🚨 There are BIG spoilers ahead for Disney's Turning Red. 🚨
1. First, Mei's flute case has a sticker that reads, "This girl loves math," and the first piece of homework we see Mei work on in the movie is her Algebra I homework. She also gets an A+ on that math homework, too.
2. When we first meet Priya, she is reading Nightfall by Roberta Moyer, which is a reference to Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. Also, if you zoom in, you can see that one of the reviews on the back of the book reads, "'SPELLBINDING. You won't be able to put it down' —author's grandmother."
3. Priya and Mei's handshake that they do when they see each other in the hallway is reminiscent of Will and Jazz's memorable handshake from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
4. Behind Mei's math teacher, you can spot a poster for the 1980 winter games. At the 1980 Winter Olympics, the young US men's ice hockey team famously defeated the Soviet Union team in what would come to be known as the "Miracle on Ice."
5. Also, on the shelf behind Mei's math teacher, you can see a Carlton the Bear stuffed animal. Carlton is the mascot for the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team.
6. On the bottom of Miriam's skateboard, you can see two stickers that reference Pixar's next film Lightyear. You can spot the cat robot, Sox, that Buzz gets as well as the blue Star Command logo. This keeps with the Pixar tradition of hiding an Easter egg for the film directly following the one you're watching.
7. When Mei jumps off the trolley bus, you can see a restaurant called "Bao." Turning Red director Domee Shi notably wrote and directed the 2018 Pixar short Bao, which was also set in Toronto and followed a Chinese Canadian mom who is shocked when one of her baos comes to life. The font for the restaurant is the same as the font used for the title of the short film.
8. And, later at home, Jin, Ming, and Mei are notably making bao, aka steamed buns, which is another nod to Domee Shi's Pixar short Bao.
9. On Mei's desk, you can see a cute keychain-version of Purl from the 2018 Pixar short film Purl hanging next to Mei's Tamagotchi.
10. On a shelf behind Mei's bed, you can spot a tiny frog-like figurine. Earlier in the movie, Miriam has the same one in her locker at school.
11. On the notebook Mei is trying to hide from her mom, you can see a brown rabbit. This is a nod to the Pixar short Burrow from 2020, which featured a young rabbit trying to build the burrow of her dreams.
12. One of Mei's sketches of Devon includes him as a mermaid, and later in the movie Mei also envisions Robaire from 4*Town as a mermaid, and it causes her to turn into Red Panda Mei.
13. Ming arranges Mei's porridge breakfast to look like a smiley face, which is similar to a moment from Mulan when Mushu arranges Mulan's breakfast the same way.
14. Also, when Ming makes breakfast for Meilin, you can spot a box of Tim Hortons Timbits, classic Canadian donut holes, on the table.
15. When Mei notices she's a red panda for the first time in the bathroom mirror, it's similar to the memorable scene from Teen Wolf (1985) when Scott sees himself as a wolf for the first time in the bathroom. Both scenes feature Scott and Mei trying to stop their parents from seeing them.
16. When Ming drives Mei to school, you can see that the school has a sign that reads, "Canadian Indigenous People's History Month."
17. Also, the school is named after Lester B. Pearson, who was the prime minister of Canada in the 1960s. He is known for launching programs like universal health care, the Canada Student Loan Program, and he oversaw the creation of the iconic maple leaf flag.
18. When Mei, Miriam, Priya, and Abby see Carter Murphy-Mayhew in the hallway at school — and Mei can't stop staring — you can see that he's wearing a shirt that says, "Escápula." This is a nod to a punk rock band that was briefly featured in Coco during the battle of the bands.
19. After Mei turns into a red panda at school for the first time and runs into the bathroom, you can see that the girl, Stacy, who comes out of the stall is wearing an insulin pump. This was included after the movie's technical supervisor, Susan Fong, who has lived with type 1 diabetes since she was 4 years old, asked to include characters with diabetes in the film.
20. As Red Panda Mei is running through Toronto, you can see that whenever she's startled or scared, she puts her hands in the air. This is based on something real red pandas do when they are frightened.
21. If you look closely after Mei scares two people, you can spot some traditional Dia de los Muertos decorations, which are seen in Coco hanging outside a store.
22. Jin informs Mei that the next red moon will be on "the 25th," and that's when she can banish the red panda. Turning Red is Pixar's 25th animated feature film, with the first being Toy Story from 1995.
23. When Mei goes back to her room and all of her stuff has been taken out, you can spot claw and paw marks on the walls from her earlier Red Panda Mei meltdown. In a later scene, you can see more claw and paw marks on the floor.
24. When Miriam, Abby, and Priya first discover that Mei's a red panda, Abby's reaction is seemingly a nod to the iconic fluffy line from Despicable Me.
25. When Meilin gives her presentation about why she should be allowed to go see 4*Town in concert, you can see she's wearing Ming's signature blazer from the movie. I'm also obsessed with how Mei is relating 4*Town to classical musicians like Mozart.
26. During the game of dodgeball, Mei's math/gym teacher tells the students to "be water," which is likely a nod to the famous Bruce Lee quotes about water.
27. On one of the bathroom stall doors, you can see a Nemo from Finding Nemo sticker right next to Abby's head.
28. Throughout the movie, Tyler wears a purple jersey with the number 15 on it. This is likely a nod to Vince Carter, who played for the Toronto Raptors from 1998 to 2004 and wore #15.
29. You can spot several iconic Toronto landmarks throughout Turning Red, but one of the biggest is CN Tower, which is beautifully featured when Red Panda Mei, Miriam, Abby, and Priya celebrate getting enough money for the 4*Town tickets while on Tyler's roof.
30. If you look closely, at Tyler's party you can spot the iconic Luxo Ball, which made its first appearance in Toy Story and has appeared in several other Pixar films.
31. 4*Town's concert in Toronto is being held at SkyDome, which is now called Rogers Centre. The venue was called SkyDome until 2005.
32. Also, at the end of the movie, a blue jay lands on a fence near the destroyed SkyDome, which is a nod to the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team, whose home stadium is the Rogers Centre.
33. When Mei's family spots the fours in the sky for the 4*Town concert, her grandmother mentions how it's the worst number. In Chinese numerology, four is considered an unlucky number because of the way it's pronounced. When pronouncing "four" and "death," they only differ in tone.
34. You'll notice that Ming, Wu, and Mei's aunties all wear green, and it's very noticeable at the beginning of Mei's ritual. In color theory, green is directly across from red, which makes them complementary. Even though they banish their red pandas, aka the color red, it's still complementary to them.
35. In fact, Miriam, Priya, and Abby all wear complementary colors to each other, which represents their incredible friendship. Miriam's signature green and Mei's red are complementary colors, while Abby's iconic purple and Priya's yellow are also complementary since they are across from each other on a color wheel.
36. When Mei is running to the 4*Town concert, you can see her zoom past the iconic Pizza Planet truck, which first appeared in Toy Story and has been hidden in every Pixar movie since.
37. The animation style for Turning Red is heavily influenced by anime. When Mei embraces her red panda powers and leaps into the air, it's similar to Sailor Moon and other anime characters.
38. The outfits 4*Town wears at their concert are similar to the outfits the Backstreet Boys wore in their "I Want It That Way" music video from 1999.
39. At the beginning of the 4*Town concert, you can spot Devon in the crowd taking a picture of the band with a disposable camera.
40. When Jin is quickly drawing a chalk circle around Ming and Mei in their red panda forms, you can see the chalker features "A113." This is a nod to the CalArts animation classroom where many Pixar animators studied.
41. And finally, the 4*Town tickets that are featured in the Turning Red closing credits feature "A113" as a seat number. A113 is hidden throughout Pixar and Disney movies, and has even appeared in some Marvel movies and shows, like WandaVision, too.
