Take her to the moon for me. Okay?Â
The Pixar Theory, or “Grand Unifying Theory of Pixar movies” if you want to be more intense, is a fan theory I wrote in 2013 about how every single feature film made by Pixar Animation Studios is intentionally set in the same universe. Or unintentionally, if you believe in miracles.
I was inspired by an episode of the Web Series, “After Hours,” on Cracked.com. In the episode written by Dan O’Brien, the After Hours crew discusses, at length, how a few of the Pixar movies may secretly be about the apocalypse. They address Toy Story, WALL-E, and Cars before giving up because they can’t find a way to connect the films any further.
So I took that as a challenge.
Over the following year, I developed my own theory on how all the movies connect, and the results have been surprisingly epic. People from all over the world have read the theory, and many of you have been having ongoing discussions in the comments that go way beyond anything I first imagined (trust me, I read all of them).
Now, two years later, it’s time to see where we’re at as we welcome a new Pixar movie to the world:Â Inside Out.
First, it’s important to point out that the theory itself has changed dramatically over the years. A lot of people have called out flaws and underdeveloped points of the theory that make it fall apart for them. I’ve read the feedback and spent the last two years writing a book that fully fleshes out my original theory. It addresses pretty much every major complaint and issue that “debunkers” have thrown at it. And it does this in about ten chapters.
Every chapter follows a specific movie (some are lumped in together, like the Cars franchise). I talk about the context of the movie as it relates to this theory, where it fits in the grand timeline, and how each movie contributes to the idea that these movies exist in the same narrative. And yes, I go way beyond the easter eggs.
My book is available now on paperback and all e-book stores. Hope you guys like it!
But let’s get back to the main task at hand. Let’s talk about how Inside Out masterfully fits within the idea that all of these Pixar films are connected. What you’re about to read is set up like how I wrote the chapters for my book, so if you like what you read, then that may be a sign that the book is for you. Consider this your sample chapter, if you will.
Obviously, many spoilers are ahead, so read at your own risk. I highly recommend that you watch the movie at least once before reading this, especially since it’s pretty fantastic. You’ve been warned.
THE SET UP.
Inside Out is the story of a young girl struggling to grow up, seen through the eyes of her emotions as literal beings. Yes, Pixar made a movie where feelings have feelings.
The movie opens with the birth of Riley Andersen. The first thing you may notice is that she shares the same last name as Bonnie Anderson from Toy Story 3 and the subsequent shorts based on that movie. That may tempt you into believing that Riley and Bonnie are connected somehow, but that’s definitely not the case since their names aren’t spelled the same way.
For context, Pixar named Bonnie after two people: Bonnie Hunt (a frequent voice actor for the Pixar films) and Darla K. Anderson, the producer of Toy Story 3. Darla actually has easter eggs for her name dating all the way back to A Bug’s Life, where you can catch her first name on a box in “Bug City.”
Anyway, we learn early on that Riley grew up in Minnesota, but her family moves to San Francisco when she’s 11 years old. Now it’s true that Bonnie lives in Tri County, around the corner from Andy, and Tri-County does take place in the Bay Area of California. But that’s really just a coincidence. Riley’s family never mentions that they have relatives around, and they only moved to San Francisco for her dad’s job. For that reason, all signs point to this being a coincidence.
WHEN DOES THE MOVIE TAKE PLACE?
Moving on, we get to know Riley through a montage of her early life. When we get to the point where she’s 11, it appears to be modern day. Much of the technology we see throughout the movie — like a Skype surrogate that closely resembles the one used by Trixie in Toy Story 3 and the presence of smartphones — point to this being a film set in 2015.
That means Riley was born in either 2003 or 2004, depending on her exact birthday. Interestingly, that would mean the movie opens during the same year as Finding Nemo.Â
We also know that this has to be some time after 2007, which is when Ratatouille takes place. In fact, Inside Out actually confirms that Ratatouille takes place in 2007 instead of 2004, which is a conundrum I ran into while writing the book. It’s all based on the blurry date seen on Gusteau’s will and…eh, don’t worry, it’s not important.
Anyway, the reason we know that this is some time after Ratatouille is because you can see Colette Tatou on the cover of a magazine in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it easter egg. Judging by the prestige of this magazine, Colette has done well for herself during her years learning from Remy and working at La Ratatouille, the bistro she started with him and Linguini.
After all, why would she be on the cover a magazine before her adventures in Ratatouille? Before she met Linguini, she was just a hardworking chef trying to build a career at a failing restaurant. I find it much more plausible that she’s created a name for herself under the tutelage of the best chef in France.
(DONALD GLOVER VOICE) MY EMOTIONS!
So as we get to know Riley in the film’s early montage, we meet her emotions. The film immediately takes us inside her head, where we watch Joy, Sadness, Disgust, Fear, and Anger team up to influence Riley’s actions. They work in “Headquarters” (get it?) and use a mysterious console to control Riley’s decisions.
When an emotion manages to elicit a meaningful experience in real life, a memory is generated and sent to Riley’s long term memory. If it’s a specifically powerful experience, then it will create a core memory that will stay in Headquarters.
It’s somewhat confusing, but Pixar does a great job of explaining this better than I can. They use subtle techniques and cleverness to make the inside of Riley’s head immediately unique, while also incredibly believable.
For example, the memories are shaped like “marbles” because without them, Riley would lose her marbles.
This is a fun movie.
The plot of Inside Out focuses on Riley being uprooted to a new home in San Fransisco and how this negatively affects her emotions. She misses her friends, never sees her dad anymore because of his new job, and feels pressured to just “be happy” all the time. This causes her to repress her sadness, which eventually causes even more problems.
CONNECTIONS AND MISFIRES…
There’s another fun cameo during this part of the movie. We see a rat that looks a lot like Remy, which is just a fun reminder that Pixar animation transcends the multiple stories they tell. And we also see memories that feature other Pixar characters. You can see Carl and Ellie’s wedding from Up for example.
A good reason for that could be that Riley saw a tape of this wedding at some point, though that would have to be a very old home movie. It could be a picture, since we see a camera in the first frame of that scene in Up. In that case, Riley could have seen that picture and imagined the wedding herself. This has led a lot of people to think that Riley could somehow be related to Carl and Ellie, which would be quite a stretch.
That’s because Carl and Ellie sadly never had kids, so Riley would have to be a distant relative. If she knows about the wedding, then she’s probably met some of this family, but we know in those early scenes of Inside Out that Riley is visiting California for the first time. She thought the Golden Gate bridge was actually golden, after all.
You could argue that people from this family went to Minnesota to visit her, but I’m not really convinced. Personally, I don’t think we’re able to know just yet, though one theory I have is that she had a teacher or friend’s parent who is somehow connected to Carl and Ellie. A future Pixar movie may shed light on this.
Some people even want to believe that Riley is Boo from Monsters Inc.,or Andy’s mom. Seriously. Look, Riley is Riley. She’s not anyone else, and trying to force these connections is missing the point. For example, the primary reason people think Riley is Boo is because when she’s shown as a toddler, she’s wearing the same hair tie/scrunchy thing that Boo wears in Monsters Inc.Â
They both even have pig tails. If you’re fixated on them being one in the same, then you miss the cooler reveal, which is that Riley was growing up around the same time as Boo (Monsters Inc., takes place in the early 2000s), so of course that style and those hair ties were popular.
As for Riley being Andy’s mom…I mean that’s way too much of a stretch, even for a limo.
HUMANS ARE BATTERIES…
A main theme of the Pixar Theory is the idea that humans emit this strange energy that we see all throughout the films. In Monsters Inc., we learn that the laughter of a child can be harvested as energy for a society of creatures that mysteriously know how to use it. In The Incredibles, this energy is seen tangibly through the exploits of super-powered humans who can do amazing things.
Part of my Pixar Theory (the updated version) is that humans power the toys in Toy Story because they’re built to collect energy by the machines from The Incredibles. The book goes more into detail, but the basic idea is that the machines know how to use human energy as a battery, which carries on as a strategy all the way to the future, when monsters have to go back in time through doors to access this energy because no humans are left thanks to WALL-E.Â
But all this time, I’ve wondered why Pixar seems so infatuated with this idea of imagination being a raw power. And Inside Out addresses this pretty head on. The whole premise of the movie is that our emotions (as seen in Monsters Inc.,) are what truly power our actions. And the most powerful emotion for a child is Joy, as seen by Joy being the de facto leader of Riley’s emotions. Most of Riley’s memories are positive, and this is because Joy is inherently a strong emotion for many children.
The monsters of Monsters Inc, use fear, which can be another strong emotion for some kids, to power their society, but they eventually learn that laughter from joy is far more effective. And why is that? Well, Inside Out explains that joy is one of the first emotions we experience. Joy, the character, is a literal light source. She’s fast, tough, and clever. And she’ll do anything to make Riley happy. The other emotions in comparison are much more passive.
A lingering question in Monsters Inc., is why adults are so difficult to scare. Inside Out sort of answers that by showing how the inside of adults’ minds work. They’re more emotionally balanced, for example, so you don’t see one emotion overpowering the others. When we see inside the heads of Riley’s parents, the emotions don’t bicker like they do in Riley’s head. Instead, they all work together to accomplish the same goal.
But that’s not all. No, no, no. There’s something even better hiding in the dark of this movie that serves as the biggest “Aha!” moment I’ve had since I carefully re-watched Brave and Monsters Inc., back to back.
And it has to do with this guy, Bing Bong.
BING BONG! BING BONG!
Bing Bong is Riley’s imaginary friend. Joy and Sadness meet him halfway through the movie, and he helps them navigate Riley’s mind as they try to return to Headquarters. When Riley was three, Bing Bong was her best friend. He’s part cat, part elephant, and part dolphin. He’s made of cotton candy and, naturally, cries candy. He even has a wagon that can fly when powered by songs…
(humans=batteries).
So what’s the big deal? Why is he important?
Simple. Bing Bong is an imaginary friend, yes. But he’s based on a monster. Riley’s monster from when she was three.
At the end of Monsters Inc., Sulley and Mike decide to make kids laugh instead of scream because it generates more energy and is less messed up. We even see Mike go through a door and perform standup comedy for a child.
But wouldn’t this leave a kid feeling traumatized? Imagine a monster coming through your door, making you laugh, and then disappearing forever. This would make no sense unless…children perceive these new monsters as their imaginary friends.
Bing Bong was a monster who went through Riley’s door and made her laugh when she was three. We know that monsters have animal characteristics, explaining his part-cat/part-elephant appearance. And of course Riley thinks he’s made of cotton candy. Why else would he be pink? I’d even argue that he makes dolphin noises to make Riley laugh, causing her to think he’s part dolphin, too.
This all makes perfect sense if we’re to believe that well-adjusted kids in Pixar movies grew up meeting monsters in their rooms late at night. And it’s further helped by the fact that in Riley’s subconscious, she’s afraid of clowns, not monsters.
And think of it this way. Isn’t it pretty easy to picture Bing Bong living in Monstropolis?
I have plenty more to say about all of this, but those are the major points. If you want to keep digging, you can read another exploration I did of this movie that goes somewhat more into detail. The gist of it is that Bing Bong is life.
There are more easter eggs for the movie listed at the bottom, but that’s the basic rundown of how Inside Out fits into the Pixar Theory. If you think of something interesting to add or have a compelling question to ask, fire away! Just please…don’t ask if Big Hero 6, a Disney movie, should be in the Pixar Theory…
Ready for more?
The conspiring doesn’t end here. Check out my other Pixar Theory posts from infinity to beyond:
- The Pixar Theory – the full book available on paperback and ebook via Kindle, Barnes and Noble, iBooks, or just a PDF. This will cover the entire theory and every movie in the Pixar universe, updated from what you just read.
EASTER EGG ISLAND!
- There’s a globe in Riley’s classroom that has been shown in every single Toy Story film.
- Some of the cars in San Francisco have bumper stickers from the Pixar movie, Cars.
- Bing Bong disturbs a cloud person in Imaginationland, and he looks a lot like the cloud from the Pixar short, “Partly Cloudy.”
- Also in Imaginationland, you can see a board game with a picture of Nemo that says “Find Me.”
- One of Riley’s classmates wears a camo shirt with Toy Story characters on it. Well, their silhouettes, at least. It even looks like Arlo from The Good Dinosaur is on there as well. There’s even a popular girl at the school with a skull t-shirt in the same fashion as Sid’s from Toy Story, just in a different color. The 90s are making a comeback!
- A banner in Riley’s hockey rink showcases a team from Tri-County, which is the setting for Toy Story. I explain this easter egg further in a different article.
- Blink and you’ll miss a “For the Birds” cameo during Riley’s road trip to San Francisco in the beginning of the movie. It’s just like their appearance in Cars.
- As always, the animators included ample A113 references. I’ve heard there’s more than one, but the only one I saw personally was A113 as the number of Riley’s classroom.
- If you look closely at Riley’s Chinese takeout box, you’ll notice it has the same design as the one from A Bug’s Life (pictured below). Those familiar with the theory know that this could be because the same restaurant exists in both movies, so naturally there’d still be remnants of these takeout boxes hundreds of years later during Flik and the gang’s adventures.
Did you notice that Sunnyside Day Care is in one of Riley’s memories, implying that she may have gone to Sunnyside when she was little?
I see why you wouldn’t put Big hero 6 in the theory. It’s not a Pixar film, it’s part of the Disney Animated Classics line, and that means you’d have to bring in 50+ more films. Actually I wanted to do that. But I also see nothing keeping it out either. The advanced tech and Japanese presence in San Fransisco puts it several decades after Toy Story, and Baymax shows that technology has only advanced further and getting smarter and smarter, leading to true, complete, artificial intelligence. Speaking of those 50+ films, Elsa is one the first of a race of superheroes and every film with talking animals shows animals taking on more human traits over time.
I was thinking about this just the other day, but instead with Meet the Robinsons, because with that movie the time travel aspect starts to make sense. Perhaps, and this is just a passing fancy of mine, the Pixar Theory could in fact be a subset of a Greater DIsney Theory. The DisneyToon line of stuff is linked via the Cars franchise (Planes, while being a spinoff of Pixar’s “Cars” is technically animated by DisneyToon Studios) so that would link anything from the DisneyToon line into the theory as well. As for pulling the Walt Disney Animated Classics in…. It’s quite simple. The Official Disney Princesses. There’s a Pixar Leading Lady officially listed among them. Merida from Brave. Thanks to this elevated status, we can pull in at LEAST the Princess films (Snow White, Cinderella, etc.) Using the Easter Eggs in all other films that link the Official Princess films to them, we can add even more. I now the Princess part of the theory is wobbly at best, but it’s a start.
I wasn’t that onboard until Bing Bong. Bravo.
In Inside Out, there is a moment where Joy asks Fear to list all possible bad outcomes, which leads Fear to say, “Does anyone know how to spell meteor?” I think it’s a Easter egg about The Good Dinosaur and how dinosaurs became extinct.
I have something to add to the theory…
I believe that the Pixar Theory is undergoing a split and two timelines may develop, one where BnL was one of the most dominant corporations in the Pixarverse and one where BnL withered and died. I know that because there is no BnL Easter Egg in this movie. Here are two reasons why.
1. San Francisco is one of the most populous cities in the US, making it a noticeable place to advertise, in which BnL would definitely take to its advantage.
2. BnL already showed up in two earlier movies. Toy Story 3 (2010) had a BnL cameo in Buzz’s batteries while Up has BnL as construction equipment near Carl’s house. Inside Out takes place in 2015, a time in which BnL had already made their mark.
Before I rest my case, let me say that this split was caused by Mike and Sulley and their decision to use laughter instead of scream, while the pre-split Pixarverse may have a continuation of scream energy, in which Randall could’ve beaten Mike and Sulley and ran the factory in his image. Finally, both Cars movies and Wall-E never existed in the post-split Pixarverse because both movies depended on BnL in order to function, especially the latter. Bug’s Life could take place in both Pixarverses because we never see BnL anywhere in that movie (That and because that movie was released a decade before Wall-E). Monsters Inc and University? They could function on both timelines.
Would the anomalies in the Pixar Detective have a minor role in the split in the Pixarverse too?
“I highly recommend that you watch the movie at least once before reading this…”
Noooo!!!! I can’t read this. I have to go see “Inside Out” first.
I’m definitely coming back to this after I’ve seen it.
Killed it.
i still don’t know where inside out fits into the timeline.
I was wondering though if you could do a article on emma jean?
The article WAs amazing though
Like I said, 2015.
Well, that was fast.
This only came out today and people are already commenting.
Geez.
Anyway, I just want to mention something. In a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment, when Riley’ s looking out the window in the car, you can see the birds from the short “For The Birds” on a telephone wire. I don’t know if this has anything to do with the Pixar Theory or not, but it’s interesting anyway. Just thought you’d like to know. 🙂
That’s in the list at the end of this article.
Oh…
Dang it.
Wow. I’m a big fan of the Pixar Theory, and this is a huge step forward! All right!
Also, Jon, I was wondering if you’re thinking about how The Good Dinosaur fits into the theory yet. Probably not, but I can’t figure out how it would. Obviously it’s before Brave, and you mentioned it would probably explain why the Pixar universe is different from ours, but other than that I don’t really know how it would fit in.
If you think I’m rushing ahead, I just can’t wait for the Good Dinosaur to be added to the Theory.
Sorry. 🙂
I’ve been thinking about Good Dinosaur some, but it’s pretty pointless until we actually get to see the movie. Good news is you don’t have to wait long!
Boo is definitely not reilly, duh. You (not sure if this is 100%) can see boo in sunny side day care, and if reilly went there as well, they can’t be the same person, but maybe friends? We will never know!? I’ve seen the movie twice and still can’t find the pizza planet truck, amazingly considering its in there three times, according to pete. ive found a113 and everything else haha. Been hitched to ur stuff for a while Jon, keep it up. Finding dory could maybe she’d a lot more stuff on the theory, it could propose BnL or an after math of it. Pixar is amazing, you’d be a great worker there!
Thanks, man! And as for your Boo/Riley idea, just remember that Riley couldn’t have attended Sunnyside Daycare because that is in California, and she is from Minnesota.
Oh yeah! Forgot that, haha! Also, I’m so looking forward to Finding dory, it maybe could shed some light on why she is so forgetful and could potentially add to the theory a lot, considering what you said about her. I can’t believe how easily all this fits together when you think about it.mits like they are making these movies, in order, on purpose. I can definitely tell they’re trying to tell us something! I’m obsessed
hey, do you ever wonder… if Ryley´s mom was Boonie?? the last name of Riley is also Anderson, her mother and Bonnie actually look alike and maybe is from this that she got those memories from the wedding of carl´s and Ellie, because they were supposedly relatives of Andy. And andy´s mom was friend of Boonie´s mom.This also explain how some of the Riley´s memories are placed in the sunset daycare.
You mean Bonnie? No, there’s not enough evidence for that. Like I said in the article, Riley’s never been to California before the events of the movie. And there’s nothing there to suggest that they know people there already. I will admit, however, that there could be something (maybe) to the idea of Bonnie’s mom and Riley’s mom being related since they look so similar.
that wouldnt make sense though, she couldnt grow up that fast.
A113 is located in the alley when Riley was running away. Is there anything you can say about why the Pizza Planet truck is in all these different locations?
I didn’t catch that one! I only saw A113 as the number for Riley’s classroom. As for the Pizza Planet truck, I’m not sure I understand your question. Are you curious about why these trucks are everywhere? The theory suggests that this is because “Pizza Planet” is a chain restaurant that exists in every Pixar movie, so you see their delivery trucks everywhere.
If your saying that, than would all the pizza planet vehicles be the same model or would the deliveriers use their own cars for delivery, just saying, you can see that in Up “maybe.”
But doesn’t everything in the pixar universe have emotions I mean only human emotions produce energy or what, how do emotions work on animals and machines and monsters because monsters could use their own emotions to power up things the same works for machines. That’s the big hole to your theory.
I just finished reading his book, and I mean the main point in the whole theory is that “humans are batteries”. Which is why the machines can’t harness the animals emotions even after they’ve evolved into intelligent creatures and why the monsters don’t harness their own emotions as energy. They aren’t humans. Their emotions can’t provide them the energy they are looking for.
There are multiple types of “energy” because lots of things have emotions. Machines get their “life” from humans, but animals have their own unique level of intelligence and energy, separate from humans.
Think about how the emotions of humans seen in Inside Out are far more self aware and proficient compared to the emotions we see within the heads of animals (especially the cats). Can you see how the distinction argues that yes, humans are capable of imagining life into toys and having super powers?
So humans have the most powerful emotions or what animals have more human like personalities and what about monsters they do have strong emotions, and in the good dinosaur we will see roles reversed as humans are just pets and the big controlling species are the dinosaurs sorry but I think you took a wrong turn with the theory.
i stopped read in middle article. Your spoiler is ruining my pixar movie sensation! Haha.
I will come back after watch 🙂
Dear Jon Negroni,
I was wondering if you noticed that in end sequence of Inside Out, we get evidence saying that animals are developing more “human-like” qualities. The sequence I am referring to is when we are seeing the minds from other miscellaneous side characters who really had no important role in the film. What we also see, are the minds of a dog and a cat. Although they are obviously less complex than a human’s, the dog’s emotions seem to be able to function properly. The cat’s emotions seem to just play around, but simply having recognizable and distinguished emotions and not just one mindset, shows that animals are developing “human-like” minds and feelings. This could explain why the characters in Finding Nemo and Ratatouille have “human-like” emotions as well. If you could respond and tell me if my theory fits within your theory I would really appreciate it. I love your website, keep writing theories!!!!!!!!!!!
Okay, but what I’m confused about is why at the end of the movie, we see other side characters’ emotions and their emotions match how they look on the outside. How come Riley’s emotions are gendered with different clothing and etc.? Maybe it was just an animation flop or comedy thing.
According to Pete Docter, the emotions of the parents were characterized with one gender in order to make it less confusing when you switch between the three heads during that dinner scene. He even said it’s something they hoped no one would notice!
And it actually makes sense, incidentally, that your emotions are more diverse before you hit puberty. The other characters’ heads aren’t nearly as diverse as Riley’s, and that’s probably because they’re older, so their emotions are more in “sync.”
I have a theory that better connects Inside Out, the Toy story franchise, and Up. What if It is not a coincidence that both Riley and Bonnie are related? And I would even go as far to say that those two, Carl, Ellie, and Andy are all related. Before shooting this down, think about it for a second. I believe that Andy’s mom, Riley’s Mom, and Bonnie’s mom are all sisters, with ages oldest to youngest respectively. I also think that the mother/father of those three were Ellie’s sister/brother. I do not believe it is too much of a stretch. It is obvious that there is some sort of relation between Bonnie and Andy(In Toy Story 3, when Andy is talking about “how big Bonnie got since the last time he saw her”, same with Andy’s mother, the fact that Andy’s mom chose to send the toys to Sunnyside specifically, etc). So that could point towards them(Bonnie and Andy)being cousins. And if you look at the three moms next to each other, they do share a decent resemblance. There could be a possibility that if they the Riley’s father had to move for work, you could tell how he tries desperately to keep his family happy. So if he was not going to be transfered to the same area that his family was, maybe they would have stayed in MInnesota. Carl and Ellie, of course fit into this, as stated above. That may have been why Riley had the memory of Carl and Ellie’s wedding, because it was in a family photo album. Ellie and Carl being the three’s grand aunt/uncle would also explain the well known postcard from the two on Andy’s bulletin board. There may be some turmoil with the last names and such,and if they are sisters, or if maybe it was a father being the nephew of Carl/Ellie, but I do not think that this idea is that far out there.
Also, just to add a bit, I think that the entire theory is great, and it is all pretty logical in my opinion. This additon is more or less just to let Jon know that I respect this theory. Also, if I am incorrect, and this goes for everyone, I would just like a small explanation of why this was incorrect, and/or how just small parts of it could be tweaked. Thanks.
Bonnie and Andy COULD be related, but it’s not very likely. For one thing, Andy and Bonnie don’t really look alike. Well, I suppose that isn’t really solid proof, but it’s something. Also, Andy’s mom and Bonnie’ s mom are different ages. Usually that’s not solid proof either, but Andy’s mom is at least 20 YEARS older than Bonnie’s mom. That’s all I had to say. It’s a really good theory, by the way. It just isn’t really plausible. At least for me. Good work, though! 🙂
Good point. Thanks, and like I said, it was just a theory… A PIXAR THEORY! Thanks for reading!
Wow, I have been waiting forever to use something like that.
But yeah, I knew that it was not full proof or anything, and that there may have been a few(and by that I mean a lot of) flaws in it. I was pretty tired when writing that post, so it could probably go through some tweaks and changes. Or it could be scrapped entirely. Either way is fine with me.
That might be true but me and my cousin don’t look alike, so they could be cousins. Anyways, I always wondered how Andy’s mum knew Bonnie’s mum, they could be sisters. Thanks for sharing that theory Awsum Man
Sorry, when I said the entire theory was great, I meant the Pixar theory, not my mini theory. Thought I should clear that out.
Jon, you are awesome. But, you did not see when Riley and her parents are traveling to …(I forgot, sorry) Riley shouts, “the car of the film.” At least here in Brazil, in Portuguese. The car that hit the dinosaur (dinosaur hmm) is uncannily similar to the Pizza Planet car.
The famous “star ball” can see it in Riley’s room while she plays with Bing Bong in childhood.
I noticed a car that looked a lot like the Pizza Planet Truck on the new Family/San Francisco Personality island that appears at the end when Sadness and Joy make a joint memory! 🙂
It isn’t a Pixar Easter egg, but in Riley’s first dream the organ music is the same from the haunted mansion in Disney World. So not just Pixar Easter eggs, but Disney in general!
Inside Out is the beginning of the explanation of how it happened Artificial Intelligence objects – I believe that at some future film, the intelligence of objects will be explained using the concepts of Inside Out.
It may be something like magic – more connected to Brave – or a movie about a scientist who discovered the secret of our brain and used to make intelligent machines.
I hope that Brave has a sequel, because in my opinion was the main movie to give early theory.
And what Good Dinosaur connect with Brave, and animals movies clearly.
‘But I think that lack any strong connection to the Heroes, to explain their appearance.
There’s a dinosaur board game below the “Find Me”(Finding Nemo) board game. This could be an Easter egg for “The Good Dinosaur”.
I’m pretty sure there is an Easter egg for the Good Dinosaur in the memory where Riley’s family is stopping at the dinosaurs. The dinosaur that their car hits looks vaguely like the Good Dinosaur. I’ve only seen the movie once so I may be wrong, did you notice this?
I wrote a comment on the first “The Pixar Theory” post that suggested the reason that there is magic in the Pixar universe ( May 11th at 3:17 under “Anonymous”, and May 17th also under “Anonymous”).
It uses The Good Dinosaur, Inside Out, and the Untitled Dias Delos Muerthos film to explain why things are as they are. I just came back from seeing Inside Out for the first time and now I can continue without basing everything on assumption.
I have a question though. Why is there such thing as “Cloud Town” in Reilly’s mind? Does everyone have one?
In the post that I wrote I said that the Clouds in “Partly Cloudy” actually created the souls/consciousness of children and then used the storks to deliver them to expecting parents so that they can embody the physical body of the baby within the mother’s womb. Everything is invisible to the parents of course i.e. the huge stork flying straight up to people’s houses to drop off children.
Maybe the Cloud Town is actually the memory of being created by the clouds and being delivered by the stork.