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.
Thanks for reading this. To get updates on my theories, books, and giveaways, join my Mailing List.
Or just say hey on Twitter: @JonNegroni
All images courtesy of Disney/Pixar
you’re absolutely killing me here, I cant with your articles anymore they make so much sense!
and the advert for Woody and co. is black and white, so they’re definitely old toys.
Nostalgia
Jesse was probably fixed up like Woody to look new so maybe she didn’t know it was her old toy.
Love this! Makes total sense. 🙂 Very neat connection!!
It could also be just reusing an art asset. That happens too, especially across movies.
I’m not trying to be rude, but this was easily figured out by actually watching the movies from start to finish…………………. I get the idea that you didn’t do that?? Maybe I really am in that 5% that understands everything as it happens. The mother refers to toys from her childhood, it’s pretty obvious, especially as he wears the same hat. Go me!!
Congratulations.
And, wow, you still managed to come off as rude and, as an added bonus, a pompous asshole! Two for one! Go you, truly!
No, you’re more like the 30% who can’t stand the idea that someone might know something you don’t, so you listen to other people’s ideas and then jump up and go, “ok, I didn’t say anything, but, I knew SOOOO long ago! I guess I’m just a rare visionary,” even though, judging by your need to assert your superior intellect in a commentary section, about a children’s cartoon, I doubt you’d have the self restraint to keep your mouth shut about anything, LET ALONE an idea you think you had first.
Basically, in my long, douchebaggy way, I’m saying you didn’t notice anything until you read this blog, just like everybody else, and if you did, you make it sound like was just ALL so clear and obvious, which would mean WAY more than 5% of the population would have picked up on it.
But, hey, congratulations on being smart enough to figure out a cartoon. That’s quite the achievement.
For you.
Best response ever to the high class 5% of Toy Story viewers who have it figured out.
I love this response so much…
i didnt know this honestly so yeah your bein kinda rude
Wow, good points here. PIXAR WE DEMAND ANSWERS.
Pixar/Disney have already said his mom’s name is Emily…
source please?
yeah where is the proof?
Don’t forget that in the end of TS2 Andy refers to Jessie as Bazooka Jane, in TS3 though he clearly knows her name is Jessie. HOW DID HE LEARN THAT? 😀
I read your site all the time, and Cracked totally linked to this article!! =O
Take it one further. Prior to TS 1, Andy’s father is completely out of the picture and there’s no mention of, say packing up to spend the weekend at Dad’s, So let’s assume he did die either just before or shortly after the birth of Andy’s little sister. Woody is a hand-me-down from his now departed father – that’s more or less a given. (Was his father also an Andy, or perhaps even Danny from Bullseye’s feet) .What if then the Buzz Lightyear figure is a present from mom’s new boyfriend?
This sets up the whole conflict of the first film – does accepting someone new into you life mean you have to let go of the past.
If the boyfriend thing is true, then the movie would be one of the deepest movies ever made.
Wow, finally an explanation that actually makes so much sense it’s probably true.
the theory seems wonderful. except from the fact that the two hats are COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. even putting aside the fact that Jessie’s hat is designed for girls with its distinctive round shape and bright red colour, there are two distinct designs. Andy’s hat shows the shape of a standard cowboy hat, with a rather pointy front and a round back in its central section, and a symmetrical shaped brim it also lacks the white border on its brim. but the most definitive proof is the fact that what you considered a faded mark in place of the white lace is actually a brownish coloured lace of which we can clearly see the relief. I might had that having a lace matching the colour of the hat makes more sense generally speaking than the “girly” red-white design of Jessie’s hat. after all, the same can be said of Woody’s hat which brown lace matches the colour of…
I have to disagree because if you look closely the brim of Andy’s hat is slightly turned up. Not the typical cowboy style. Assuming that the hat is made out of something that could reasonably hold it’s shape, which it obviously can being it has held up this long, all Andy would have to do is turn the brim up slightly to make more of a boyish cowboy style hat for himself.
Reblogged this on Alberto Raez.
I like this connection, but I wonder why Andy’s mom never sees Jesse. She sees him play all the time and wouldnt she look at or know about the toys he has? Im not trying to put your theory down, im just wondering! Plus i think it would be cool to see her reaction if it really was hers. Or if Disney would of put in a subtle line for Andy’s mom like, “Oh, what a neat doll. I had one just like her when I was young.” Real subtle like and then nothing else, she just goes on with what shes doing.
I agree with you 100% Andy’s Mom is always cleaning his room up. She would of recognized Jesse. I think Disney would’ve implied that there was a connection with Andy’s Mom and Jessie. It’s an excellent theory though. I wouldn’t have ever thought of that.
Hello there, just became alert too your blog through Google,
and found that it’s truly informative. I am going to watch
out for brussels. I’ll bee grateful if you continue thhis inn future.
A lot of people will be benefited from your writing.
Cheers!
I didn’t even know this was a theory, I’ve thought it was straight up fact since toy story 2. The fact that Andy’s mom doesn’t acknowledge Jessie just means that she’s not as sentimentally attached to her toys as Andy. She outgrew Jessie and gave her away while Andy outgrew his toys but was going to place them in the attic. He just cares more. The real thing that blows my mind is that it’s not true, since this article came out and the director shot it down.
I have been browsing online more than 4 hours today, yet I never found any
interesting article like yours. It’s pretty worth
enough for me. In my opinion, if all web owners and bloggers made good content as you did, the web will
be much more useful than ever before.
The hats aren’t the same. Andy’s hat, the spot where the ribbon is, isn’t faded, it’s a different one all together. you can notice that because if you look that part sticks out, if it was missing it would be sunken in Andy’s mom is not emily otherwise she would have made a comment about jessie when she saw her. Sorry to disappoint you guys.