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
Fantastic! It also makes sense that Andy would have REMOVED the white strip so that his cowboy hat looked more like Woody’s!
What about the white edging around the brim, under the threading? If that had come off, the whole hat brim would have to have been re-threaded, which is possible. It looks like plastic threading, which does wear out terribly fast. Personally, I think the concept is wonderful. 🙂
Zoom in on Woody’s hat you will see the lace in the first picture.
Don’t get me wrong I am 30 and would love this to be the story line of the next toy story movie and if we repost and retweat as much as possible it may even get noticed and picked up.
Your right, it does have a lace! Two actually!
Love these kinds of theories! Always reminds me of how Disney always uses other characters in their movies, (ie Scar from Lion King in Hercules). Makes you think, and keeps all of this enjoyable for the adult too. 🙂
where the fuck do you get time to uncover this sorta shit man…
I have an interesting thought about this theory: who cares?!
Your an idiot…why read it if you don’t care. Who’s waiting who’s time!
*Wasting
You’re
whose
Well, you read the article, so…
And yet you took time to read it and then comment on it.
Isn’t the baby sister called Emily??
A day’s sister is called Molly
Meant to say Andy’s sister is called Molly, I like whoever thought of this, it kinda makes sense.
COOL theory! Additional points for the How I Met Your Mother Reference!
Sorry, but I do not agree that Andy’s hat and Emily’s are the same. They are two totally different styles of hat regardless of the “lace”. Andy’s had a much taller crown and is a pinch front and Emily’s is a bolaro style with a rounded, shorter crown. Just my two cents.
Agreed
How can you see all that detail all the way across the room…We are NOT comparing Andy’s hat to Jessie’s hat…We ARE comparing Andy’s hat to Emily’s hat which is sitting on the bed all the way across the room. (in the shots provided)
No because Andy and Emily’s hats are different. Their shape is completely different. This myth is busted go watch the films again and you will see the difference.
Sister is Molly
Why would it be faded where the lace used to be? Wouldn’t the rest of the hat be faded, while where the lace was would not be faded?
If you look closely at Andy’s hat I don;t that its faded. I think it is a lighter colored hat band.
Is the handwriting similar? Andys mum wrote on boxes etc… did we see anything of emilys with writing on?
I think your observation is dead on (and brilliant), except for one point about the hat.
The “faded” area on the hat may actually be the same white ribbon of the original, only faded by time and by use. In the first image (Andy, Woody and Mom), if you look at the top edge of the “faded band,” it seems to have some thickness to it as it wraps around the hat. This would suggest that the ribbon is still there, just aged and dirty. You can even see the top edge of the ribbon has turned black where it collected some dirt (Andy does love to play). The edge of the brim is faded to the same color. Some hats will wrap the edge of the brim with the same type of ribbon to give a uniformed look. If the ribbon around the edge of the brim had been removed, it probably would have destroyed the edge of the brim and the white lacing stitched through it. As far as that white lacing goes, since this is a kids toy, we could assume that it was made out of some type of plastic or possibly some cheap leather. Either way, it could still stay that bright with little maintenance.
In short, it’s the same hat, ribbon and all.
Please explain the different crowns….Andy’s is a taller pinch front style, while Emily’s is a shorter bolero style crown. Just curious about your thoughts on that. 🙂
I can’t tell from the pictures posted exactly what kind of crown is on Emily’s hat. The image is too soft to be certain. You can see that it catches some of the light from the window and creates a solid, vertical line where the pinch would be. However, without a clearer and closer picture, I can’t be certain.
Why the hat design seems to be a combo of Woody’s and Jessie’s hat is up for discussion. It could be a hint at the connection between Woody and Jessie/Andy and Mom as put forth by Mr. Negroni.
Not the same hat, sorry. The styles are different and the white edging around the hats are not identical. Had the band faded, the outer edge wire would have faded too which could work, except that the curly white wire has not been effected at all. Therefore it can’t be the same hat because the styles and color of the wires do not match. Myth busted.
What’s the point of all this?
Also would like to add this; Common music between Andy’s mom and Emily: The still shot of Emily’s dresser shows two posters for a band called the Lemurs. There was an 8 track for the same band at the yard sale. There was also a poster of a dance at the Tri County Rec Center. Emily’s plates were Tri County as well. Andy lives in the Tri County area. That definitely narrows the spectrum.
I wouldn’t be surprised if this was true! Pixar loves doing cameos and making references between their movies, and the films are often more clever than we imagine. You should try to contact them to find out if you’re correct!
It is a great idea that Andy’s mom is the previous owner of Jessie but when you take a closer look to the detail in the picture at the start you can clearly see a dark ribbon surrounding woodys hat and what looks like a brown ribbon around Andy’s now it is possible that he changed the ribbon when he received the hat but it’s more likely it’s not the same hat. Also when you take a look at the hat Andy is wearing it turns up on the sides unlike the hat seen on the bed and the hat worn by Jessie. Don’t get me wrong I think it would be great if it was true and they made another movie where everything unwinds but it just doesn’t seem likely to me
So, did you credit the person who originally posted this theory on tumblr? Or did you just steal it and post it as though it was your own unique thoughts so you could get notes/attention?
Shut up
No, I think it’d be nice for the original poster to get credit.
Like I said in the post, I got the idea from a fan. I never claimed to come up with the theory entirely on my own; I just put the argument and evidence together. People have been saying this for years if you want to get technical, but no one had ever put all of the pieces together in the same way I did.
Liar I read this on tumblr a while ago. and now you’re saying you discover this? at least give some credit to the tumblr people and don’t go around stealing.
Agreed! This is absolutely absurd. We get it – your pixar theory is great. But it doesn’t give you any right to steal other’s ideas/parallels and then practically quote their original post.
I didn’t get the idea from tumblr, Liz. Like I said in the post, a fan of the Pixar theory came to me with this argument. I just fleshed it out.
I like the reference to “How I Met Your Mother” in this article lol
What I think is that you have entirely too much time on your hands.
If u look closely the garbage man in toy story 3 has the same shirt as Sid did in the first toy story….
I thought the garbage man was supposed to be Sid grown up?
Ugh. The Internet’s a big place. Stop accusing this dude of theft; it’s possible 2 people had the same theory about a 15-year-old movie. Even if one of them wasn’t you. Dick.
Also, I’m sold. The shadowing above the missing hatband on Andy’s hat looks to indicate the band is indented, meaning there was once a band there.
Which is as far as I’m willing to read into all this.