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
love your stuff and it makes great sense.
Just about every kid growing up in the early sixties had a red cowboy hat… They were very popular.
Also, emily has a “lemurs” poster in her room, and Mrs Davis puts out a lemurs 8 track in the garage sale.
Wow, that must’ve been hard to catch, good job!
is there a possibilty that andy’s uncle (mom’s brother) was the previous owner of woody, and the whole time woody and jessie were in the same house without knowing each other due to some kind of a reason, like maybe andy’s mom was not close with her brother? and after many years andy was some how looking through his mom’s old stuff in the attic he found woody along with his mom’s alleged hat and removed its white ribbon because it was too girly? idk just thinking out loud..
I have been gasping so much reading this blog and the following comments that I have genuinely run out of air. YOUR COMMENT JUST BLEW MY MIND. I always thought of Andy’s mum as an annoying, minor character whose only role was to get in the way of otherwise solid plans made by Woody and co. (much like the lady in Tom and Jerry, where you only ever see her legs) – now I’m all about Mrs. D, obviously. It’s like that part in the Matrix where Neo goes back to ‘The Source’. Amazing.
Hey Jon, i love this theory and i think one more thing, maybe Boo can be Emily! Monster inc shows that se had jessie, so is she andy’s Mother?
I’ve read the Pixar theory and this theory saying that Emily is more than likely Andy’s mother and I started to think the same thing. Maybe Boo is Andy’s mother. In Monster’s Inc, I don’t recall Boo’s real name ever being revealed. I could be wrong though. And Boo’s hair is dark brown right? So as she got older her hair could have lightened making her hair a sort of auburn color as a teenager. And like this said before, Emily’s hair was a sort of auburn color. And Andy’s mother’s hair is a sort of blonde color because she is older. So she very well could be Boo. I don’t know if anyone has already pointed this out or not but it was just a thought! 😀
Boo’s real name is Mary. When she’s at Mike and Sulley’s house, you can see that she wrote her name in the top corner, and it’s Mary.
Oh I never noticed that. Thanks!
They have also linked boo to the witch in brave
Its been theorized that boo is the little girl andy gives his toys to in the end. They highly resemble each other.
They have linked boo to the witch from brave
The “faded area” is not faded. It is a red hat band and if you look closely, you will see it even has a dark edge to it. Also, on Ellie’s hat (assuming both hers and the girl’s hat are identical – it’s hard to tell from the bedroom shit), the edge of the brim is also white, while Andy’s is the same color as the hat.
I disagree. It looks as if the band has been REMOVED, which would verify the author’s assumption that the hats are the same. Or, the band could have been removed to make the hat more masculine. Just a thought, but it looks as though there is depth to the are where the lace would be.
Please talk about Boo, do you agree with what everyone thinks, that she is andy’s mom? I would love to read what you think about it, where Boo fits in the timeline? how early in the timeline she discovered the monsters?
These are my thoughts: Boo must have discovered the Monsters before Toy S. then she grew up as Emily (ignorin’ the real name of Boo), had kids (andy and andy’s sister) and still lived obssesed with the monsters (Sully) and that’s why she ‘divorced’ Andy’s Dad and is not wearing ring because she really is in love with Sully, not that andy’s dad was bad.. but he noticed her obsession with ‘something’ she never talks about, because she was too busy trying to develope magic.. eventually his Dad left the family because he couldn’t bear her behaviour anymore..
Then she became a Witch which travels in time leaving egg easters..
Interesting theory. It has also been theorized that boo is the little girl andy gives his toys to.
Jessie would have remember Emily as soons as she see her again u.u
I highly doubt that after all those years in storage and the fact that Jessie’s flashback never shows Emily fully suggests that her memory is not clear about her previous owner… Jessie does not know how long she was in storage for but if she is Andy’s Mom’s toy it would have been a good 20+ years, in the dark, and slowly losing her memory of Emily! (I wouldn’t want to remember someone who abandoned me like that so I’m sure after awhile she didn’t want to remember her!) Andy’s Mom is also an adult and wouldn’t look like the teen that left her alone!
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It never occurred to me that Andy’s mom and Emily might be two different people. I never made the hat connection but I always thought Emily was Andy’s mom.
Isn’t Boo in Sunnyside? It seems to me there’s a little girl in the room for the older kids that looks eerily like Boo… Also, Boo’s bedroom is far too cluttered with modern trappings to be the bedroom of a girl in the 1950s.
I like the idea of Emily being Andy’s mom though. Although I’ve always toyed with the idea that Woody is Andy’s Dad’s toy and since his father is missing, he understandable clings to this toy… random thought. I have no proof to back it up… 🙂
OMG!!!!! I think that Emily, Andy’s mom, is also Boo from Monsters Inc. When Sully and Mike say goodbye, Boo shows “Kitty” her toys. One of them is the cowgirl! Others are the pixar ball, Nemo, and a random teddy bear. Can you tell me if this could be possible??
Not being rude but who really cares lol… Its a kids movie. Can’t we just leave it at that lol
Then get off the site. Why even come here and post?
We all care , kids movies are the best
I love the concept, it gives the story depth and we all want our kids to love the toys we played with.
Maybe as the girl that Andy gave the toys to grew up se in turn gave the to Andy daughter boo (mary)
I get that there might be a connection, but didn’t Emily give “Jesse” doll and hat away in Toy Story 2?
I just took a facebook quiz titled which Disney mom are you and my result was Emily, Andy’s Mom from Toy Story. So your theory is proved from my result! Case closed!
I took that same quiz with the same results! I truly believe she is!
I do think it’s a big stretch to think that she would give away Jessie, but not Andy. On the other hand, maybe a cute girl wore her old cowboy hat to a college party, where a happy-go-lucky guy used “Howdy, Jessie,” as a pick-up line. A few dates later, he admitted that he had even brought his Woody doll to college, too…
Has anyone ever addressed the question, what happened to Andy’s Dad? Is Emily/Ms. Davis divorced or widowed?
He has a link about it on the site.
Then Jessie would’ve recognized Andy’s mom…
What if Boo is Andys moms sister? Andys Aunt. Jesse originally belongs to Boo “Mary” but then he younger sister Andys mom inherits Jesse at some point. Perhaps after the events of Monsters Inc. Boo somehow left before she became and adult (stumbled into a time traveling door and ended up way in the past where she is trying to get back to her time) and that is why Andys mom is so attached to Jesse.
The rim on Jessies hat is flat and Andys curves up at the edges
My friend just did one of those quizzes that occasionally pop plus on Facebook through sharing. The quiz was “which disney mom are you?” She got “Emily, Andy’s mom from Toy Story.” So unless that quiz got it’s in for from you, I feel like you’re infor is pretty accurate here 🙂
At the end of the 2nd toy story Andy calles Jessy bazooka jane but Andy gets her name right in the 3 maybe Andy’s mom tells him who she is when she sees her
so is this a good thing or bad