Many people know the Pixar Theory, a concept originally made by Jon Negroni explaining how all the Pixar films could be connected on a universal level. Whether it be the connections linking Brave to Monsters Inc. or contextualizing how all humans leaving planet Earth in WALL-E leads to Cars, the Theory has it all.
Pixar is known for its many films that are critically acclaimed including Toy Story, Monsters Inc., The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Up, WALL-E and Coco. These films are known for being extremely important for the animation industry and their impactful statements. The company has denied the idea that the movies are connected but they continue to have Easter eggs in their films so we shall continue to connect them!
The theory has been popularized through YouTubers, and other parts of the internet. But do you know how other media outside of the films made by Pixar can be connected to The Pixar Theory?
Connections to Toy Story 2
Toy Story 2 includes a few of Pixar’s old shorts as cameos! The second Toy Story film includes Hamm, the Piggy Bank channel surfing to find the Al’s Toy Barn Ad. This short scene includes cameos to Luxo Jr, Tin Toy, Red’s Dream, and Knick Knack. This also adds the other Luxo Jr. shorts; Light and Heavy, Surprise, Up and Down, and Front and Back; to the universe as they are connected.
What About The Shorts?
While a lot of Pixar’s shorts are based on the franchise movies they’ve done (about 70), many Pixar short movies aren’t spin-offs of Pixar franchises but are able to be connected through Easter eggs in the full-length movies, too. These easter eggs include Geri from Geri’s Game in Toy Story 2, For the Birds in Inside Out, The Volcano from Lava in Finding Dory and a shop sign from Bao in Turning Red.
And The Sparkshorts?
Pixar made a series of shorts by Pixar employees for Disney+, and shockingly, they somehow fit into the theory. In Twenty Something, a flashback scene where the main character, Gia, tries to build furniture in an apartment includes framed photos in the background. These photos are actually where you can see every single character from all 9 Sparkshorts available at the time. Out even includes Jim, the dog of the main character Greg, holding Wheezy, the penguin toy from Toy Story 2. In Nona, there’s a photo of Rosita, the late great aunt of Coco’s Miguel Cruz. The only outlier at the moment is Self, which does not connect yet due to the recent release.
Is Planes Canon?
On the surface, the Planes films may not be seen as canon because they’re made by Disney rather than Pixar but there is definitive proof that Planes is canon to Cars. In the Car Toons shorts and in front of the titles of the Planes movies, ‘From Above the World of Cars’ is stated. Furthermore, in the Air Mater short, a plane named Skipper appears. This plane would later appear in both Planes movies!
The History of Buzz
Buzz Lightyear’s media lore is pretty confusing. In-universe, it’s similar to Rambo and Robocop and other 80s action movies that become shows that become toys. First of all, the 2022 film Lightyear, is where everything begins connecting, and in turn leads to the Disney animated direct-to-video movie, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins which then also spun off into the Disney Channel show, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, with 1 season and 62 episodes and finally the toys based on the show that appear in the films. This was confirmed by the director of Lightyear, Angus MacLane who also directed the 3D Animation opening for the Buzz Lightyear of Star Command show.
While we know that Andy loves the Lightyear movie, it is likely he was introduced to the toys by the show and then the film since the film appears to have been released in the 80s while Toy Story is set in 1995. This is when the film was released, alongside the fact that “Hakuna Matata”, a song from the 1994 film, The Lion King can be heard on the radio and a car registration says 1995.
Through their many shorts and other media, Pixar continues to make the theory interesting including the theatrical shorts, sparkshorts, Planes in the Cars Universe and Buzz Lightyear’s story! Pixar has Inside Out 2, Win or Lose, Elio this year and then Toy Story 5 in their upcoming slate!
If you like this article you may enjoy my own (somewhat flawed) Pixar Theory timeline as a Google Doc! Again thanks to Jon Negroni for the original creation of The Pixar Theory.
Thanks for reading!
