Disney and Pixar have been providing us with little Easter eggs in their films since the mid-90’s. If you’re an avid Disney fan, then you probably think you’ve found them all. Everyone knows that the Pizza Planet truck appears in all Pixar films, but did you know that’s not the original name for the pizza franchise? Here are 30 facts about some of these beloved films.
1. Pizza Planet was originally Pizza Putt.
It was supposed to be a combination of a pizzeria/mini-golf course but they decided to change the name.
2. Dory says “P. Sherman 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney” 11 times in Finding Nemo.
She also says it partially right 9 times, but only 3 of those times included Sydney being said correctly.
3. The villain in Up is named Charles Muntz, after the man who stole Walt Disney’s production rights in 1928.
Charles Muntz was named after Charles Mintz, the man who stole the production rights to “Oswald the Lucky Rabbit”. This is what sparked Disney’s creation of Mickey Mouse, who far surpassed Oswald in popularity not shortly after the betrayal.
4. An earlier version of Lotso can be seen in the original Toy Story.
During a meeting of the toys, he can be seen on the shelf and Woody asks if the toys “up on the shelf can hear” him, and viewers see a shot of a big, pinkish bear. John Lasseter wanted to use Lotso in the original Toy Story, but animators had trouble getting the fur right.
5. WALL-E takes place in the year 2805.
This time frame is based on BURN-E, which is short about a robot in the same time period/location as WALL-E. What is amusing about this is that WALL-E finds toys like a Rubix cube and an Atari 2600 in good condition, though they’re over 820 years old.
6. Merida is the first Disney princess without an American accent.
She is also the first Pixar character to be added to the Disney Princess lineup.
7. There is a hint to the next film in the Pixar lineup in The Incredibles.
During the end fight scene, there is a car that resembles Doc Hudson from Cars, which was released two years later. All of these films usually have some Easter egg/hint at what’s to come next.
8. A113 is a running theme in all of these films.
It is a reference to the animation room at California University Arts, where many Pixar employees attended school. In A Bug’s Life, Flik is seen standing in front of a cereal box with half the code shown and it’s A113.
9. Billy Crystal turned down the role of Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story.
He believe this was the biggest mistake of his career. When director John Lasseter heard this, he called Billy about Monsters, Inc. to offer him the role of Mike Wazowski. He said “yes” immediately.
10. When Remy is climbing out of the sewers for the first time, he is barked at by Dug.
You can’t initially tell it’s Dug (Up, 2009) without looking to confirm it’s his silhouette.
11. Sulley has over 2 million individual hairs.
It took 10-12 hours to render a single frame of him because of his 2,320,413 hairs.
12. Toy Story is the first animated film in Oscar History to be nominated for Best Screenplay.
13. John Ratzenberger has provided a voice for a character in every single full-length Pixar film.
He first appeared in Toy Story as Hamm, since then he’s been P.T. Flea (A Bug’s Life), The Abominable Snowman (Monsters, Inc.), Fish School (Finding Nemo), Underminer (The Incredibles), Mack (Cars), Mustafa (Ratatouille), John (WALL-E), Construction Foreman Tom (Up), Gordon (Brave), and Yeti (Monster’s University).
14. Samuel L. Jackson got the role of Frozone in The Incredibles because of his voice.
Director Brad Bird wanted Frozone to have the “coolest voice”. We think he got that one right.
15. Carl never speaks directly to Ellie in Up.
When they first meet, Ellie does all of the talking, and then the montage telling their love story has no words, only a musical accompaniment.
16. Brave features four actors from the Harry Potter series.
Kelly MacDonald (Merida) was Helena Ravenclaw in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, Robbie Coltrane (Lord Dingwall) played the lovable Hagrid, Emma Thompson (Queen Elinor) was Professor Trelawney, and Julie Waters (The Witch) was the matriarch of the Weasley family, Molly Weasley.
17. Barbie was originally supposed to be a main character and love-interest in Toy Story.
She was meant to be Woody’s love interest and save the group at the end of the film, but Mattel (creator and owner of Barbie) declined because they thought the film wouldn’t be successful. When the movie was as hit, they allowed for Barbie to have character with personality in Toy Story 2 and Toy Story 3.
18. WALL-E and EVE each stand for something.
WALL-E stands for: Waste Allocation Load Lifter earth class. EVE stands for: Extra-terrestrial Vegetation Evaluator.
19. Sid is inspired by a Pixar employee.
He is said to be inspired by a former employee who used to disassemble toys to use their parts to build odd creations. That’s not creepy or anything.
20. Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Marvel’s The Avengers) reportedly created the character of Rex in the Toy Story franchise.
21. During Edna Mode’s suit demonstration we get a hint at Jack-Jack’s powers.
His suit being able to withstand up to 1000 degrees predicts his ability to turn into a human flame and the suit being riddled with bullets predicts his ability to turn to lead.
22. When Carl and Ellie go picnicking in Up, they wind up under the tree from A Bug’s Life.
23. Ken wears 21 different outfits in Toy Story 3.
24. William H. Macy originally recorded all of the lines for Marlin in Finding Nemo.
But he was replaced with Albert Brooks, reportedly after then-Disney CEO Michael Eisner infamously remarked that the film would not do well.
25. Patton Oswalt got his role in Ratatouille because of his stand up.
Director Brad Bird heard his standup on Black Angus Steakhouse and cast him for the role of Remy.
26. In Cars 2, on the plane ride to Tokyo, Mater and Lightning are watching a cars’ version of Takeshi’s Castle, an old Japanese game show.
27. A lot of the plot for Toy Story 2 was rejected plots from Toy Story.
Some of those plots are the Buzz Lightyear cartoon, the yard sale, and Woody’s nightmare.
28. The song Ms. Squibbles listened to her in car in Monster’s University is “Island” by metal band Mastodon.
She just wanted to listen to her tunes!
29. The man who designed EVE in WALL-E also designed the iPod.
Apple’s Senior Vice President of Industrial Design Jonnathan Ive co-designed EVE.
30. In Toy Story 3, the infant actor that voiced Big Baby’s real name is Woody.
The film crew had a lot of babies audition by recording them saying the line. The director has joked that was the reason why they chose that baby is because of his name.
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