
Pizza Planet is a fictional pizza restaurant that appears in Toy Story . [45] In the film, it is a large, sci-fi-themed restaurant with arcade games including robot guards at the entrance. The company runs a fleet of derelict Toyota Hilux pickup trucks (as evidenced by the inscription on the tailgate; it is a Toyota inscription with the first and last two letters, "TO" and "TA", worn off so it simply appears as "YO") with a rocket on the roof featuring the restaurant's logo, as seen in Toy Story, Toy Story 2 , and Toy Story 3 (though in Toy Story 2, the truck model is called a "Gyoza" as seen on the owner's manual). There is a Pizza Planet reference in every Pixar feature film [46] to date except for the 2004 film The Incredibles . Lee Unkrich confirmed that there is no Pizza Planet truck anywhere in The Incredibles. [34] [47] Director Brad Bird said that he was too busy making the film to tell the animation team to insert the truck. [48]
To avoid overt product placement in Pixar films, a series of fictional companies are used as placeholders. Some appear only in one franchise (such as fictional NASCAR sponsors in Cars ) but others serve as recurring themes.
Buy-n-Large is a fictional megacorporation that first appeared in WALL-E as the entity which controlled all economic and government services on the future Earth.
Dinoco is a fictional oil company that first appeared in Toy Story as a small gas station. It plays a central role as a key race car sponsor in Cars , and made a small cameo in WALL-E . [45] The company's logo is a dinosaur, but with a Brontosaurus in Toy Story and a Tyrannosaurus in Cars (a reference to Sinclair Oil, which uses a similar dinosaur logo; the name, however, is similar to Sunoco, the current oil and gasoline sponsor of NASCAR).
Eggman Movers, also known as Eggman Moving, is a fictional moving company that has an anthropomorphic egg with a hat as a mascot and appears mostly throughout the Toy Story franchise. The company's name is a reference to Pixar production designer Ralph Eggleston. [42]
Poultry Palace is a fictional chicken-based fast-food chain that first appears in the Toy Story short Small Fry .
These Pixar films contain the following references to the Toy Story films, shorts, and television specials:
These Pixar films and shorts contain the following references to A Bug's Life :
These Pixar films contain the following references to Monsters, Inc. or Monsters University :
These Pixar films and shorts contain the following references to Finding Nemo and Finding Dory :
These Pixar films contain the following references to The Incredibles and Incredibles 2 :
These films and shorts contain references to Cars , Cars 2 or Cars 3 :
These films contain references to the film Ratatouille :
These films contain references to the film WALL-E :
These films contain references to the film Up :
These films or shorts contain references to the film Brave :
These films contain references to the films Inside Out and Inside Out 2 :
These films contain references to the film Coco :
These films contain references to the film Turning Red :
These films contain references to The Adventures of André and Wally B. :
These films contain references to Luxo, Jr. :
These films contain references to Red's Dream :
These films contain references to Tin Toy :
These films contain references to Knick Knack :
The following Pixar films reference For the Birds :
These Pixar films contain the following references to Geri's Game :
These Pixar films contain the following references to Boundin' :
These Pixar films contain the following references to Apple Inc.
These Pixar films contain cameo appearances by Pixar employees.
Actor | Toy Story | A Bug's Life | Toy Story 2 | Monsters, Inc. | Finding Nemo | The Incredibles | Cars | Ratatouille | WALL-E | Up | Toy Story 3 | Cars 2 | Brave | Monsters University | Inside Out | The Good Dinosaur | Finding Dory | Cars 3 | Coco | Incredibles 2 | Toy Story 4 | Onward | Soul | Luca | Turning Red | Lightyear | Elemental | Inside Out 2 | Shorts | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
John Lasseter | Harry | One of the Rock 'em, Sock 'em, Robots | John Lassetire and a Gambling Car | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Joe Ranft | Lenny | Heimlich | Wheezy | Peter "Claws" Ward | Jacques | Red and Jerry | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Jeff Pidgeon | Mr. Spell, Robot and Aliens | Mr. Spell and Aliens | Thaddeus "Phlegm" Bile | Aliens | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Andrew Stanton | Commercial Chorus | A Fly and Zapped Bug | Emperor Zurg | Crush and Seagulls | Fred | Crush | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bob Peterson | Roz | Mr. Ray | Dug and Alpha | Janitor | Roz | Mr. Ray | Chick Hicks | Geri in Geri's Game | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Pete Docter | Campmaster Strauch and Kevin | Father's Anger | Father's Anger | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Lee Unkrich | One of the Rock 'em, Sock 'em, Robots | Jack in the Box | Credited under "additional voices" | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Teddy Newton | Talon Labarthe | Chatter Telephone | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Brad Bird | Edna Mode | Ambrister Minion | Edna Mode | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bud Luckey | Rick Dicker | Chuckles | Narrator in Boundin' | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Brad Lewis | Tubbs Pacer | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Lou Romano | Bernie Kropp | Snotrod | Alfredo Linguini | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Peter Sohn | Mugger | Emile | Scott "Squishy" Squibbles | Forrest Woodbrush | Ciccio | Sox | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Steve Purcell | The Crow | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dan Gerson | Smitty and Needleman | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ralph Eggleston | Birds in For the Birds | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Doug Sweetland | Presto DiGiotagione and Alec Azam in Presto | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ken Schretzmann | Mini Van |
Pixar Animation Studios, known simply as Pixar, is an American animation studio based in Emeryville, California, known for its critically and commercially successful computer-animated feature films. Pixar is a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, a division of Disney Entertainment, a segment of The Walt Disney Company.
John Dezso Ratzenberger is an American actor. He is best known for playing the character Cliff Clavin on the comedy series Cheers, for which he earned two Primetime Emmy nominations. Ratzenberger reprised the role in the short-lived spin-off The Tortellis, an episode of Wings, as well as in an episode of Frasier. He has voiced various characters in several Pixar animated feature films including Hamm in the Toy Story franchise, The Abominable Snowman in the Monsters, Inc. franchise, Mack in the Cars franchise, The Underminer in The Incredibles franchise, Fritz in the Inside Out franchise, and many others.
A113 and its variants are an inside joke and Easter egg in media developed by alumni of California Institute of the Arts, referring to the classroom used by graphic design and character animation students.
Andrew Ayers Stanton is an American filmmaker and voice actor based at Pixar, which he joined in 1990. His film work includes co-writing and co-directing Pixar's A Bug's Life (1998), directing Finding Nemo (2003) and its sequel Finding Dory (2016), WALL-E (2008), and the live-action film, Disney's John Carter (2012), and co-writing all five and directing the upcoming latter in Toy Story films (1995–2026) and Monsters, Inc. (2001).
Loren C. Carpenter is a computer graphics researcher and developer.
Joseph Henry Ranft was an American animator, screenwriter, and voice actor. He worked for Pixar Animation Studios and Disney at Walt Disney Animation Studios and Disney Television Animation. His younger brother Jerome Ranft is a sculptor who also worked on several Pixar films.
Ralph Eggleston was an American animator, art director, storyboard artist, and production designer at Pixar Animation Studios. He won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film for For the Birds.
Glenn John McQueen was a Canadian supervisor of digital animation and supervising character animator at Pixar and Pacific Data Images.
Pixar Play Parade was a parade at the Disneyland Resort. The parade features floats and characters based on Disney·Pixar films such as Monsters, Inc., The Incredibles and Toy Story. In a first for Disney California Adventure, the floats feature small water jets that shoot water into the crowd of spectators. The music used in the parade is derived from Hong Kong Disneyland's Mickey's WaterWorks Parade, both having the same tunes with changes in lyrics.
Doug Sweetland is an American animator and filmmaker. He wrote and directed the Pixar short film Presto (2008), which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.
Bobby Beck is the CEO and cofounder of the online animation school, Animation Mentor, which was started in March, 2005. It was the first post-secondary school that helped students to pursue a career in animation. At the school, students work with mentors from major studios in a production-style environment, and graduate with a professional demo reel.
Carlos Baena is a professional animator and now a cofounder of the online school Animation Mentor, which was started in March 2005. It was the first post-secondary school that helped students to pursue a career in animation. At the school, students work with mentors from major studios in a production-style environment, and graduate with a professional demo reel.
Lego Toy Story is a Lego theme based on the Disney·Pixar's Toy Story film franchise. The first four sets were released on December 30, 2009, with an additional two sets being released on January 4, 2010. In May 2010, five Lego and four Duplo sets were released under the Toy Story 3 sub-theme. The original theme was discontinued in 2011. For the release of Toy Story 4 there was one Duplo set based on the third film and 6 Lego sets based on the fourth film. These sets were released in March and in April 2019 this time under the Juniors line. The minifigures in the sets were also now redesigned. The revival theme was discontinued in 2021.
David DiFrancesco,, is a photoscientist, inventor, cinematographer, and photographer. He is a founding member of three organizations which pioneered computer graphics for digital special effects and film with Edwin Catmull and Alvy Ray Smith, including; New York Institute of Technology Computer Graphics Lab, Lucasfilm Computer Division, and Pixar, financed by Steve Jobs.
Gini Cruz Santos is a Filipina animator at Pixar studios based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She worked on numerous Pixar animation films including Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, A Bug's Life, The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Toy Story 3, Up, Lifted and Brave. She was nominated in 2004 for an Annie award for her detailed lifelike animation on Finding Nemo, and was nominated by the Visual Effects Society for an award for this project as well.
Wonderful World of Animation is a nighttime show at Disney's Hollywood Studios. The show is a celebration of all Disney animation, beginning with Mickey Mouse. It premiered on May 1, 2019, as part of the park's 30th anniversary celebration, replacing Disney Movie Magic.
These Pixar films contain references to Pixar employees.
These Pixar films contain the following references to an assortment of other things.
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