30+ Easter Eggs From "Turning Red",That You Might Have Missed
Turning Red joins the ranks of Disney and Pixar’s incredible lineup of films that share a story that’s not aligned with the status quo of whiteness. They’ve been delivering stories featuring BIPOC as main characters, not token friends or side characters, and it’s really about freaking time.
Besides the shift towards more inclusivity in race, Disney and Pixar have developed meaningful and touching stories with the overreaching theme of generational trauma, overcoming those struggles, and healing within families. It’s almost as if the writers and animators are Gen X or older Millennials who have gone through these exact sorts of experiences and want to grow and heal themselves, too.
(It’s almost 100% guaranteed that’s what it is since we’re all grown up and well established in our careers now. No matter how much Boomers and media like to pretend Millennials are still barely out of high school.)
Although Pixar has taken a noticeable shift in the types of stories they’re creating, one thing has and will remain a constant: Easter Eggs. The creators at Pixar seem to love putting Easter Eggs in all their movies, and Turning Red is no exception.
Things like the Pizza Planet Truck from Toy Story, the Luxo Ball, and even the sneaky addition of A113 have graced almost every single movie created by the animation studio. Those are definitely found in Turning Red, along with many other Easter Eggs that we’ve noticed and collected here to share with you.
Keep scrolling to see what we found!
1. Ming makes Mei a breakfast with a smiley-face, just like Mushu made for Mulan.
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2. Also, there's a box of Tim Hortons Timbits, Canadian donut holes, on the table
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3. When Mei is dropped off at school, you can see that the school has a sign that reads, "Canadian Indigenous People's History Month."
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4. You can see a skeleton that is the same shape as Kevin from "Up" in the science classroom
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5. While Mei is walking through the streets, you can see a shop sign for Bao dumplings, an obvious nod to the short film
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6. When Mei's besties find out about Mei's Red Panda, Abby's reaction is very similar to the iconic line from "Despicable Me"
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7. The 4*Town singers wore all white, just like The Backstreet Boys did
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8. Mei's doodle and subsequent daydream of Devon as a mermaid looks a lot like Luca the sea monster
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9. And later in the movie Mei imagines Robaire from 4*Town as a mermaid
(This ends up causing Mei into her Red Panda)
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10. Ming's license plate "Syst3ms" is a special "thank you" Easter Egg
This is to honor the Systems team's hard work that allowed filmmakers to work from home during the early part of the pandemic.
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11. The blue jay featured near the end of the film is a double-whammy
Not only is it a nod to the Toronto Blue Jays, but this birdie can also be found in an episode of Pixar's Dug Days on Disney+.
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12. Nemo is found on a sticker on the door to a bathroom stall in the girls bathroom at school
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13. The Rainbow Unicorn sticker is very similar to the Unicorn from Inside Out.
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14. One of Mei's best friends, Priya, is introduced reading "Nightfall"
Looking at the cover, it's an obvious play on the Twilight saga. The author's name, Roberta Moyer, is also similar to the original Twilight author Stephanie Meyer.
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15. When Mei and her friends see Carter Murphy-Mayhew in the hallway at school, he's wearing a shirt that says, "Escápula"
This is a reference to the punk rock band that was briefly featured in Coco during the battle of the bands.
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16. Papel picado flags are hung from buildings in the city, a another reference to the film Coco
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17. Another of Mei's best friends, Miriam, has Buzz Lightyear's emblem and Sox the cat stickers on her skateboard
Sox is Buzz Lightyear's robotic cat companion in Disney's upcoming Lightyear movie.
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18. There are Chinese Water Dragons graffitied on the wall
Just like Sisu from Raya and the Last Dragon.
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19. The Pixar Ball, aka the Luxo Ball, can be seen in the pool at Tyler’s house party.
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20. As Mei embraces her Red Panda powers, she leaps into the air in front of the red moon, in similar fashion to Sailor Moon
Turning Red was heavily influenced by different anime styles.
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21. Mei runs by the famous Pizza Planet Truck, originally featured in Toy Story, on her way to the 4*Town concert
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22. When Mei's family sees the fours illuminated in the sky for the 4*Town concert, her grandmother comments on how it's the worst number.
In Chinese numerology, four is considered an unlucky number because "four" and "death" are pronounced the same.
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23. A student at Mei's school can be seen wearing a shirt with a monster from Monsters, Inc on it
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24. A113, a reference to the CalArts animation classroom where many Pixar animators studied is referenced twice
We first see "A113" on the arena chalker when Jin is rushing to draw a chalk circle around Ming and Mei in their red panda forms.
25. And again in the credits on the 4*Town tickets that are featured
26. The red panda statutes at her family's temple are named Bart and Lisa, a nod to The Simpsons.
27. When Red Panda Mei is startled, she puts her hands in the air
This is based on what real red pandas do when they are frightened.
28. There's a "Burrow" sticker on the cover of Mei's notebook
A nod to 2020s animated short by director Madeline Sharafian.
29. You can see Purl from the Pixar short hanging from Mei's desk as she sketches her crush
30. Tyler wears a purple jersey with the number 15 on it throughout the movie
This is likely in reference to Vince Carter, who wore #15 while playing for the Toronto Raptors from 1998 to 2004.
31. The school is named after Lester B. Pearson
Lester B. Pearson was the prime minister of Canada in the 1960s. He is known for overseeing the creation of the iconic maple leaf flag and launching programs like universal health care, and the Canada Student Loan Program.
Did you catch any other Easter eggs or cool details that we might have missed while watching Turning Red? Maybe you have a better theory for any of the ones we mentioned above?
Let us know in the comments section below! And share this with your fellow Disney/Pixar fans, maybe someone will have an Easter Egg for Turning Red that we all missed.
