Exclusive: Toy Story 4 has an easter egg that debunks The Pixar Theory

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

WARNING: The following story contains mild spoilers for TOY STORY 4. While it does not reveal plot details or story twists, do not continue if you wish to see the movie completely fresh.

Fans of Pixar Animation already know that they are geeks like us and the tradition of including easter eggs in all of their movies, referencing the past as well as their future projects, is something fans have looked forward to for years. With the scale of TOY STORY 4 being bigger than any of the previous movies in the franchise, that means there need to be some bigger easter eggs and this movie is crammed full of them. During my visit to Walt Disney World, I sat down with TOY STORY 4 producers Jonas Rivera and Mark Nielsen as well as director Josh Cooley to discuss how this fourth film came to be and we learned some interesting details about the easter eggs they included through the film.

Screening the film with my kids, we were able to point out quite a few easter eggs including the little tin solider from the early Pixar short TIN TOY. When I told Cooley, Rivera, and Nielsen that our theory was that the owner of the antique shop was actually the baby from that short film, they were impressed as they had not heard that theory before. It also led into discussion of the popular Internet belief known as The Pixar Theory which posits that every film from the animation studio is connected in a shared universe. Well, that is not something lost on the animators and there is one easter egg that may finally debunk it.

Josh Cooley told me that there is a scene in the film where Bonnie's family is at the RV Park and her mother is sitting outside reading a book.

While the title is obscured in the final cut of the film, the book she is reading is called "Beyond Infinity: Debuking Theories of a Shared Universe".

Cooley said that they ultimately changed the angle because it became too distracting for the audience, but it is definitely still in there. This seems to, once and for all, kill the theory that somehow CARS is the rise of the machines and that BRAVE takes place in a post-apocalyptic wasteland after the events of WALL-E.

Rivera and Nielsen also added that there is at least one easter egg from every Pixar film, including the upcoming ONWARD, with the majority of them in the antique store scenes.

The logistical challenge of filling that store required over 10,000 individual items be designed and you can even see Carl and Ellie's house from UP, the Pixar ball, A113, and much more. Eagle-eyed viewers will spot the Pizza Planet truck in a very unlikely place (hint: keep an eye out for the carnival worker's ankle).

There is also the amazing animation work done in the opening scene set during a rainstorm which Cooley said took almost as much time to animated than anything else in the film. The level of detail is apparent when you see the movie. They also told me that they will never say no to keeping the door open for future sequels, but this was envisioned as a single film and if the right idea arrives they will take it under consideration. Cooley stressed that the final line of TOY STORY 4 was always going to be the final line and is designed to bring closure to the series. TOY STORY 3 closed Andy's story and now TOY STORY 4 brings Woody's tale to it's conclusion. This is a story about transition and is aimed at parents regarding the themes of letting go and moving on. Hopefully Pixar only continues if that story really is the right one.

TOY STORY 4 opens in theaters on June 21st.

CHECK OUT THE REST OF OUR TOY STORY 4 COVERAGE: 

Press conference interviews with Tim Allen, Tom Hanks, Keanu Reeves and more can be found HERE.

Exclusive interviews with Tony Hale and Christina Hendricks can be found HERE.