Soul: All Easter Eggs & Secret Pixar References Explained
Soul follows the Pixar movie tradition of including hidden references to past films; here's every Easter egg in the Disney+ release.
Pixar's new Disney+ release Soul follows the studio's tradition of Easter eggs and in-jokes (Pixar even included a Soul reference in Onward). The folks at the heralded animation studio have managed to sneak a variety of coded references and familiar objects into their vastly-successful run of over 20 feature films, and sharp-eyed fans know to look out for an "A113" or a "Pizza Planet Truck" in the background when seeing each new release for the first time. For viewers hotly anticipating the latest effort from director and Pixar CCO Pete Docter, the film delivers on the customary gag.
Soul tells the story of Joe Gardner, a middle-aged jazz musician and enthusiast struggling in the competitive New York City gig landscape who teaches middle-school band to pay the bills. When he finally gets his big break, he takes an unexpected detour through the great beyond — or rather, the great before — after taking a tumble down an uncovered manhole.
Joe meets an unlikely companion in the "great before" — 22, a soul who is struggling to discover their "spark," which is a prerequisite for starting life on Earth. Joe becomes her mentor, and the two end up teaching each other a great deal about the meaning of life. Through the existential journey in Soul, main character Joe discovers his purpose while helping this newfound friend to discover theirs. And along the way, the audience discovers plenty of familiar Easter eggs hidden in the background.
The Pizza Planet Truck in Soul might be the most famous and instantly recognizable of the Pixar Easter Eggs. First appearing in the studio's groundbreaking feature debut Toy Story (1995), the truck originally took Woody and Buzz on a wild ride to Pizza Planet where they hoped to reunite with Andy. Since then, it's become customary to sneak some form of the truck into each subsequent release, whether upfront and plot-relevant as in Toy Story 2, or more subtly hidden like in A Bug's Life (sitting beside the mobile home), Up (driving around the city as Carl takes flight), or Wall-E (scanned by Eve as she searches Earth for the plant).
In Soul, the Pizza Planet Truck, naturally, exists in the "Hall of Everything," a place new souls are taken containing replicas of the sum total of items on Earth, which might inspire them to find their spark. It's visible to the left of the screen just as Joe and 22 enter and behold the massive collection.
The repeated appearance of "A113" in Pixar movies finds its genesis in a classroom number at CalArts, the alma mater for many of Pixar's founders and Brain Trustees including Docter. John Lasseter, Brad Bird, and Tim Burton, among others, were veterans of the classroom which hosted classes on graphic design and character animation. Whether it's Mater's license plate in Cars, a diver's camera model in Finding Nemo, or a police code in Onward, the famous code finds its way into every Pixar film and then some!
Alongside the Pizza Planet Truck, A113 makes its Soul cameo in the Hall of Everything, featured discreetly on a street sign. Unfortunately, it may prove difficult to spot for those streaming the film on a phone or laptop, as it's quite small in the frame. The Disney+ release platform was likely never meant to sustain such intricate references as Pixar has become known for.
Before they changed the industry with their feature-length computer animation, Pixar was blowing minds with their masterful storytelling in short form. Luxo, Jr. was the studio's first such short under the Pixar name, debuting in 1986. In the original short, a little lamp sets his sights on a yellow, blue, and red ball with a star on it. The same ball appears again in various Pixar movies. In Soul, this ball can be found serving as a table base in 22's secret box-hoard-residence, itself reminiscent of Wall-E's eclectic home.
The two-minute short film Luxo Jr, revolutionized the industry, showing the remarkable capabilities of computer animation. It should be no surprise then that it too often appears in Pixar productions — as well as the Pixar logo. In Soul, the Luxo, Jr. lamp is clearly visible in the Hall of Everything, as several young souls play around it while one in the foreground gets his spark from photography.
The phrase "23-19" is a running gag in 2001's Monsters, Inc. to describe a hazardous material (read: sock) breach. In Soul, the number "2319" makes an appearance on the subway that Joe and 22 take as they listen to the busker singing his heart out, inspiring 22 to bestow upon him the honor of her half-eaten bagel.
There are several other minor or indirect references in Soul. The hospital room in which Joe hides to avoid an approaching doctor is labeled "P742," which, when read aloud, sure sounds reminiscent of the eminently memorable phrase "P. Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney" that the eminently forgetful Dory repeated throughout Finding Nemo. When Joe asks 22 why she sounds the way she does in the You Seminar, she responds by demonstrating an array of vocal choices, one of which sounds gruff, male, and elderly — possiblly a reference to the lovable grump in Up, Carl Fredricksen, voiced by acting stalwart Ed Asner.
Another more obscure Pixar reference in Soul is found on one of 22's name tags. A wall in 22's box-home bears the name tags of the innumerable mentors she's had, each of distinguished inspirational quality. One of these tags reads "Joe Ranft." Ranft was a animation screenwriter and fellow CalArts alum to his Pixar contemporaries. He died tragically in a car accident at the age of 45, in the middle of production on Cars, which he co-directed. Naturally, his legacy as an inspiration was more than enough to earn him the title of former-mentor-of-22 in the latest Pixar effort.
The references become more tenuous hereafter. Ratatouille fans will clamor for mention of the rat who Joe, in cat form, encounters while securing food for his 22-inhabited body, but this is more likely a reference to the New York icon Pizza Rat than the little chef from Brad Bird's 2007 film. And there appears to be a poster reading "Brang" on a storefront, referring to the startup that draws Riley's dad to San Francisco in 2015's Inside Out. But still, there's so much signage around Soul's New York city that audiences may still be discovering obscure Easter eggs for years to come.