THE PIXAR THEORY

July 12, 2013 6:47 AM

Every Pixar movie is connected. I explain how, and possibly why. Several months ago, I watched a fun-filled video on Cracked.com that introduced the idea (at least to me) that all of the Pixar movies actually exist within the same universe. Since then, I’ve obsessed over this concept, working to complete what I call “The Pixar Theory,” a working narrative that ties all of the Pixar movies into one cohesive timeline with a main theme.
posted by Blasdelb (50 comments total)

...Noah’s Ark if you want to carry on the Biblical theme where Wall-E is basically Robot Jesus and his love interest is aptly named Eve

The classic biblical tale of Jesus and Eve building Noah's Ark.

Pretty neat theory, though.
posted by DU at 6:56 AM on July 12, 2013 [32 favorites]

John Ratzenberger dreamt the whole thing.
posted by Segundus at 6:56 AM on July 12, 2013 [7 favorites]

Yes, Boo is the witch from Brave. She figures out how to travel in time to find Sully, and goes back to the source: The will-of-the-wisps. They are what started everything, and as a witch, she cultivates this magic in an attempt to find Sully by creating doors going backwards and forwards in time.

How do we know? In Brave, you can briefly see a drawing in the workshop. It’s Sully.

o.O

*mind blown*
posted by zarq at 7:01 AM on July 12, 2013 [10 favorites]

And how does he kill all of the supers? He creates the omnidroid, an A.I. “killbot” that learns the moves of every super-human and adapts. The omnidroid eventually turns on Syndrome, which leads us to believe that he was being manipulated by machines the entire time in order to wipe out the biggest threats to robot dominance, super-powered humans. The movie even shows clips of the superheroes with capes being done in by inanimate objects, such as plane turbines…accidentally.

I love this stuff. I spent my entire 4 years in college turning in assignments like this.
posted by bleep at 7:03 AM on July 12, 2013 [6 favorites]

The biggest clue Pixar planted in support of this theory is Elastigirl. Just look at how far she can stretch!
posted by Pistache at 7:06 AM on July 12, 2013 [17 favorites]

Related? Modest Debut of Atlas May Foreshadow Age of ‘Robo Sapiens’.
posted by emjaybee at 7:12 AM on July 12, 2013 [2 favorites]

I love this stuff! Has anyone made a list of all of these alternate-world theories of movies' and characters' connections to each other?

I have a new one: John Cusack's spook character in The Numbers Station is actually an alternate-timeline version of his character in Grosse Pointe Blank, showing what would've happened if Martin Blank had remained an assassin for the government, never going into business for himself as a hitman or returning for his 10-year high-school reunion.
posted by limeonaire at 7:16 AM on July 12, 2013 [2 favorites]

There was some giant colossal one awhile back that tied together a vast, vast web of shows based on...shared props, references, and that sort of thing. I'm going to try to find it now, but someone here might already know what I'm talking about.
posted by jquinby at 7:18 AM on July 12, 2013

Saw Pacific Rim last night and now there's this theory today.

FRIDAY IS A GOLDEN AGE.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:19 AM on July 12, 2013 [5 favorites]

There was some giant colossal one awhile back that tied together a vast, vast web of shows based on...shared props, references, and that sort of thing.

Tommy Westphall Universe Hypothesis?
posted by bleep at 7:20 AM on July 12, 2013 [3 favorites]

That's the one! My google-fu was limp and ineffective.
posted by jquinby at 7:23 AM on July 12, 2013 [1 favorite]

Every Pixar movie is connected exactly the same as all the other Pixar movies.
posted by ZipRibbons at 7:24 AM on July 12, 2013 [3 favorites]

I love this kind of stuff. And, honestly, Pixar is exactly the kind of place (populated by exactly the kind of people) who would do this sort of breadcrumb-dropping across their productions, just to fuck with fans and engender just this sort of geekiness.

Along those lines, my personal dream has been to own a movie/tv production house and have Dwight Schultz on retainer, just so I can randomly drop background appearances of a "Reg" character throughout the shows we make.
posted by Thorzdad at 7:26 AM on July 12, 2013 [1 favorite]

Every word in this sentence is connected by being in this sentence, written by the same person.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 7:26 AM on July 12, 2013 [3 favorites]

The Pixar Theory. Yes, it all makes sense now. My sources tell me that the script for Sharknado was actually stolen from Pixar by North Korean hackers colluding with the NSA. The plot fits somewhere between Finding Nemo and Cars. Yes, the sharks have learned to control the weather. We're through the looking glass here, people.
posted by rocketpup at 7:29 AM on July 12, 2013 [3 favorites]

Don't you bring Sharknado into this.
posted by mcstayinskool at 7:30 AM on July 12, 2013 [5 favorites]

I have a new one: John Cusack's spook character in The Numbers Station is actually an alternate-timeline version of his character in Grosse Pointe Blank, showing what would've happened if Martin Blank had remained an assassin for the government, never going into business for himself as a hitman or returning for his 10-year high-school reunion.

I think there needs to be some way to connect John Cusack's character in 80s nostalgia flick Hot Tub Time Machine and Martin Blank, but I'm still trying to figure out how to do it.
posted by Elementary Penguin at 7:31 AM on July 12, 2013 [2 favorites]

Martin Blank could be alternative universe Lane Meyer. I shudder to think what Martin Blank would have done to the kid who wanted his $2.
posted by mcstayinskool at 7:35 AM on July 12, 2013 [7 favorites]

I will note here that Martin Blank doesn't "sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career. [He doesn't] sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed."

Sounds like Lloyd got his wish to me.
posted by bonehead at 7:40 AM on July 12, 2013 [5 favorites]

Everyone knows that Cars takes place in the same universe as Maximum Overdrive, a few years later.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:51 AM on July 12, 2013 [3 favorites]

So how does River Song fit in?
posted by Devonian at 7:55 AM on July 12, 2013 [1 favorite]

Awkwardly.
posted by Elementary Penguin at 7:56 AM on July 12, 2013 [5 favorites]

This was very very enjoyable. It's amazing how many people in the comment section of the blog getting really upset with the potential holes in the theory. It's just a bit of great fun. People need to relax.
posted by dogbusonline at 8:12 AM on July 12, 2013 [1 favorite]

I saw a short in French once that I've never been able to find again that conclusively demonstrated that Quentin Tarantino has in fact only made one movie, that all his characters are continuing one narrative through all his films.
posted by digitalprimate at 8:13 AM on July 12, 2013 [1 favorite]

This theory isn't complete unless it includes Wreck-It Ralph.
posted by straight at 8:20 AM on July 12, 2013 [1 favorite]

So how does River Song fit in?

Any place you'd like, sweetie.
posted by Celsius1414 at 8:22 AM on July 12, 2013 [3 favorites]

...which of course brings us to the reverse vampires.
posted by Bromius at 8:24 AM on July 12, 2013 [1 favorite]

AAAH! REVERSE VAMPIRES!
posted by Harvey Jerkwater at 8:26 AM on July 12, 2013 [1 favorite]

I saw a short in French once that I've never been able to find again that conclusively demonstrated that Quentin Tarantino has in fact only made one movie, that all his characters are continuing one narrative through all his films.

Link here, discussed here.
posted by phaedon at 8:31 AM on July 12, 2013 [3 favorites]

How does this fit into DadHacker's theory about how the Cars came to be?
posted by Happy Dave at 8:34 AM on July 12, 2013

Holy shit I just read it and it all makes sense now wow
posted by Happy Dave at 8:40 AM on July 12, 2013

This theory isn't complete unless it includes Wreck-It Ralph.

It would be pretty easy to just sort of say that Wreck-It Ralph was happening in an arcade at some point during any of the modern-day stuff, but it wouldn't strictly be necessary, since Wreck-It Ralph wasn't a Pixar movie.
posted by FAMOUS MONSTER at 8:52 AM on July 12, 2013 [1 favorite]

If you wanted, Wreck-It Ralph was all about AI becoming self-aware, wanting more for themselves, etc.
posted by bleep at 9:05 AM on July 12, 2013 [1 favorite]

I don't know that they are all connected by story, but I can tell you for a fact -- I heard it from Andrew Stanton himself -- that they are connected by place. Whenever possible, Pixar sets scenes in its movies in the mile square around the Pixar campus. Most of Toy Story takes place there, it's where Wall-E is set when he's on earth, it's where Mr. Impossible rescues the cat.

Also, obviously, that goddamn pizza truck shows up everywhere.
posted by Bunny Ultramod at 9:10 AM on July 12, 2013 [6 favorites]

As I was reading this, iTunes started playing the music from "Pee Wee's Big Adventure". Mutant circus music provided pretty much exactly the right background for reading this crazy feat of retconning.
posted by egypturnash at 9:26 AM on July 12, 2013 [3 favorites]

How does the NSA fit in?
posted by Eideteker at 10:10 AM on July 12, 2013

Robot Jesus made me laugh uncontrollably in public this afternoon. Thank you.
posted by iamkimiam at 10:32 AM on July 12, 2013

That was an emotional roller coaster! I rocketed between rolling my eyes and audibly gasping in sudden credulity throughout the whole thing. I love it. I Want To Believe that Brad Bird is children's films' Thomas Pynchon.
posted by Mooseli at 10:53 AM on July 12, 2013

Wow. Bravo! This is epic stuff.

As a parent of a child obsessed with one movie at a time (currently, thankfully, it is Shrek 1 through 4) I get to watch the same thing over and over and OVER again, until I feel like hallucinations are beginning to set in. You need to be in that fugue state to come up with something like this... Hats off to this guy.
posted by RedOrGreen at 11:35 AM on July 12, 2013

Hmmm. I just think it's cool they have the pizza truck in all the movies.
posted by stltony at 12:09 PM on July 12, 2013

Bong rips for everyone!
posted by Ogre Lawless at 12:37 PM on July 12, 2013

How does the NSA fit in?

Any place they'd like, sweetie.
posted by Celsius1414 at 1:29 PM on July 12, 2013

My daughter, who's 11, told me the other day her idea for a sequel to Monster's Inc. It's about a girl in college who everyone considers a complete freak, mostly due to her insistence that monsters in closets are real, a fact that she backs up with her story about her adventures with a pair of said monsters.

So everyone thinks she's a weirdo, until she meets another college girl who believes her, and tells her OWN story about how her toys are alive...

The story goes on, but needless to say, my mind? Blown.
posted by nushustu at 4:37 PM on July 12, 2013 [13 favorites]

"There was some giant colossal one awhile back that tied together a vast, vast web of shows based on...shared props, references, and that sort of thing. I'm going to try to find it now, but someone here might already know what I'm talking about."

Is it Universal Studios? (the connections are coming from inside reality, people)
posted by iamkimiam at 5:41 PM on July 12, 2013

since Wreck-It Ralph wasn't a Pixar movie.

Yes it was.
posted by straight at 11:01 PM on July 12, 2013 [1 favorite]

I love conspiracy theories. This one is...well, poorly executed. Is it satire?
posted by obiwanwasabi at 3:23 AM on July 13, 2013

It has one good, non-obvious idea, which is connecting Monsters Inc. and Brave via the doors. For the rest, you're better off working out your own version for yourself.
posted by straight at 10:31 AM on July 13, 2013

In my version the doors also lead to an ad agency in Manhattan in 1968.
posted by iamkimiam at 12:38 PM on July 13, 2013

It does have one key feature of a good conspiracy theory - every attempt to refute it only makes his thesis stronger.

It's cute, and I enjoyed about half of the rampant theorising, but a millennia-spanning timeline undermined it, for me. If he'd just stuck with Boo as the witch from Brave, it would have been an awesome theory, but he overreached.

Which, again, makes for a good conspiracy theory.
posted by gadge emeritus at 7:25 PM on July 13, 2013

The new Dino movie is made possible by Boo sending a door back in time by using another door, which captures the meteor that destroyed the dinos and sends it to the 1950's, and we have an explanation for how "The Iron Giant" fits into the whole picture.

We'll probably find out that Iceland plays a part in the Dino movie because that is where Iron Giant ended up.

You heard it here first.
posted by Monkey0nCrack at 10:18 AM on July 14, 2013