Top 10 Inside Out Easter Eggs You Missed

Pixar movies tend to pay fan service to one another, with little references to older films cropping up in newer ones. While there is plenty of this in “Inside Out”, the creators also decided to pay homage to a cinematic classic from outside of the world of Disney and Pixar. In the neo-noir Roman Polanski film “Chinatown,” one character says to another “forget it Jake, it’s Chinatown”. In “Inside Out”, one of the cops says “Forget it, Jake. It’s Cloudtown” to his partner, in a scene that only serious cinephiles would get.

For Riley, there is nothing more terrifying than Jangles the Clown, a character who scared her at her third birthday party. While to most viewers, Jangles may seem like your average nightmare fodder, there is actually a sad and sweet story behind the character. Some of the Pixar animators confirmed that they created him as an homage to a fellow Pixar employee, Joe Ranft, who died tragically at the age of 45. Ranft had a clown costume of his own, and Jangles was created in his likeness.

“Inside Out” director Pete Docter inserted himself into the film in a couple of subtle ways. The first was by showing someone with the username “DocPete” on Riley’s online chat window. The second is a little more obvious, in that he actually voiced a character, albeit briefly, in the film. Docter played the version of Anger inside Riley’s dad’s mind. And like the character in the film, Docter also moved from Minnesota to California for his career. Clearly it was a good move because he ended up working on this film!

Most dedicated Pixar fans already know about A113, but for the uninitiated, here’s a quick primer. A113 was a classroom at the California Institute of the Arts where prominent filmmakers like John Lasseter, Tim Burton and Brad Bird studied. The figure has appeared in nearly every Pixar movie ever made, as well as some Disney ones, and crops up in a variety of ways. In “Inside Out”, it can be seen as graffiti on a wall behind Riley and is also the classroom number at her new school in San Francisco.

If you’ve seen “Toy Story 3”, you definitely remember Sunnyside Daycare, which is described by one character as follows: "Sunnyside is a place of ruin and despair, ruled by an evil bear who smells of strawberries!" In one of Riley’s memories, viewers are brought back to that very place when they see Riley in a park that looks strikingly like the one at Sunnyside. The one major difference is the slide itself, but aside from that the two jungle gyms are nearly identical. Was this intentional? Who knows!

When Riley and her parents order Chinese food in “Inside Out”, you may recognize the distinctive boxes that they’re eating out of. These takeout containers look an awful lot like the ones we’ve seen in other Pixar films over the years. The first time it appeared was in 1998’s “A Bug's Life” where it stood in as Manny’s "Chinese Cabinet of Metamorphosis". In “Toy Story 2,” it can be seen inside the Pizza Planet Truck. And to tie it all together, the Pizza Planet truck is actually in “Inside Out” as well! Whew...

In a callback to one of its earlier films, the Pixar creators decided to give us an update on a much loved character in “Inside Out”. Colette Tatou was a chef at Gusteau's in “Ratatouille” and in this newer film, fans got a glimpse of what she’s been up to since. At the end of “Ratatouille”, we see Colette cooking at the new restaurant with Linguini and Remy, but in “Inside Out”, we see her on the cover of a magazine in Riley’s old living room, showing that she has clearly achieved great things since we saw her last!

This character is a key figure in the Disney parks, but he actually hadn’t appeared in any feature length Disney films until now. You may recognize Figment from Epcot at Walt Disney World, where he acts as the mascot of the Imagination!" pavilion. He also appeared in some educational videos published by Disney in the ‘80s. In “Inside Out”, a portrait of Figment can be seen in one scene that takes place in Imagination Land. You have to watch for it, but this much-loved dragon finally gets his two seconds of fame.

In one scene in “Inside Out”, viewers see a stack of board games that feature some familiar characters. On top of the pile is a game called “Find Me”, whose box has a picture of a clown fish on it. Of course, that little orange and white striped fish is a fairly clear reference to “Finding Nemo”. Unfortunately for Marlin, finding his son was much more than just a game! They eventually had their happy ending, so we can all joke about it now...right?

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

The Stars From “La Luna” (2011)

The Pixar Ball

The Birds from “For the Birds” (2000)

Several of the entries on our list today are Easter Eggs that appeared inside Riley’s memories. They can be seen inside the orbs in Headquarters and Long-Term Memory and because there are so many of them, these can be really hard to spot. But the moment you recognize these memories, they’re likely to bring a tear to any Pixar fan’s eye because they come from “Up”, which features pretty much the saddest scene put into any children’s movie... ever. They’re taken from the film’s opening montage, and seeing Carl and Ellie’s relationship all over again gives us major feels.