Every Pixar Movie Easter Egg That Teased A Future Film

Pixar Easter eggs are one of the studio’s many movie traditions, and they help tease what is to come, even if it is not apparent at the time. Pixar and Disney have become the power duo in the world of animation, delivering fan favorites like Toy Story, Monsters Inc., and Finding Nemo. Each has a touch of fantasy and lots of hidden details referencing pop culture, past films from the studio, and future entries into the Pixar canon. Since Monsters Inc. in 2013, at least one Pixar Easter egg links each movie to the next film.

As Toy Story was Pixar’s first movie and A Bug’s Life arrived three years later, neither film features this Pixar Easter egg tradition, and Toy Story 2 doesn’t reference Monsters Inc. Since then though, the Pixar Easter eggs show up regularly, sometimes as subtle as a background detail referencing a character or object from a future movie, but they often come up so quickly that they’re easy to miss or might seem too ordinary to be noteworthy. Most of the time, people need to watch it back later to even catch them at all.

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24 Monsters Inc (2001)

Boo Has A Nemo Stuffed Toy

The debut of Sully and Mike Wazowski in Monsters Inc. included three Pixar Easter eggs geared toward Finding Nemo. The first one is at Harryhausen’s, the restaurant, where the mural behind the chef features a clownfish.

The next one is a Nemo model hanging in the room of the trailer where Randall is banished (this one is easier to miss as it appears pretty fast). Finally, when Sully returns Boo home, she shows him all of her toys. Among those is a clownfish, one that looks like Nemo.

This was a nice start for these Pixar Easter eggs referencing future movies (although there were eyeballs in Toy Story 2 that might have referenced Ted Pauley, the Many-Eyed Monster in Monsters Inc.). Of these, the one in the trailer was the one hardest to catch without pausing the movie. The mural at Harryhausen’s was easy to catch and the moment with Boo was the most clear reference to Finding Nemo.

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23 Finding Nemo (2003)

A Mr. Incredible Comic Book Shows Up

Finding Nemo has an Incredibles tease, but not underwater. In the scene where the dentist is about to be attacked by Nigel (led by Marlin, hiding in his mouth), there’s a kid in the waiting room who is shocked by the whole chaos in the room.

The kid is reading a comic book, which happens to be a Mr. Incredible story, from those days when he was still working by himself and wore a blue suit. This is the most obvious reference as it not only shows Mr. Incredible, but teases a comic book-inspired movie.

Finding Nemo‘s Easter eggs also include a blink-and-you-miss-it Cars reference, where Luigi can be spotted driving past the group as they escape the dentist’s office in their plastic bags at the end of the film. Of course, this Luigi isn’t a living car, but having the same model of car is a nice tease for the upcoming movie about living cars.

22 The Incredibles (2004)

Doc Hudson Appeared In A Scene

The Incredibles was followed by Cars, so it included an Easter egg in the shape of Doc Hudson casually parked in Metroville. Doc can be spotted during the final battle between the Parr family and Syndrome – and just like Luigi in Finding Nemo, this version is just a regular car.

The moment happens when the family battles Syndrome’s robot and the fight rages into the middle of the city. There would be plenty of cars around during this battle, and it was a great spot to tease the upcoming Cars movie.

The Easter egg is not hard to miss, but a person would have to know what they were looking for. Yes, it is an old car — a 1951 Hudson Hornet — but the movie did take place in the 1960s, so it makes sense. Cars doesn’t have a known reference that teased the arrival of Ratatouille, so it’s the one exception to the Pixar Easter egg tradition.

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21 Ratatouille (2007)

Wall-E’s Cockroach Friend Hal Appears

After skipping these fun teases in Cars, Ratatouille went back to Pixar’s Easter egg tradition with two different WALL-E references – one is very, very subtle, and the other is in the short film Your Friend the Rat, included as a special feature in the home video release.

The first one is WALL-E’s cockroach companion Hal, seen on a wall in Linguini’s house in the actual movie. In the short film Your Friend the Rat, WALL-E himself shows up as the driver of a vehicle on Mars. In addition to that, in an apartment Remy wanders through, he comes across Up’s Dug, whose shadow can be seen on the wall.

As for looking back on past movies, Ratatouille had a very dark and disturbing Easter egg as well. This appeared in Gusteau’s pantry, and luckily it is hard for most people to catch. Remy is eating cheese and behind him are two cans of caviar. Their name is what is disturbing — Nemo Brand Caviar.

20 WALL-E (2008)

Carl Fredericksen’s Walker Appears

WALL-E spent a big part of his life surrounded by trash, and among all the objects he kept at “home” was one that belonged to Carl Fredricksen, the protagonist of Pixar’s next movie, Up. His walking stick with tennis balls attached to its feet can be spotted when Wall-E prepares to watch Hello Dolly! It appears again later when Wall-E falls down from the ceiling of his truck, where he collides with the walker once again.

There were also callbacks to older movies from Pixar as well in Wall-E. As this is a movie about the end of life on Earth, it takes place in the future and there would be remnants from the past. Other than Carl’s walker from the two mentioned scenes, there is also a shot of the Pizza Planet Truck, broken down and out of commission. The truck has appeared in almost every Pixar movie since it first appeared in Toy Story. Hamm from Toy Story also showed up on Wall-E’s shelves as well.

19 Up (2009)

Lotso Was With His Former Owner In Up

Perhaps one of the easiest Pixar Easter eggs to find is the Toy Story 3 one in Up. As Mr. Fredricksen’s house begins to float with the massive amount of balloons, it soars past a little girl’s room, in which a Lots-o’-Huggin’ Bear can be seen.

Whether it’s the same evil Lotso that made life more difficult for Woody, Buzz, and the rest of the toys in Toy Story 3 or a different one (and probably not evil) is unknown, but you can spot it casually sitting next to the girl’s bed. This could not only be a great Pixar Easter egg, but a hint that Lotso’s past was not as bad as he made it out to be.

If this is the same Lotso, he seems to have had a great little girl, but when he reappears in Toy Story 3, he has grown cynical and evil. In the same scene, the little girl also has the familiar blue, yellow, and red Pixar ball (Russell also has a Scout badge with the same logo on it as well). The Pizza Planet Truck is also in the street as Carl’s house flies away.

18 Toy Story 3 (2010)

A Lightning McQueen Toy Car

Toy Story 3 has two Easter egg references to Cars 2. One can be spotted in Andy’s room: where he has a Finn McMissile poster, a character that was supposed to debut in the first Cars movie, but was instead introduced in the sequel. Finn was the British spy car in that movie.

This was fairly easy to catch, while the second was harder to see, as it happened at the Sunnyside Daycare. On the floor where the kids were playing was a Lightning McQueen toy car, sitting in the background of the scene.

Three was also a Pixar Easter egg for an upcoming movie that the studio had already canceled. This was a movie called Newt that was about the last two male and female newts left on Earth who have a chance to save their species, but can’t stand each other. The Easter egg here was a road crossing sign that read, “Next Xing,” which would have been a great one if that movie had ever been created.

17 Cars 2 (2011)

A Poster Of The DunBroch Family As Cars

Cars skipped the Pixar Easter egg tradition, but Cars 2 made up for it. When the Lemons crash into Ye Left Turn Inn while in the London sequence, there’s a tapestry hanging on a wall, showing a car-version of the DunBroch family – or, in other words, the car-ified versions of Merida, her parents, and her triplet brothers.

If other movies could have the regular versions of the characters from Cars, they could definitely have the car-equivalents of human characters. Cars 2 also has references to past movies as well. There is a restaurant in Paris in the movie called Gastow’s, which is clearly a car-ified reference to Gusteau’s from Ratatouille.

The Pizza Planet Truck is also here in the movie as it is a guest on the Tire Talk TV show and is watching the race when Mater flies by propelled by jet fuel. Clearly, in this world, the famous truck is something of a sentient being.

16 Brave (2012)

A Wood Carving Of Sully

Brave has a Pixar Easter egg that kickstarted many fan theories and is a big part of the Pixar movie shared universe theory. In the witch’s hut, there’s a wood carving of Sully from Monsters Inc., who returns in the prequel movie Monsters University, which came out the next year.

This has made many fans believe the witch is, in fact, Boo, who managed to travel in time looking for her monster friend Sulley. It certainly makes the Pixar shared universe theory more interesting. While Brave takes place in the distant past when there were no vehicles, there is a sign of the Pizza Planet Truck from Toy Story anyway as it appears in the Witch’s wood shop along with the Sully carving.

It is clear that she has a large number of items she carved out of wood that show hints that she can see into the future in one way or the other. If there is a Pixar shared universe anywhere other than in fan theories, this really shows where it could originate from.

15 Monsters University (2013)

A Good Dinosaur Toy

Monsters University was followed by Inside Out and then The Good Dinosaur, but that wasn’t the original plan. The Good Dinosaur was initially scheduled for a 2014 release, meaning it was going to arrive before Inside Out, but it was pushed back to 2015, with Inside Out releasing in June and The Good Dinosaur in November.

That’s why Monsters University doesn’t have an Easter egg teasing Inside Out but rather The Good Dinosaur. The Scare simulators used in the final event of the Scare Games feature toys of Arlo and company, and what looks like concept art for The Good Dinosaur.

This movie also has the Pizza Planet Truck, and it makes sense here more than in any other cameo since it is parked outside of one of the fraternity houses when Mike is ridng the scare-pig. The Luxo Jr. lamp also makes a return, as there is graffiti drawn on a wall behind the Scare Games announcer’s table.

14 Inside Out (2015)

Riley Took A Photo With Statues Of Arlo & Woodbush

Riley visited the protagonists of Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur, Arlo and Forrest Woodbush, before the events of Inside Out – sort of. When the emotions are going through her memories, there’s one from a road trip to San Francisco, where the family took photos of giant statues of dinosaurs, which happen to look exactly like Arlo and Woodbush.

This is the second tease to the movie since Monsters University also had one before the movie ended up switching release dates with Inside Out. There are also several Easter eggs from past movies in Inside Out as well.

If a person pauses the movie and looks closely when the background memories are in frame in the Headquarters, there are shots from the “Married Life” scene from Up. There are also various cars seen in San Francisco with bumper stickers that reference Cars characters. On top of that, there’s a scene where Joy and Sadness see the House of Cards and one of the boxes has Nemo on the cover.

13 The Good Dinosaur (2015)

Hank The Octopus Is In The Water

The Good Dinosaur was followed by Finding Dory, and the Easter egg teasing the Finding Nemo sequel was all about showing off a new character. When Arlo is learning to swim, Hank the octopus is seen at the bottom of the water.

Hank befriended Dory and helped her escape, so she could keep looking for her family, and by the time The Good Dinosaur came out, he was still unknown to the public. This is one of those Pixar Easter eggs that people have to go back later to understand. There was also a Good Dinosaur Easter egg that looked back at a movie that came before.

Early on in the movie, Arlo and his dad are in the forest and they pass a distinctive-looking caterpillar in the shot. While it is not an exact match, it is close enough to make one realize this is paying homage to Heimlich, the caterpillar from A Bug’s Life. This little guy also showed up as an Easter egg in Toy Story 2 before Buzz Lightyear destroys the branch he is standing on.

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12 Finding Dory (2016)

A Lightning McQueen Bandaid

When Hank and Dory escape from the Marine Life Institute, a Cars 3 Easter egg can be found when Hank lands on a truck. Pay close attention to the driver, who happens to be wearing a Lightning McQueen band-aid – and it’s not a regular version of a Lightning McQueen, as his facial expression can be seen when zooming in. Maybe Cars exists on this side of the Pixar universe, or at least a version of the cars, but with drivers and owners.

There are also some Easter eggs referencing past movies, as is the case with many of these Pixar movies. This includes a reference to the movie Wall-E, as that exact name was on a calendar on the wall of the room where Hank suspends Dory in a plastic cup over a massive aquarium. This is really hard to see without pausing the movie and looking really closely at what is on the walls.

11 Cars 3 (2017)

Miguel’s Guitar

Cars 3 continued the tradition by adding two Coco Easter eggs. One is the image Cruz Ramírez displays to motivate a homesick trainee, which happens to be Santa Cecilia. This was during the training moments of the movie, and it shows that Aiden is likely from the exact same hometown that was in Coco. The second one is of Héctor’s guitar, which can be seen hanging on a wall behind Sweet Tea as they are playing in the Cotter Pin Bar at Thomasville.

Other references to past movies include the Sleep Well Motel, which is where Bonnie and her mother stayed in Toy Story of Terror, Triple Dent Gum, which is something that had a commercial that was an earworm song in Riley’s ear in Inside Out, and the Buy N Large Corporation as a sponsor. This company was first introduced in Wall-E.

10 Coco (2017)

An Incredibles Poster

Coco’s Easter egg referencing Incredibles 2 didn’t show up in the land of the living. When Miguel and Héctor are on their way to the talent show in the Land of the Dead with fireworks and sparklers exploding around them, an Incredibles poster can be spotted on a wall.

Of course, because this is the Land of the Dead, the poster is a sugar skull version of the Parr family, although Bob, Helen, Violet, and Dash are all still wearing their red superhero costumes.

The movie also made sure to keep the Pizza Planet Truck as an Easter egg, meaning that the restaurant is even in business south of the border. There is also a street market with lots of things for sale. This includes a table with figurines on it, and a close inspection of the figurines sees Nemo, Marlin, Dory, and Destiny from the Finding Nemo and Finding Dory movies. The Nemo figure also pops up again later in Coco. The same market has Woody and Buzz Lightyear piñatas for sale.

9 Incredibles 2 (2018)

Duke Kaboom In The Playpen

Just like The Good Dinosaur did with Finding Dory’s Hank, Incredibles 2 had an Easter egg referencing a new character from Toy Story 4 that fans had not met yet. This means it wasn’t easily found at first and fans had to watch the movie back to see the character after meeting him in Toy Story 4.

This character was a toy in Jack-Jack’s playpen. It was a Duke Caboom action figure (it is on the lower left part of the screen, casually lying on the floor of Jack-Jack’s playpen). Duke Caboom was the new toy that wasn’t sure of himself, voiced by Keanu Reeves, who played a big part in the fourth Toy Story installment.

The Incredibles was one of the only Pixar movies not to feature the Pizza Planet Truck. That was when Brad Bird was still new at Pixar, but he made up for it in the sequel. Not only did Bird add the truck to the second movie, but he made sure that it was changed to look like it would have in the 1960s since that is when The Incredibles movies took place.

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8 Toy Story 4 (2019)

The Pegasus At The Carnival

Toy Story 4 included an Onward Easter egg that had many fans confused. At the fair, there’s a bouncy castle that can be seen a couple of times throughout the movie, especially at the end. The castle has a Pegasus at the top that looks exactly like the mural on the side of Barley’s beloved van, Guinevere.

Because Onward is set in a fantasy world with all types of mythical creatures, it has no connection with Toy Story, so it needed to be subtle and tasteful, and this was a perfect place for the Easter egg. Toy Story 4 also looked to the past for more Easter eggs.

There are plenty of carnival games in the movie and in the scene where Buzz Lightyear finds himself tied up and offered in a game, there are also guitars identical to the ones used in Coco. In a more disturbing cameo, the Barracuda protecting her eggs in Finding Nemo is hanging above a fireplace in the antique shop as a trophy. The dogs from Up are also in a Dogs Playing Poker painting.

7 Onward (2020)

A Dorothea Williams Record

When Onward came out, many Pixar fans were trying to find the Easter egg that teased the studio’s next movie, Soul. The reference was confirmed by director Dan Scanlon. Onward‘s Pixar Soul Easter egg becomes visible when a centaur police officer, Colt Bronco, knocks over Barley’s role-playing game. Some of the Lightfoot family’s albums appear in the shot. Among these albums is a Dorothea Williams record – the very same jazz superstar who appeared in Soul.

Dorothea Williams is a jazz performer voiced by Angela Bassett. Triple Dent Gum makes yet another appearance in the Pixar movie universe as well after its commercials proved to be an earworm for Riley in Inside Out. There is a pack of gum in Ian’s room and also an advertisement in the gas station that the pixies trashed. There were also several Brave Easter eggs in Onward, including a calendar with the woods from that movie and a map that says “Brave Wilderness.”

6 Soul (2020)

A Travel Poster To Portorosso

A cerebral story in the vein of Inside Out, Soul features a brief Easter egg nodding toward its Pixar successor, Luca, via a poster that Joe and 22 pass by while running through the streets of New York City. The travel agency window poster advertises Portorosso, the small town in the Italian Riviera in which Luca takes place. Soul’s Luca setup is especially clear since the name Portorosso is so prominent in Luca.

The Pizza Planet Truck didn’t show up in New York City, but it was still in the movie as it showed up in the Hall of Everything, the place where new souls are taken containing replicas of the total of items on Earth. For Pixar movies, there might not be a better option when it comes to things that are recognizable in Pixar’s version of Earth.

5 Luca (2021)

A 4 Villaggi Album

By contrast, Luca alludes to Turning Red, Pixar’s subsequent film, in blink-and-you’ll-miss-it fashion. In Giulia’s bedroom, among all the various school books and pictures she shows to Luca, there’s a record label with the words “4 Villaggi” which translates to “4 Villages.”

The name and logo are very similar to Meilin’s favorite band in Turning Red, 4 Town – enough that it definitely counts as a Pixar Easter egg. However, this is one that is almost easy to miss out on for most fans. However, there was an even more direct Pixar Easter egg for Turning Red in Luca.

When Mai is a panda, and she has her school lanyard on, there is a small pin attached to it that is specifically for 4 Town. There was also a great version of the Pizza Planet Truck, but here it was reimagined as a three-wheeled delivery vehicle made by the same company that makes the Vespa. This shows up during the final stretch of the Portorosso Cup.