1. Toy Story (1995):
When Buzz believes he's Mrs. Nesbitt and hosts a tea party, the teapot he's using is modeled after the Utah Teapot, one of the first digitally-rendered images ever created way back in the 1970s at the University of Utah. Toy Story is the first feature-length film made using computer graphics, hence the significance of this reference.
2. A Bug's Life (1998)
Manny is a praying mantis who's married to a butterfly named Gypsy. The reason he's not married to another praying mantis is because female mantises have a reputation for decapitating and even eating the males with which they mate — meaning if Manny had married another mantis, he wouldn't have survived his wedding night.
3. Toy Story 2 (1999)
When Al, of Al's Toy Barn, ends his phone call with the Japanese toy collector, he says "Don't touch my mustache." What he's trying (and failing) to say is "do itashimashite," which translates to "you're welcome."
4. Monsters Inc. (2001)
Blink and you'll miss the phone number for Pixar's animation studios displayed on the scare simulator control panel — but keep in mind, this movie was released in 2001 and phone numbers can change.
5. Finding Nemo (2003)
Bruce the shark is reduced to tears when Marlin starts talking about Nemo, claiming he never even knew his own father. It's sad, but it's also a shark joke — after mating, the male sharks leave and female sharks will actively avoid males until they give birth. So technically, no shark knows their father.
6. The Incredibles (2004)
We're never explicitly told the exact year in which The Incredibles is set. We are told, however, that Elastigirl was last spotted on November 13th, 1955, and that the events of the film take place 15 years after that. We can determine, therefore, that The Incredibles takes place in 1970.
7. Cars (2006)
When Mack and Lightning McQueen are driving to California, they pass the "Top Down Truckstop," which advertises "Convertible Waitresses" — the car version of topless waitresses... get it?
8. Ratatouille (2007)
The ruthless and finicky food critic Anton Ego states, "I don’t 'like' food, I love it. If I don’t love it, I don’t swallow" — this is especially significant because he's a little fuller in the face at the end of the movie than he was at the beginning, thus proving he's a man of his word and that the food has improved!
9. WALL-E (2008)
Many of the former Axiom captains served for over 100 years, which means life expectancy has actually increased despite everyone's sedentary lifestyles and the overwhelming destruction of planet Earth.
10. Up (2009)
The villain in Up is named Charles Muntz. Not-so-coincidentally, a film producer by the name of Charles Mintz is best known for stripping Walt Disney of the ownership rights of his very first successful creation, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, which ultimately drove Disney to create his very own animation studio.
11. Toy Story 3 (2010)
When Buzz flips open his wrist communicator, he has Andy's phone number written on the plain plastic. This is a callback to the first Toy Story when, in his existential sadness after realizing he's actually just a toy, he peels off the sticker that's supposed to be there.
12. Cars 2 (2011)
In Cars 2, the pub they visit has a familiar-looking tapestry hanging on the wall. It depicts the DunBroch family from Brave, but reimagined as cars. There's an almost identical-looking tapestry in Brave (albeit with humans, not cars). Brave was released a year after Cars 2.
13. Brave (2012)
This detail is extremely small, but it says a lot about Merida's focus and steady hand. When she lets fly her third arrow in the archery competition, the feather leaves a small scratch on her cheek.
14. Monsters University (2013)
In Monsters University, Randall has an inspirational poster above his bed that says, "Winds of Change. Shhh. Do you hear that?" In Monsters Inc., the events of which are set after the events of Monsters University, Randall quotes this poster when he says, "Do you hear that? It's the winds of change."
15. Inside Out (2015)
In Inside Out, Riley is disgusted by broccoli. There's one scene in particular where she's served pizza with broccoli on it, which she obviously hates. But Pixar was concerned about how this detail would be received by an international audience, so in the Japanese release, the broccoli was changed to bell peppers because bell peppers are more unpopular among Japanese children.
16. The Good Dinosaur (2015)
When Arlo falls into the water, you can spot Hank from Finding Dory camouflaging himself in the background. Finding Dory wasn't released until the year after The Good Dinosaur.
17. Finding Dory (2016)
In the post-credits scene, the Tank Gang has made it to California after floating across the entire Pacific Ocean in plastic bags that are now coated in algae. The only bag that's not coated in Algae is Jacques'. This is because he's a skunk cleaner shrimp, a species of shrimp that have a reputation for, well, cleaning.
18. Cars 3 (2017)
You probably missed the infamous Pizza Planet truck competing in the demolition derby. Of course, like every other car in the movie, this Pizza Planet truck is alive.
19. Coco (2017)
Throughout the majority of Coco, BEFORE being reunited with his family, the Riveras, Héctor is barefoot. At the end of the movie, after being reunited with his family, he's wearing shoes. This is significant because shoemaking is the Rivera's family business, and Miguel claims that shoes are what brought the family together.
20. The Incredibles 2 (2018)
Notice the the rip in the shoulder of Elastigirl's newest suit. This detail is significant because this suit was designed by Devtech, NOT Edna Mode. This is proof that Edna's costume designs actually are unparalleled.
21. Toy Story 4 (2019)
Perhaps you were wondering where they hid the Pizza Planet truck — it is, after all, a Toy Story movie. Well WONDER NO MORE: The truck is tattooed on the back of this carnie's leg.
