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
One answer to your question, regarding how someone would react to a reunion with a long lost childhood toy…
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2547262/Woman-breaks-tears-joy-reunited-childhood-teddy-bear-lovingly-restored-fiance.html
HIts you right in the feels, doesn’t it?
BRILLIANT!
and why is Jessie in Boo’s room in Monsters INC?
Pixar were still largely experimenting with 3D animation when making the movie, and as such likely re-used plenty of models. They weren’t going to go overboard in making sure that every cowboy hat in the animation looked vastly different.
Even look at Monster’s Inc. – they were populating the world with plenty of copy models, but now in the new one they’ve strived to make each ‘extra’ seem fresh and new. If Monster’s Inc. had issues with modelling, then you can bet Toy Story, an older film, did too.
I understand what your saying but couldnt they just have enlarged woody’s hat? Why use jessie’s
By populating the same areas with multiple exact copies, the scene would be less varied. Imagine how bland it would look from a designers perspective if they had the exact same hat on. In the real world you may see 2 people wearing the same hat, but each hat has its own variations to it you can spot.
They would have had to create 2 versions of the hat….and they already had other hat assets.
Since they had limited assets/models to work with, they’re going to use what they have and only commission new assets when they’re absolutely needed. Toy Story was cutting edge stuff for its time, but it was also pretty difficult and expensive and Pixar was just starting out and wasn’t even on the radar yet. Toy Story was not a breeze to make. There were a lot of hurdles, and Pixar almost went under.
You clearly do not understand what they are saying. The hat was andy’s mom’s hat.
You can add in the fact that Andy’s mom never questions the mysterious appearance of Jessie, perhaps because she has forgotten that she gave her away and assumes that this is the same doll.
Sorry – not the same hat. Jessie’s hat is round and not very deep. Andy’s hat is pointed in the front and deeper.
but they are clearly the same model (for lack of a better word) of course they will be different, one is on a toy, the other is being worn by a child
It does actually look like the child’s hat on Emily’s bed.
Emily’s hat is identical to Jessie’s. When Emily plays with Jessie in the pile of leaves you’ll see that both hats are round. As has already been pointed out, Andy’s hat is somewhat triangular. When Andy bursts into his room just before playing with the toys (and ripping Wood’s arm) he leans forward showing his entire hat. It’s clearly NOT the same hat as Emily’s.
If this is the case, why doesn’t she respond with any sense of recognition at the beginning of TS3 (12:50 mark) when she clearly looks right at Jessie? It’s plausible, but she has opportunity to go down memory lane in the movies, which if Jessie’s tale is true, she would’ve done – but she doesn’t.
Toy Story 3 takes place years after TS2. She would’ve had to have seen Jessie before that point, so instead of remembering her experiences as a child, she would be more focused on the situation at hand: what to do with the toys that her son played with for so long.
Wow! You nailed it! Incredible detective work, Holmes! Truly amazing, and Thank you!
My question would be more like. why didn’t Jesse recognize her then? Even older, she should still look familiar enough to the teenager who gave her away, and she obviously remembers her all these years later…
I agree. I had a strong connection with some of my toys and when I see them again great memories come to mind…
I agree, Patricia, but I was more thinking of why Jessie (the doll) wouldn’t recognize Emily (now grown-up). [If i misread you, please excuse me 🙂 ]
also, how about the fact that when andy first gets Jessie, he calls her “bazooka jane” yet in the third movie when he is introducing each toy to Bonnie, he calls Jessie by her real name.Maybe Andy’s mother knew the doll’s real name and told him once she saw the Jessie.
Andy always came up with nicknames for his toys tho whenever he was playing with them, bazooka jane couldve just beem Jessie’s nickname during that particular game
Chances are, “Jessie” was the generic brand name of the doll, just like “Woody” and “Buzz” were generic brand names.
Andy’s hat clearly has a reddy/brown band that is similar to Woody’s. Not a “faded patch where a white band once was”. That said I suppose it’s still within the realm of possibility that this was an easter egg inserted by Pixar, but my instinct is telling me you’re clutching at straws and just seeing things you want to see, not things that are actually there. If what you’re suggesting is the case, then I think it’s incredibly contrived, especially for Pixar.
Reblogged this on Write a blog on a log, Sam I am and commented:
WHAT???? I want to be convinced this theory works but I don’t know of her reaction when she sees Jessie again. She never said “I had one like that as a kid” or anything of that sort.
did anybody notice that the garage man in TS3 is wearing the same shirt as Sid in TS1
I think it IS Sid…. 🙂
Brilliant, I love these revelations. Thanks for keeping the theory alive
>
TS2 was realised 13+ years ago and you are just now figuring this out. I’m sorry but this isn’t really ground breaking. It has been widely known for years that Emily is Andy’s mom.
While I can’t speak to your theory directly, I do have a perfect example of a toy coming back to the owner years later. When I was 9, I gave away a construction set during a move. Years later, at age 50, my son wanted a similar construction set for a high school project he was working on–I went on ebay and bought one for him. It wasn’t until it arrived that I spotted MY OWN 9 YEAR OLD HANDWRITING on the signs in the set. My reaction would have been “Aw, I used to have one of these.”–until I saw evidence that it was actually my own old toy. If Andy’s Mom never marked Jessie (harder to do in a time before Sharpies), chances are she would have no idea that this was her very own doll.
Im fck Andys Mom Come andy !
flash action game
You have way too much time on your hands…. seriously like get a girlfriend or something!
When Toy Story 1 came out in 1995, Andy was about 10, meaning Andy was born around 1985.
When Toy Story 2 came out in 1999, not much time had passed since the first installment.
When Toy Story 3 came out in 2010, Andy was about 18, meaning Andy was born around 1992.
Now, I get that movies aren’t always set in the year they’re released (duh) but we can assume that Toy Story 3 was trying to be set in modern times (cell phones, laptops, internet, security buzzer at the daycare are all tell-tales signs of modern times.) It’s the movie with the most “markers” to show us what year it’s taking place.
Emily was a teen in the late 60s or early 70s, according to her room decor – around 16 in 1970? This would put her birth at 1954, making her either 31 OR 38 when Andy was born. Both ages easily in childbearing years. The only hiccup is, however, this would make her 41 (hmmm, OK) in the first film OR 56 (no way!) in the second film. She seemed much younger to me.
OTHERWISE – I’m totally buying this theory and LOVE IT! Pixar never ceases to amaze with their overt and covert treasures for us!
Is it possible that Andy might have even have belonged to Emily’s brother, and that was how he got passed down? The perfect set from T3, really was an original set.
Where would that leave the evil Prospector?
Reblogged this on ilconnett's Blog and commented:
woaahh! truly mind blown