15+ Details From Disney And Pixar Movies That’ll Make You Say ‘Wow’

One of the best parts of any Disney or Pixar movie is spotting those beloved Easter Eggs the animators leave just for us!

As an audience, nothing is more satisfying than watching a movie for a second, third or fourth (okay, tenth) time and noticing things you weren’t able to spot at first; but nothing compares to the Easter Eggs these animated studios gift us with. Pixar and Disney are famous for the clever details they incorporate into every animated movie they release, often making a point to reference previous films or even hint at new ones!

Some are well known by fans and speculators by now, but it’s almost impossible to have spotted them all because there’s just so many! Among this list, how many of these clever details have you already checked off your Easter Egg hunt?

1. Sid from the original Toy Story makes a cameo appearance as a garbageman for “Tri-County Sanitation” in Toy Story 3 wearing his signature skull T-shirt. The most common fan theory about Sid’s occupation is that after discovering toys are alive in the first film, he became a garbage man so he could help the ones that are thrown away! This theory suggests Sid’s ending wasn’t a punishment but a choice (notice he seems perfectly content with his job in the scene).

Pixar

2. Remember that funny quip from Zazu in the first Lion King, where he suggests Scar would make a “very handsome throw rug” after Mufasa asks what he should do with him? It looks like Disney wasn’t kidding around! They incorporated an eerily similar Scar-looking headdress in the Hercules movie where the Greek god is wearing a slain lion’s pelt before throwing it on the ground during a temper tantrum.  

Disney

3. Toy Story 2 took a light-hearted poke at their Canadian neighbors when they suggested this book that’s $4.95 in the U.S. would be $50 in good ol’ Canada. The conversion rate isn’t that bad!

Pixar

4. Pixar’s favorite Easter Egg, the Pizza Planet pickup truck is a 1978 Gyoza Mark VII Lite Hauler that was used to make deliveries for Pizza Planet in the original Toy Story. It has made cameos in every Pixar film to date except The Incredibles. So the next time you’re watching Cars, Bug’s Life, Ratatouille, Monsters Inc., Up or Finding Nemo, see if you can spot this famous vehicle. 

Pixar

5. Another cameo you might not have noticed was when the famous china set from Beauty and the Beast makes an appearance in Tarzan. What on earth would fine china all the way from Beast’s Castle be doing in the middle of the jungle? Fan theories say it’s because Jane is actually related to Belle hence she inherited them from her ancestor.

Disney

6. In the first Toy Story, the toolbox in Sid’s room is from Binford Tools, the fictional tool company from Tim Allen’s TV show Home Improvement. Seems like a weird connection to make between the two worlds until you consider Tim Allen voiced Buzz Lightyear in the film. 

Pixar

7. The peddler in Aladdin was supposed to be revealed as the Genie at the end of the movie, which is why both have only 4 fingers and were voiced by Robin Williams. After two decades of speculation, directors Ron Clements and John Musker finally confirmed fan theories. Clements told Entertainment! Online that this was “the whole intention, originally.” 

Disney

8. It isn’t a coincidence that Jessie exclaims “Sweet mother of Abraham Lincoln!” when she first meets Woody in Toy Story 2. Tom Hanks (who voices Woody in the films) is a direct descendant of an uncle of Nancy Hanks, Abraham Lincoln’s mother, making him a blood relative of Abraham Lincoln.

Pixar

9. One of Pixar’s earliest films following Toy Story’s success, animators gave a nod to their underrated insect-infested A Bug’s Life movie with this scene in Toy Story 2 where you can see Mrs. Potato Head reading an illustrated version of A Bug’s Life’s story. 

Pixar

10. A good chunk of A Bug’s Life is set in the shadow of a mobile home, parked alongside the infamous Pizza Planet delivery truck (there’s that famous Easter Egg again). Pixar decided to bring back the trailer for Monsters, Inc. when the villain Randall is sent to the identical-looking trailer home as punishment.  

Pixar

11. Easter Eggs aside, did you catch this sentimental moment in Zootopia? Nick’s handkerchief that he’s seen wearing in the flashback scenes to his early scout days appears to be the same handkerchief he uses to hold the blueberries in this scene many years later.  Fans found the fact that Nick held onto this handkerchief symbolic of Nick having a traumatic childhood experience.

Disney

12. In this scene from Finding Nemo, a young boy can be seen reading a comic book in the dentist’s office waiting room. The comic book has a young Mr. Incredible on its cover but this isn’t any old Easter Egg. The Incredibles actually came out a year after Finding Nemo which means Pixar gave us a sneak peek of the superhero animated film a year before the movie was released.  

Pixar

13. Even in a film based in the ocean, Pixar found ways to cross animated universes. Finding Nemo gives a nod to Toy Story in this scene where Nemo finds himself living in a dentist office aquarium; among the toys scattered around the toy chest is an unmistakable Buzz Lightyear doll, sans his other Toy Story co-stars.

Pixar

14. Pixar’s Luxo Ball makes a cameo appearance in Up on the floor of a child’s room as well as on one of Russell’s merit badges. The yellow ball with a blue stripe and red star, known as the Luxo Ball or Pixar ball, appeared in Pixar’s earliest animated shorts. Since its debut, it has made numerous cameos in Pixar films, including Toy Story, Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., and Finding Nemo.

Pixar

15. Among the many ways The Incredibles was arguably one of Pixar’s most clever films, the animators managed to reference several iconic scenes of other films including Peter Pan, Die Hard, and The Iron Giant. The scene in which Frozone is held at gunpoint by a nervous cop is a reference to a similar scene in Die Hard with a Vengeance, which also features Samuel L Jackson (who voices Frozone in the film). Even the officer’s facial design is similar to the cop in Die Hard. Other references include Helen Parr’s code name “India Gulf Niner Niner (IG99)” for the jet she flies to Syndrome’s base, which is a reference to the 1999 animated film, The Iron Giant. Finally, the scene where Elastigirl looks at herself in a mirror and sighs when she sees her butt is a direct reference to Peter Pan, where Tinker Bell also looks at herself in a mirror at the Darlings’ home and sighs when seeing hers.

Pixar

16. In The Incredibles, the scene where Helen, who just survived a plane explosion and is floating in the ocean with her two children, realizes that the plane wreckage is about to fall on them isn’t because of her superhuman abilities; she saw the reflection in the water, which is why she was looking down before taking her children to safety.

Pixar

17. In the magic carpet ride scene in Disney’s Aladdin, Aladdin (who is impersonating a prince to impress her) tosses the apple at Jasmine while they’re flying through ancient Greece. The reason? Throwing an apple was a way of expressing love to another person in Greece at the time.

Disney

18. There’s a lot of commotion happening in this scene from Lilo & Stitch to distract viewers from this Easter Egg, but take a closer look at Nani’s poster in her bedroom and you’ll see what Disney princess she looked up to. The poster is from another famous Disney movie, Mulan, and the similarities between these two animated characters (strong, brave, fiercely loyal to their family) is obvious. Looks like Pixar isn’t the only one who likes to merge their animated worlds!

Disney

19. The bootleg Disney sequel titles sold on the streets by the shady Duke Weaselton in Zootopia are Easter Eggs. The knock-off, zoologized DVDs that boast Disney hits like Big Hero 6, Tangled, and Wreck-It Ralph, also hinted at upcoming titles like Moana, Gigantic, and Frozen 2

Disney

20. Finally, did you know Apple is present in most Pixar movies since Steve Jobs helped found Pixar? A car on the Cars racetrack (number 84) in the opening race features the Apple logo on its hood. The 84 is in reference to the release date of the first Apple Macintosh Computer in 1984. The Apple logo can also be found in Toy Story 3 when Woody uses Safari on a Mac. A computer that Mirage uses in The Incredibles has an Apple logo on the keyboard and an Apple-style ad can be seen on a newspaper in Monsters, Inc. as well.

Disney / Pixar

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