For audiences watching the latest Pixar film and box office hit, Hoppers, there is a lot to take in between heartfelt moments. Just like with Zootopia 2 or Wish, this film has a lot of hidden Easter eggs. Here are the highlights.
Spoilers ahead for the movie Hoppers.
Disney/Pixar
Of the inclusion of Easter eggs, director Daniel Chong told Tech Radar, “It’s funny because I didn’t know how easter eggs happen. But they really just happened, even without me. The team just puts them in, and suddenly, they’re there. So we have a couple of really fun ones.”
Crush the Turtle – Finding Nemo
Right as the movie begins, we see young Mabel attempting to rescue the classroom pets at her elementary school. The first pet that catches her attention is her own classroom pet, Crush the turtle. This is a clear nod to the righteous turtle of the same name from Finding Nemo.
Pizza Planet Truck – Toy Story
Walt Disney Studios/Facebook
While the teachers are chasing young Mabel through the hallway of her elementary school, she runs past a display case. In that display case is a tiny model car of the Pizza Planet truck from Toy Story.
Mabel’s Phone Case – Toy Story and Up
On the back of Mabel’s phone case, a bit later in the movie, we see some stickers with recognizable figures from other Pixar films. One is of a green alien from Toy Story, while the other shows a Wilderness Explorers badge, which is from Up.
Toy on Mabel’s Window Sill – Toy Story 5
Walt Disney Studios/Facebook
There is a very brief moment while Mabel is in her bedroom on her laptop that we can see a quick character reference to the forthcoming Toy Story 5. This new character is Atlas, a talking GPS hippo toy from the movie, voiced by Craig Robinson.
Disney/Pixar
Bears on Mabel’s Windowsill – We Bare Bears
Fans of director Chong’s will immediately clock the reference to his popular We Bare Bears on Mabel’s bedroom windowsill. There is a stack of three bears, which represents the three main characters in the show: Grizzly, Panda, and Ice Bear.
Fun fact: That show also stars Bobby Moynihan as Panda, who voices King George (shown above) in Hoppers. While Ice Bear’s voice actor Demetri Martin is the voice of some birds and Eric Edelstein who voices Grizzly is listed as an additional voice in the film.
Hoppers Technology – Avatar
Despite Dr. Sam’s defensive claim that “It’s nothing like Avatar,” Hoppers technology is basically the same as Avatar technology. The tech allows a user to enter into the body of another being and give it their consciousness as long as they are connected.
Birds in The Council Meeting – For the Birds
Disney/Pixar
During The Council meeting, as the animals try to figure out what to do about the humans encroaching on their land, there are three identical, recognizable birds who make an appearance. The stour, grey birds with oversized orange beaks that appear made their first appearance in For the Birds, the Oscar Award-winning Pixar short from 2001 that showed ahead of Monsters, Inc.
Chong told Tech Radar that one Easter egg was planned, and it was this one about For the Birds. “We have a really cool Easter egg that we purposely knew going into it,” he told the outlet. “It’s a homage to Ralph Eggleston, who passed away during the movie. He was a legendary production designer for Pixar, and he even did some good stuff for our movies. So look at the birds, and that’s in there.” Eggleston, who died in 2022, wrote and directed the short, which won him the Academy Award.
Dr. Sam’s Lab – CalArts Reference
The room number for Dr. Sam’s lab is A113, a frequent Easter egg in Pixar films. That’s because it refers to a classroom at the California Institute of the Arts where many Pixar artists attended college.
Disney/Pixar
Lab Chalkboard – Up, Lightyear, Wall-E, Cars, and Monsters, Inc.
While Mabel is in the laboratory near the end of the film, you can spot a chalkboard. On the chalkboard are mockups of different inventions the lab is working on. The first one you’re likely to spot is Idea #113 (another reference to A-113), a talking dog collar from Up, supposedly invented by Charles Muntz in that film. Another possible Up Easter egg is Idea #206, which appears by the words “What if we trained dogs to fly?” This could directly reference Muntz’s flying dogs from the movie.
Regarding the collar drawing, when asked by Screen Rant, both Chong and producer Nicole Paradis Grindle confirmed that the movie alludes to Dr. Sam inventing the collar. “I mean, the movie certainly suggests it,” Chong told the outlet. “She did the basic research, necessary,” Grindle added. “We can say that.”
Idea #52 is more than likely a reference to Cars, since the scientists have jotted down putting human consciousness into a car, while Idea #43 posits how they could transform sound into energy, much like the premise of energy in Monsters, Inc.
Another chalkboard addition is Sox, the animatronic cat from Lightyear, as Idea #92, and the third appears to be a sketch of WALL-E, as Idea #8, in addition to Idea #12, which looks like EVE. It’s possible that Idea #8 is a reference to 2008, when WALL-E was released.
Watch a video of cast members and director Chong talking about how the Pixar films are connected below:
Have you seen Hoppers yet? Let us know on social media!
For the latest Disney Parks news and info, follow WDW News Today on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.