The 30 best Pixar Easter eggs you might have missed

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10. Comic relief

The Easter egg: As a young boy waits in the dentist's office in Finding Nemo, he is clearly reading a Mr Incredible comic.

How obscure is it? We say clearly - this is a golden age, pre-red-suit Mr. Incredible. Still, that is one hell of a distinctive jaw-line.

9. Spot the Lotso

The movie: Up (2009)

The Easter egg: Lots-O-Huggin Bear can be seen in Up in the corner of a child's room as the balloons pass by her window.

How obscure is it? As long as you take your eyes off the balloon for a second, it's not hard to spot Toy Story 3's devious-but-cuddly villain.

8. Do-you-think-they-saw-us?

The movie: WALL-E (2008)

The Easter egg: A Rex figure from Toy Story can be seen among WALL-E's collected junk.

How obscure is it? A hard spot, but there's no mistaking that fixed nervous grin peering out from behind those bowling pins.

7. Jackanory

The movie: Toy Story 2 (1999)

The Easter egg: In Toy Story 2, Mrs Potato Head can be seen reading from a storybook of A Bug's Life.

How obscure is it? It's difficult not to recognise the green foliage on that page, so this one is for Pixar novices.

6. At the drive-in...

The movie: Cars (2006)

The Easter egg: In the Cars franchise, we frequently see advertisements for automobile versions of Pixar movies, including Toy Car Story, Monster Trucks, Inc, The Incredimobiles and a vehicular version of A Bug's Life.

How obscure is it? Not at all. These are perfect little gags for everyone to enjoy.

5. Shadow pup/pet

The movie: Ratatouille (2007)

The Easter egg: As Remy runs through Paris in Ratatouille, a silhouette of Dug from Up is cast against the wall.

How obscure is it? Once you've seen up, there's no denying Dug's recognisable shadow. We just need a short film now to explain how this came to be.

4. The new '1138'

The movie: All of them

The Easter egg: In a nod to the classroom at CalArts, where many of the original Pixar crew studied, the reference 'A113' appears in every Pixar movie to date, in everything from license plates to the ear-tag on Ratatouille's lab rat Git.

How obscure is it? Another regular in-joke among the animators and, while no one will get the reference without a little research, once you know about it, you'll spot it everywhere.

3. Him off of Cheers

The movie: All of them

The Easter egg: Referred to by John Lasseter as "Pixar's good luck charm", John Ratzenberger has voiced a character in every Pixar film, including Toy Story's Hamm, A Bug's Life's P.T. Flea, The Underminer from The Incredibles and Mack from Cars.

How obscure is it? Spend enough time watching Toy Story - or Cheers for that matter - and Ratzenberger's voice becomes hard to miss. Plus, once you know that he appears in every Pixar film, it almost mandatory to keep an ear out for him.

2. The Luxo ball

The movie: All of them

The Easter egg: The small yellow ball with a blue stripe and red star first featured in early Pixar short Luxo, Jr. and has appeared in several of their movies since, most noticeably in the Toy Story films.

How obscure is it? It's hard to miss, isn't it? And it appears so frequently in Pixar films, we kind of assume there's a ball lying around at all times in every room we're in.

1. "What a spaceport!"

(Image credit: Pixar)

The movie: All of them 

The Easter egg: The sci-fi-themed pizza restaurant Pizza Planet first appeared in Toy Story and a delivery truck for the fictional franchise has appeared in every movie since (except for The Incredibles). 

How obscure is it? This is the real Where's Wally of Pixar references. From obvious sightings to having a truck drive past in the far distance (Ratatouille), this is the pinnacle of Pixar Easter egg perfection.

Mike Williams
Mike Williams
Mike scribbles at MTV, Yahoo Movies, BuzzFeed, GoThinkBig and Live for Films. As a huge animation and sci-fi fan, his favourite movies include Spirited Away and District 9.