The Easter Eggs of "Hoppers"

Now that Pixar’s Hoppers is available on digital and physical media releases, as well as on Disney+, we have the great use of…the pause button. As such, like any other Pixar movie there are plenty of fun easter eggs and references that have made their way into the film to spot. While I’ll happily point you to where to find them, I won’t post any direct screengrabs here - except for one that really needs to be talked about. Let’s dive in! 

Mabel’s Bedroom

As is the norm with a long shot in the world of Pixar filmmaking, Mabel’s bedroom provides us a with a number of treasures to find. Including a piece of art sketched by the voice of Mabel herself, Piper Curda. 

The windowsill is where we want to direct our attention to in this moment though, as it features both the past and the future. 

First, this is Director Daniel Chong’s first film at Pixar Animation Studios, but far from his first project. Chong is the creator of Cartoon Network’s We Bare Bears. The series ran for four seasons from 2015-2019 and followed three bear brothers - Grizz, Panda, and Ice Bear, as they attempt to integrate themselves into the human world in the San Francisco Bay Area. 

On Mabel’s windowsill, you will a small statue or figurine of three bears - a grizzly, polar, and panda bear, stacked on top of each other, calling back to Chong’s series. 

Pixar long has a record of leaving something (or someone) from their next film hidden in plain sight. Think back to Monsters, Inc. when Boo handed Sulley a toy that looked suspiciously like Nemo, or in Finding Nemo what a patient was waiting at the dentist’s office reading a Mr. Incredible comic book. That idea. On the other side of the window sill, we see what appears to be a blue hippo head. 

Now that we are in full swing for all things Toy Story 5, we know this to be Atlas - the hippo-shaped GPS toy from the upcoming film that will be voiced by Craig Robinson. 

The Birds

Easily the best easter egg in the movie for this writer is also a tribute to one of Pixar’s most influential artists who is no longer with us. 

As the animal councils come together, there are three birds that look remarkably like those featured on the telephone wires in the Pixar short, For The Birds. That short was helmed by the legendary production designer, Ralph Eggleston. Eggleston passed away in August of 2022 after battling pancreatic cancer. 

The last bit of art he did at the studio, according to Hoppers director Daniel Chong, was early development on Hoppers. 

So, they snuck in the birds from his shirt film, which needed to be remodeled and brought up to current technology, but Chong confirms that those characters are there with the intention of paying tribute to Eggleston.

Mabel’s Phone Case

Mabel’s room isn’t the only place to find a number of easter eggs. Her phone also has some decorative stickers in marketing materials for the movie. But when we see her phone clearly, handing it to George to make messages via emojis - some of the stickers that we see in posters (like the one pictured above) are not present. However, they are still fun to point out.

Appropriately enough given her character’s fondness of the environment and animals, we see a Wilderness Explorers sticker, calling back to the scout group from Up. 

Also on the phone, a sticker featuring one of the aliens from Pizza Planet in the Toy Story films.

Door to Door

As Mabel is going door-to-door to get everyone to sign her petition to save the glade, we see her fondness for animals (and the fondness animals have for her) throughout. There's one door where she has to get the attention of the resident inside by popping her head through the doggy door.

Some might recognize that puppy that rushes the door as one of the quintet of canines from the "Puppies" episode of the series, Dug Days.

A Bug's Afterlife

There are a number of framed insects on the wall in Dr. Sam's office, and while some might immediately think they are from A Bug's Life, they are actually some of the bugs that are featured in The Good Dinosaur.

Cats and Dogs

As Mayor Jerry is scrolling through his reviews in the morning, he comes across the article - "17 Mayors We're Obsessed With". While he holds the #1 spot, the news feed on the side of the page features thumbnails for articles, one of which is a cat and another is a dog.

The cat is none other than Mr. Mittens from Soul, while the dog is one of the many canines featured in Up.

Remember the Tartans

Just after Mayor Jerry gets ready for the day and gets off his computer, he heads out to his car. On the lawn of his home, we see a "Re-Elect Jerry" sign. As the camera pans, just above the sign we see a woman whom Jerry greets pushing a stroller. Droped over the stroller, presumably keeping the baby out of the sun, is a blanket that features the custom Tartan pattern for DunBroch from Brave.

Behind the Scenes

There is a lot of real Beaver science that went into the making of Hoppers. For this, Dr. Emily Fairfax was brought on to the film as to help keep things as accurate as possible for the the movie. So, it comes as no surprise that the character of Dr. Sam's full name is Dr. Samantha E Fairfax as tribute to the real doctor who helped bring beavers to life in the movie.

Mother? 

A fun moment as Mabel hops into her beaver body sees her amongst the animals. There are plenty of fun moments, including a send-up of a favorite Vine (“And they were roommates!”) and other fun bits. One shot also features a skunk palling around with a rabbit - calling back to a film from a different studio - Walt Disney Animation Studios - and Bambi. Referencing Thumper and Flower. It’s a fun little bit. But should be left at just that, because there is plenty of other fodder for connecting movies with fan theories still ahead. 

The Usual Suspects

Pixar Animation Studios has a list of things that are hidden throughout each and every one of their films. We already addressed the next project (Toy Story 5) being hidden, with Atlas appearing in Mabel’s room. However, there are still a few that we need to point out. 

My personal favorite is “A-113.” This number, a reference to a classroom at CalArts where many early Pixar animators studied that has adapted into a life of its own, being hidden (or a significant plot point like in WALL-E) throughout each Pixar film. In fun full circle moment, A-113 returns back to a college campus of sorts, being the room number where one can find Dr. Sam and her office. 

You can also find it on a poster in Mabel’s room, and another onslaught of easter eggs and references that we’ll talk about soon. 

The Pixar Ball - the yellow ball with the blue stripe and red star (though it appears in different ways throughout the movies) also makes an appearance in Hoppers, on a shelf underneath the turtle tank that Mabel rescues the critter from, before setting off and gathering more animals to save. The desk lamp from Luxo, Jr. that usually goes hand-in-hand with the ball in the Pixar Animation Studios logo can also be seen next to the tank.

That rescue attempt leads to a chase scene early on in the film, with a sprint past a display case that not only features a train that appeared at Sunnyside Daycare in Toy Story 3, but also the iconic Pizza Planet Truck. 

We’re Crushin’ It

The big deal with the particular turtle that Mabel is rescuing, is that it is named Crush. An obvious call back to Finding Nemo and one of the favorite characters from that film. While fans are trying to connect dots that may or may not exist, maybe Finding Nemo exists in their world as a movie, and now the school kids are naming their turtle after it. It’s a stretch, but Mabel has a Toy Story sticker on her phone. Does Pizza Planet exist here, or maybe she’s just seen the movie in their world too? This moment happens so early on in the film, it can be brushed off. But there is one moment, only a few frames in length, that invites not just a book of fan theories to be made, but entire volumes. 

The Blackboard

Okay, let’s talk about this ridiculous blackboard. 

Sidebar: I’m not the biggest supporter for fan theories. The Pixar Theory - a widely known and admittedly well thought out idea that each of the Pixar Animation Studios films is connected to one another in a single universe and timeline - is largely built upon a series of Easter Eggs, homages, and reused digital assets. 

While I (and I cannot stress this enough) fully believe this one blackboard moment to be a gag -  nothing more than a one-off joke that serves as fan service to Pixar’s biggest devotees - there are plenty of folks out there who I’m sure will take this as canon, using it to tie everything together, simply because there is so much here. 

In one simple shot (a shot that caused an audible shriek of joy amongst the full audience at a D23 Screening I attended) we get references to Up, WALL-E, Cars, Monsters, Inc. and Lightyear. Not to mention one of this film’s A-113 appearances in the context of “IDEA #113.” 

Where this is especially problematic for all those fan theories is that in the context of the film, these are the projects that Dr. Sam is going to work on now that the Hoppers program has ended - implying that she may be the root cause of tech found in those movies. 

On the blackboard we see a sketches surrounded by notes for: 

• Idea #8 - a sketch of a robot that looks like WALL-E from WALL-E, even with a note underneath, “Waste Allocation Load Lifter” - which we know from the film is what his name stands for with the “E” meaning “Earth Class.”
• Idea #92 - A robot feline that looks like Sox from Lightyear, with a note that says “Emotional Support Animal,” and “Deliberately Make it More Robot Like”
• Idea #113 - Dead center and capturing the eyes of everyone upon first viewing is the sketches for a talking dog collar - the same one that gave Dug a voice in Up. 
• Idea #206 - A sketch of a dog in an airplane, asking “What if we trained dogs to fly? Too far? Too Far.” Dogs flying aircraft also happened in Up. 
• Idea #52 - Perhaps the darkest of the ideas, a sketch of a human brain with an arrow pointing at a car. Implying the idea of how the cars of Cars came to be. 
• Idea #12 - “Robot with Polishing tool” and a note “To scrub the floor clean and polish it shiny.” Attached to a sketch that looks remarkably like M-O, also from WALL-E. 
• Idea #43 - “What if we can harness energy through vocalization?” With a sketch showing a person screaming and an arrow pointing to a power cell, and another arrow to a light bulb. Another note reads, “Pressurized canister?” This is exactly how the scream (and later, Laugh) power works in Monsters, Inc. 

Many fans are already taking this as official confirmation that The Pixar Theory is true, though I won’t believe it myself until I see at least four different directors - namely Andrew Stanton (WALL-E), John Lasseter (Cars), Angus MacLane (Lightyear), and Pete Docter (Up, Monsters, Inc.) come forward and say “Yes, this is canon.” Spoiler: This probably won’t happen considering half the names I just listed are no longer with the studio. 

You can see all these easter eggs and references in Pixar’s Hoppers, now streaming on Disney+.