Soul brings us lots of great easter eggs from Pixar. Here are all the ones I found.
When Joe walks through the city after getting the gig with Dorthea Williams he passes a coffee shop called the Daily Grind that was established in 1995, this is the same year that the first Pixar film, Toy Story, was released.
When Joe speaks to the three other souls on the conveyor one of them speaks Inuktitut, the language of the Inuit people. She mentions, “This beats my dream about the walrus.” This is a wonderful bit of Inuit mythology about the afterlife.
A fundamental tenet of Inuit mythology is the belief in other worlds beneath the sea, inside the Earth and in the sky where some gifted angakoks (shamans) have the power to journey in trances and in dreams, visiting places that ordinary mortals would only experience in the afterlife. – Canadian Encyclopedia.
When Joe lands in the Great Before (You Seminar, rebranding) the personality buildings are shaped like different items from other films like The Good Dinosaur, the sea anemone from Finding Nemo, the Excitable Pavilion is like the plants from Avatar.
In the You Seminar, orientation video features the Hall of Everything that holds a lot of the Soul Easter Eggs, there are a few great ones including:
- The Incredibles superhero statue and car.
- The Spirit of Adventure is Charles Muntz’s famed blimp featured in the 2009 Disney/Pixar animated feature film, Up.
- Luxo Lamp
- Dusty Crophopper and Echo or Bravo (jet) from Planes
- Finding Nemo whale.
- The Monorail
- Willy’s Butte from Cars
- Locations (some you can find in Epcot World Showcase) like Big Ben, San Francisco streetcars, pagoda, Chichen Itza (Mexico Pavilion or from Coco),
We also see a soul that finds its spark in archery like Merida from Brave.
When Joe and 22 go into Dr. Börgensson’s body of work we see a statue of the good doctor and it is shaped like the Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse Partners statue.
When 22 uses all her many voices, one of them is Carl Frederickson.
Later in the film, Joe takes 22 to the Hall of Everything and you can see a lot more. Just like the antique shop in Toy Story 4, if you pause every couple of frames you’ll see the easter eggs.
- Pizza Planet truck
- Eiffel Tower Ratatouille
- Saturn, Jupiter, and the Axiom from WALL-E
- “it’s a small world” ride
- Carousel horse (ride or Mary Poppins)
- Cinderella Castle
- Ferris Wheel from Toy Story 4
- Sid’s garbage truck from Toy Story 3
- Next to the Ferris wheel is a directional street sign with A113.
When 22 tries chemistry she makes Theobromine. A purine alkaloid derived from the cacao plant, it is found in chocolate, as well as in a number of other foods, and is a vasodilator, diuretic, and heart stimulator.
When 22 takes Joe to her box you can see all the mentors on the wall. I don’t have enough space to list them all but there are some great ones.
Also in the box is the Luxo ball. Also known as the Pixar Ball.
The ship in “the zone” is a peace ship. It brings peace to the lost souls. The front has a white dove with an olive branch, a peace sign anchor, tie-dye sails, and the liberty bell.
The lost soul making trades has a Chinese take-out container on his desk.
When Joe gets 22 a heavenly slice of pizza you can see another A113 on the wall.
In the barbershop, the barber is pictured with his daughter and she is hugging Bunny from Toy Story 4. I guess he found his kid!
The shops include names of animators including on for Sanjay’s.
The next big Pixar film is Luca and the sign on the travel agency’s window has “Visit Porto Russo” on it. There is also a Vespa that nearly takes Joe out and Luca is all about the Vespa!
We’ve got a 2319!
John Ratzenberger voices a character in every Pixar movie. In Soul he is the angry New Yorker on the subway that Joe bumps into.
Also on the subway, we see a company logo for Brang, this is the start-up company that Riley’s father from Inside Out started! Looks like the company is doing well!
So many great Soul Easter Eggs! Which one was your favorite?