It all started with a hat.
Several months ago, one of my anonymous Pixar Theory Interns (that’s a thing on a resume) came to me with a crazy proposition: Andy’s mom is Emily, Jessie’s previous owner.
I laughed. I then agreed.
For some time, I compiled all of the evidence and found some incredible support for this theory. For one thing, take a close look at Andy’s cowboy hat he frequently wears in the movies:
Here’s another close look:
As you can see, Andy’s hat is noticeably different from Woody’s. Why is this? Why wouldn’t Andy want to wear a hat that closely resembles the one worn by his favorite toy?
It’s no secret that Andy has a close connection with Woody. In Toy Story 2, his mom (who we only know as Ms. Davis) mentions that Woody is an old family toy.
Remember that Woody doesn’t even recall that he is a collector’s item – a toy made in the 1950s. This is a deviation from other toys who know full well where they come from. It’s possible that Woody doesn’t know because he’s been in Andy’s family for a long time, possibly belonging to his father.
But we need more evidence. Take a close look at Jessie’s hat:
Ah, this hat looks familiar. It’s the same red hat with white lace that Andy wears. The only difference is that Jessie’s hat has a white lace around the center. But look at Andy’s hat again.
There’s a faded mark where the white lace should be. Why do you think that is? And what does Jessie have to do with this?
(Bob Saget’s voice) Kids, you remember the story of Jessie. Her owner Emily grew up with her, much the same way as Andy. She was incredibly loved, but Emily eventually gave her away when she grew older. Jessie ended up in storage for a long time, as confirmed by her in the movie when she has a literal panic attack over having to go back.
Now, take a close look at what’s on this bed in Emily’s room:
That is a hat that looks extremely similar to, you guessed it, Andy’s. The room is also pretty old-fashioned, leaving room for this to take place years before Andy was born.
In fact, you can clearly tell that this isn’t modern day with shots like these:
The only difference between the hat that Emily wears throughout this sequence and Andy’s hat is an extra white lace around the center, which is visibly missing from Andy’s hat. Otherwise, the hats are identical.
Also, in the donation box that Emily puts Jessie in, we don’t see the hat. We do see other remnants of her connection with Jessie, but the hat is noticeably absent. The box isn’t even big enough to hold it. So Emily held onto that hat…and maybe passed it on to her child, who would grow to also love a cowboy doll.
We never get a closeup of Emily’s face, but we do see that she has light, auburn hair as a teenager. Also, it is very short.
Compared to:
The middle picture is closest to the strawberry blonde color we see when Emily is young. It’s perfectly reasonable to assume that her hair lightened as she aged, which is clearly the case in these photos (or she could have dyed it).
Here’s what we know for sure:
We don’t know the first name of Andy’s mom. We don’t know Emily’s last name. We know that Andy’s hat and Emily’s hat are the same. We know that Emily is old enough to be Andy’s mom. We definitely know that Pixar is perfectly capable of sneaking this in without being overt about it.
You may be wondering how the two characters could be the same if Emily was willing to give Jessie up so easily, while Andy was far more hesitant.
Actually, the scenarios are quite similar. Andy forgot about Woody as he grew up too, despite their strong connection. Andy even gave Woody away, albeit in a different manner than Emily.
In the end, it makes perfect sense that these two concurrent stories are so similar because they’re related by blood. It’s also a freak of destiny that Jessie would one day belong to her owner’s son, though we never get to see the mom’s reaction to seeing Jessie again.
She was probably indifferent and believed it to be a different version of the same toy. How would you respond if you saw your child with a toy that looked like one that you had as a kid? Your first assumption probably wouldn’t be that they’re the exact same toy.
What do you think? Do you believe that the two characters are the same and that Andy’s mom/Emily found redemption through the love her son had for the toy she left behind? Or, do you hate fun, love, and destiny? Let me know.
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All images courtesy of Disney/Pixar
Please Mr Negroni – please stop messing with my head…
I refuse. You guys are lucky I stagger posts like this.
Our minds are blown. I had to have everyone in the law office stop working to blow their minds. I told them, “Don’t thank me. Thank Jon Negroni.”
I love how your Pixar posts always make me think and rethink what I thought I knew about that universe. From what I see here, it makes perfect sense. Can you imagine how dramatic it would have been if sometime in Toy Story 3 (or if they make a Toy Story 4 in 20 years) where Andy’s mom sees Jesse and finds something on her that makes her unique to the one she had, like how Andy writes his name on his toys. Maybe Emily did something similar and Andy’s mom finds it and is like, “WHAAT?!”. That would be an awesome season!
I’m pretty sure that Jessie’s boot only ever says “Andy.” If she was bought by the collector from Toy Story 2, then he probably had the name erased the same way he had Woody’s erased.
Oh, I forgot about that…..
I don’t know that it’s proof, but it is certainly possible.
And equally fun to think about. Once again, great write up!
Thanks, it was a labor of love!
Reblogged this on Disney to Infinity and Beyond.
Fantastic! Mind blown once again.
Reblogged this on Hannah Wrote This. and commented:
Your mind will be blown.
Wow…interesting!
Up until now I hadn’t even noticed Andy’s hat was a different style and color than Woody’s! And the fact that Emily could be Andy’s mom really does seem to connect the dots. If its true, Pixar is so sneaky, but super genius!
Dude you totally just…blew my mind. This is certainly plausible. Kudos sir.
Good try – but don’t you think Jessie would’ve reacted big time when she first saw Andy’s mom and realized she was her old owner???
Wouldn’t Jessie recognize Emily when she saw her?
Not necessarily. I have High School friends that don’t look much or anything like the way they looked when we were younger. But aside from that, if the toys are really like us, they’ll have fuzzy memories just like us. The last time she saw Emily was when she was a child! No?
It also explains how Andy stops calling Jesse “Bazooka Jane”. His mother could have corrected him.
I mean I know he could have found it on the internet but I like the mom/Emily explanation better.
Andy had cool names for most of his toys, though 🙂
Evil Dr. PORKCHOP!
The pixar animators were probably like, oh crap, I don’t want to make a model for another freakin’ hat. :Browse files: that one looks good. Done.
Great work! as usual. By the way, I couldn’t help but read the Bob Saget paragraph in the Bob Saget voice. That worked a little too well…
How interesting! I love it.
Have re-watched the Toy Story movies over the weekend and having read this, my mind is now blown! What a fab read!
Wow, great work! So, does this then dis-prove the claim from Pixar that they never planned a sequel to Toy Story since a pre-considered sequel would be the only explanation for the detail in TS1 that feeds this? 😀
~Mark.
Not the same hats though. If you look at Jessies story during Toy Story 2, Her owner’s hat is round and flat like hers. Andy and Woody’s hats are shaped more like fedoras. Sorry!
I noticed the same thing. The har on the bed also doesn’t have the white stitching around the brim either.
Super solid idea. I feel like Emily looks similar to Molly as well which could be another tie.
you say that andy’s mum would be indifferent, but how about jessie?? she continually goes on about her last owner so would obviously recognise her and mention it? not disputing the theory at all just curious
I mean when jessie first sees andys mum how did she react?
I’ve always wondered how Andy started calling her “Jessie” because when he first finds her in his room he calls her something Jane. Maybe his mom told him her real name???
This is fantastic. And it makes perfect sense that Andy removed the ribbon so the hat would look like Woody’s! Thanks for this awesome post!
Wonderful observation again Jon. The wonders never cease with your meticulous homework into these movies. Bravo sir!
I do not support the Pixar Theory, at all.
But THIS is something I can get behind!!!