Imagine a cinematic universe where time travel, magic, multinational tech corporations, alien discoveries and everything in existence develop a consciousness. That might sound difficult to wrap your head around, but that’s the plot of the Pixar Theory. Although Pixar Animation Studios doesn’t acknowledge it, I personally love the fan-made idea that all 31 Pixar films exist in the same universe.
The SuperCarlinBrothers YouTube channel popularized the idea in 2013. They got the story from Jon Negroni’s podcast. Of course, you can believe what you want. However, I’ve found that this theory’s persistence is a sign of our collective whimsy. So, please keep in mind that I’m explaining these absurd complexities with complete sincerity and in a heavily abridged format.
The first principle of the Pixar Theory is that magic is imbued within the world in small ways. In “Brave,” Merida, a medieval Scottish princess, gets a spell from a witch (who becomes incredibly important later) and unintentionally turns her mother into a bear.
When I interviewed Computer Art and Animation Professor Donald Gremillion, he said his favorite film is “The Incredibles” for its “retro futuristic style and making the characters feel fun and believable, and having fun with the powers… it’s just a solid story, good visuals.” This family with superpowers takes place in the 1950s and 1960s. The climax features the AI omnidroids, originally owned by the main villain, becoming self-aware.
“Toy Story” comes after this, which Visual Arts Master Instructor James Tancill said was his favorite Pixar film, especially because Pixar is designed for everyone and, “in every Pixar film, there’s a ton of characters, and they have this amazing ability… you will remember them for their brief little moments.” Inanimate objects and animals becoming sentient are common in Pixar across the “Toy Story” franchise, “Up,” “Finding Nemo,” “Ratatouille” and “Hoppers,” taking place from the 1990s to the present day. This is because of the source of all magic in the Pixar universe: human memories. This is shown in Land of the Dead in “Coco,” the subtle color coordination in “Elemental” and the physical embodiment of emotions as memories in “Inside Out.” How we remember and care for people and things has repercussions on the world.
The exodus of humans into space because of pollution in “WALL-E” is all thanks to Buy n Large, a multinational superconglomerate that Pixar created. It manufactures the batteries that power Buzz Lightyear in “Toy Story” and tries to purchase Carl Fredricksen’s house in “Up.”
“Elio” depicts the burgeoning interstellar ambitions of humanity. However, by the mid-21st century, Buy n Large dominates Earth’s governments and worsens pollution, prioritizing spaceship manufacturing for evacuations over saving the planet.
I think we’ve all at some point wondered how the vehicles in “Cars” came to life… or was that just me? In “Elio,” cloning clay is a key aspect of the plot, so the clone takes a piece of the essence of someone and replicates its appearance and sentience. After humans left Earth, the Communiverse, the galactic pacifistic alliance from “Elio,” sent cloning clay to help restore the ecosystem.
Notice that the “Cars” universe doesn’t explore the concept of birth or childhood. So, we arrive at a disturbing conclusion that the cloning clay cloned all the vehicles in “Cars,” but detected the human DNA on them and then used educated guesses to create a single lifeform.
Hundreds of years later, humans return to Earth in “WALL-E” when it’s proven that the ecosystem stabilizes. They evolve into the monsters in “Monsters, Inc.” thousands of years later. These monsters, needing electricity for their society, develop time travel to open portals (closet doors) into the past, which is how monsters collect energy from children in the form of memories.
Does it sound a little too incredulous? Well, I hope you lie awake at night thinking about why the witch in “Brave” has wooden carvings of Sully from “Monsters, Inc.” and a Pizza Planet truck from “Toy Story.” The obvious answer is that the witch is Boo from “Monsters, Inc.,” who learns to time travel in search of Sully, and is in her old age in “Brave.” It’s your choice to believe.
Pixar has changed since its founding. As its animation style has changed over the years, Computer Art and Animation Professor Geoffrey Marschall said, “It’s easier for the audience to be engrossed as the technology advances.”
On their story model, he said, “It’s a really collaborative method… they do a lot of prep work before they actually get into the process of doing the final animations.” Contrarily, Computer Art and Animation Professor Yeon Choi explained that Pixar stories follow typical archetypes and are “chasing commercialism” to keep as much of its fanbase as possible.
Choi said, “It appeals deeply to everybody’s subconsciousness,” including the theorists. New stories are vital for creativity, and repeating the same ones can be tiresome.
On the other hand, I think there’s something magical about how our conditions are constantly changing. We love categorizing and making conclusions that fit what we want to believe. I don’t think it’s cynical. Sometimes it’s for pure whimsy. Even Negroni and the Carlin brothers have discrepancies between their theories. Fandom.com has thousands of competing posts.
Professor Gremillion said, “Animation can be a whole lot of different things, not just kids movies,” and it’s the exploration of an art form. Concurrently, I think Pixar wants us to dream bigger, live in the moment and cherish this beautiful world we can share, experience and protect. I just hope Pixar will always remember the magic they started with.