Disney and Pixar have produced countless masterpieces over the years. But it’s easy to get distracted by the cute jokes and beautiful animations, and miss the many subtle messages and symbols hidden in these movies. Once you discover them though, it adds a whole new layer to your favorite animated classics.
Freud is everywhere in Alice In Wonderland
Alice In Wonderland is one of he most complex and layered animated movies ever produced, which makes it one of those movies you can watch over and over and still discover something new. One thing you might not know is how the entire film is filled with Freudian symbols.
For example, doors symbolize thresholds to new life stages, and caterpillars symbolize regret. Once you take a closer look at Alice In Wonderland, you realize Alice’s journey is the one we all go through during childhood and adolescence.
The main message of the movie, but in latin
Beast in Beauty And The Beast is trapped in his monster body due to his own actions. He was a cruel prince, and paid the consequences. But, through his relationship with Belle, he learns to better his ways, conquer his inner demons, and thereby find true happiness.
“He conquers who conquers himself” is the main message of the movie, and that is spelled out to us right in the beginning of the movie. But since it’s in latin, “vincit qui se vincit”, it’s hardly surprising most of us missed it.
What A113 really means
If you’re someone who pays attention to details, you might have wondered what’s up with the A113 scattered in the background of almost every Pixar movie. It’s actually a cute hidden inside joke between the animators.
Most of these talented artists perfected their craft at the California Institute of the Arts, and almost all of them took animation classes in classroom A113. You can spot this number in all Toy Story movies, Up, Brave, and many more.
It doesn’t get more creepy than this
Conspiracy theorists rejoiced when they noticed this not so hidden message in the middle of a DuckTales episode, and the rest of us were pretty shocked too. As Scrooge goes to see the doctor, the eye test chart in the background isn’t your regular combination of random letters.
It spells out “ask about Illuminati”, which is a kind of creepy message to hide in a cartoon. Was this the prank of one animator, or was it consciously put in there? As of today, no one seems to know the story behind this hidden message.
What that Zebra is actually saying
Disney always does its best to keep their movies family friendly, right? Well, yes and no. On the surface, the dialogue is almost always appropriate, but in between the lines there is a much more cheeky side to Disney.
When the zebra in Madagascar said “sugar honey iced tea”, we didn’t think much of the random combination of words. But as soon as you see this scene with subtitles, it’s pretty obvious what he was actually saying…
Misunderstood hidden message in the dust
Everyone was shocked when this rumor about The Lion King started first started circulating. People claimed they could see the letters s,e,x written out in the dust in this scene, which seemed wildly inappropriate for an animated children’s movie.
But Disney claims the letters are actually s,f,x, which is a nod to the special effects team (because for some reason, special effects is often abbreviated as SFX). Many people are still not convinced though, and believe Disney just won’t come clean about hiding a naughty word in a beloved children’s movie.
Secret nod to Steve Jobs
We’ll preface by saying this is an unconfirmed theory, but it does seem very convincing. Some believe the Macintosh clan in Brave is a nod to the founder of Apple, Steve Jobs.
He passed away in 2011, and Brave came out just a year later. Not to mention, Jobs was involved in the Pixar company during its early days. He is even mentioned in the end credits of the movie. This isn’t so much a hidden message, as a subtle tribute to one of the greatest within the tech community.
The voice you didn’t know you’re hearing in every Pixar movie
If you know John Ratzenberger’s face from anywhere, it’s probably from his role as Cliff Clavin on the classic ’80s show Cheers. What you might not know, is that he is also Pixar’s hidden “good luck charm”. He voices a small character in every single Pixar movie, and he is the only person in the world who has done so.
How this tradition started is unclear, but by now it’s a thing. Maybe animators are more superstitious than you’d think, and don’t want to jinx their never-ending blockbuster luck by excluding John.
Just say it backwards
This is one of the most obvious hidden messages in Disney history, yet surprisingly few know about it. In the iconic Fantasia from 1940, in the part known as The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, the wizard is named as Yen Sid in the end credits. Just read those two words backwards, we’ll wait. Figured it out yet?
That’s right, the wizard’s name is Disney, and was apparently also drawn to look somewhat like Walt Disney himself. This is especially clever since Walt literally was the mastermind (the wizard, if you will) behind Walt Disney Animation Studios.
A lesson in always reading contracts before signing
Did you ever stop to really read the contract Ursula has Ariel signing in The Little Mermaid? You should, because it seems as if Disney tried to turn it into an important lesson.
We’ve all been told to never sign contracts without carefully reading them first. Yet we all do, which can land us in trouble. In this case, Ariel supposedly gives up her voice when signing it – but the contract is basically gibberish. In other words, it has no validity, and Ariel could just have walked (sorry, swam) away without any repercussion.
Alice is Eve
Here is yet another hidden symbolic meaning of Alice In Wonderland. Many believe Alice is actually Eve. Yes that Eve, from the Bible.
Alice’s adventure starts in a garden, much like Eve in the Garden of Eden. Eve becomes a sinner by taking a bite out of the forbidden fruit, Alice instead goes down a rabbit hole and into an underworld that is filled with questionable characters and problematic behaviors. Both Eve and Alice transform from children to adults, in other words; from innocents to sinners.
A real address, almost
Most people don’t pay very much attention to cards and letters in animated movies, because they assume it’s all random gibberish. But that’s not always the case.
Remember when Don Carlton pulls out his business card in Monsters University? The address written is 1200 Dark Avenue, which sounds very made up. But the real address to Pixar Animation Studios is actually 1200 Park Avenue in California, so the very similar address is definitely no accident.
Nemo appeared before Finding Nemo
If you want to find out what character Pixar will do a movie about next, pay attention when watching the current ones. Nemo, for example, can be seen making several appearances in the background in Monsters, Inc, two years before he starred in his own hit movie.
It’s unlikely his is just a coincidence. It takes years to make these movies, so it’s very likely at least the basic plot of the next is already established during the animation of the one they’re currently working on.
The Lion Hamlet
When we watched The Lion King as kids, we had no idea it was actually a modern interpretation of Shakespeare’s classic Hamlet. The entire plot follows the same themes; an uncle as the villain, prince Hamlet/Simba being exiled but eventually returning to avenge the father, and take their place at the throne.
When Scar plays with the skull in this scene, it’s a direct reference to the original play, and the famous scene where Hamlet discovers the skull of Yorick.
Symbolic chess piece
Chess is often used in movies, and it always symbolizes a dramatic and important turn in the plot. In Frozen, this was done very elegantly – but so subtly many missed it.
When Hans sentences Elsa to death, a distraught Olaf is watching from the window. In the foreground, there is a chessboard, and the white queen chess piece is knocked over by the wind. The hidden message here is of course that Elsa is defeated (but luckily not for long).
Note the name tags
In Disney and Pixar’s recent movie Soul, 22’s room room has a very cool wall filled with some really great Easter Eggs and running Pixar jokes. The most unique one is all the names with 22’s previous mentors.
We see some very famous names such as Albert Einstein and Johnny Cash. But mixed in with those, are names in foreign languages, and shoutouts to real animators who worked on the movie. It’s definitely a good scene to press pause to be able to spot all the famous and not so famous names.
They’re not really brothers
For The Lion King, Disney made a point to be as factually accurate as possible. They studied lions and their body language, and even took a trip to Africa to observe and learn about all the animals of the savanna in their natural habitat. So they realized, Mufasa and Scar could not be actual brothers, since that’s not how lion prides work.
In real prides, there is one alpha male, and any males born leave when they reach adolescence, to form their own prides. But to keep with the Hamlet storyline, Mufasa and Scar sort of had to be brothers, so Disney decided they’re just not biological brothers. (We know, it still makes no sense).
Why the Luxo Balls?
Ever noticed a yellow ball with a red star and a blue stripe in the background of Pixar movies? This is known as the Luxo Ball, and has become an easter egg, or symbol if you will, of Pixar’s humble beginnings.
The animation studio ,which ended up so successful Disney bought it to not have to deal with the competition, made the short Luxo, Jr as one of their first animations, back when no one knew what Pixar even was. To this day the Luxo Ball is included in Pixar movies. Sort of like their own “I’m still Jennie from the block” reminder.
How we know Gaston really died
When the sleazy Gaston meets his demise during this dramatic scene in Beauty And The Beast, we never actually see him land (so we have no real confirmation of his death). This wasn’t shown, since it seemed a little too gruesome for the young target audience. So how do we know he really didn’t survive?
The animators put little skulls in Gaston’s pupils, which is a great way to symbolically tell us he did in fact die, without showing the body.
Dumbo reference
A Bug’s Life is one of those slightly forgotten older Pixar movies. Because as much as the audience loved it at the time, the animation and storyline doesn’t quite measure up to the masterpieces that have come out of the studio over the past decade.
But that doesn’t mean A Bug’s Life didn’t have its far share of cute Easter eggs and hidden messages. For example, this Casey Jr. Cookies box is a direct reference to Dumbo. Casey, Jr. is the name of the circus train in that movie.
Mother Gothel’s touch
Let’s be honest, Mother Gothel in Tangled is a very obvious bad guy. So obvious, in fact, we don’t really understand how Rapunzel is ever fooled by her.
All she would have to do to realize her ulterior motif, is pay attention to what Mother Gothel does every time she tells her daughter she loves her. Every time she says “I love you most”, she is touching, and obviously referring to, Rapunzel’s hair, not the girl herself.
A bookshop filled with Disney classics
Tangled’s Flynn and Rapunzel visit a bookshop in a scene, which was a great opportunity for Disney to hide some subtle shoutouts to other literary masterpieces they’ve turned into animated movies.
Wee see The Little Mermaid on a table, a copy of Sleeping Beauty is in front of the window, and Beauty And The Beast on the floor. This is a cute way to pay homage to the many classic novels that provide the basic storyline in most of our favorite Disney movies.
Barely visible California homage
During that heartbreaking scene when Belle’s father Maurice gets lost in the woods during the storm, we briefly see a worn down sign. To the untrained eye, it might look completely unintelligible. But if you press pause and look closely, you can make out two town names; Anaheim and Valencia.
Anaheim is where Disneyland is located, and in Valencia there is the iconic California Institute of the Arts, where so many of the most talented animators have studied.
The Mickey Mouse tradition
This is well-known running joke at this point, but Disney fans love it all the same. Basically, every new Disney movie is an opportunity to play “spot the hidden Mickey”.
For decades now, Disney has hidden Mickey Mouse all over their movies. Sometimes it’s pretty obvious, such as the Mickey Mouse toy on the shelf in Oaken’s shop in Frozen. Other times it’s way harder to spot. Like the outline of Mickey’s head visible in Pongo’s fur, in Dumbo’s bath bubbles, or a brief second as Jasmine’s tiger Rajah is transforming.
Selling virtual reality
Toy Story came out in 1995, and was the first feature-length movie Pixar made. The movie also made history for being the first one created entirely by CGI. So it’s pretty symbolically fitting that Andy’s home is listed with a real estate company called “Virtual Reality”.
CGI has forever changed the movie industry, and has made even the seemingly impossible look real on the movie screen. Virtual reality is the hottest thing on the movie market, and Pixar were the first to start selling it on a big scale through Toy Story.
A hidden letter
When Lilo and her older sister Nani go to the animal shelter to adopt a puppy, hilarity ensues when Lilo stubbornly decides she wants Stitch (who is very clearly not a dog, and behaves very strangely). Nani reluctantly agrees, and starts filling out the adoption papers.
In the middle of this funny scene, there is a touching hidden letter. The adoption papers are neither adoption papers nor gibberish, but a surprise thank you letter to everyone who worked on the movie, included in secret by the producers.
Adult joke in Frozen
Ok so this isn’t very hidden (except for from the kids, who luckily won’t understand this joke), but we had to include it anyway because it’s so good.
Over the past couple of decades, both Disney and Pixar have been pushing the limits more and more when it comes to that PG rating, by including subtle (or not so subtle) adult jokes and innuendos. We’re actually somewhat surprised they keep getting away with it, but it seems as if the parents in the audience enjoy it to much to bother to complain.
Emeryville shoutout
We’ve already mentioned Pixar animator love to give homage to their roots, which means their movies are filled with clever nods to their animator roots. In Cars we have yet another such homage, this time to Emeryville, which is the California town where Pixar Animation Studios is located.
Cars takes place in the fictional California city of Radiator Springs, but as you can see on this sign Emeryville makes an appearance as the city where the race takes place.
Sully nod in Brave
Brave is filled with grizzly bear lore and symbolism, and not to mention characters literally transforming into bears. So of course at first glance you would think this carving in the piece of wood is one of a grizzly. But it’s actually not.
Take a closer look and you’ll see it’s actually Sully from Monsters, Inc. In other words, this is yet another layer in the Pixar multiverse, where Pixar movies give hidden nods and shoutouts to each other.
Shorts in Toy Story
Speaking of Pixar movies giving nods to each other, since Toy Story was the animation studio’s very first full-length feature, they couldn’t’ do that the same way. There was no history of previous big movies and well-known characters to reference. So the studio instead included nods to their previous shorts.
In the bookshelf here behind Woody, the books are actually names of the studio’s first animated shorts, such as Red’s Dream, Tin Toy, and Knick Knack.
Spot the Hans
Plenty of Disney movies leave loose ends, but once in a while those storylines are cleverly continued in another movie. This is such an example, which is very easy to miss. Check out the wanted poster in the background in this scene in Big Hero 6.
Yes, that is indeed Hans from Frozen, which tells us him being arrested and sent back to his country in the end of Frozen wasn’t where his story ended. He escaped, and is now a wanted man…
The cage around Cinderella
Cinderella may be old, but much in this classic still holds up today. It’s also beautifully animated, many would even argue more beautiful than the CGI animations of today. And together with the beautiful look of this movie, there’s also tons of clever symbolism hidden in the animations.
Just look at this dramatic still, for example. Cinderella is standing in her evil stepmother’s bedroom, and the shadow from the window puts her in a cage. Cinderella’s life is an actual prison, so that is a great way to drive this message home.
A not so subtle way of saying dad is dead
Believe it or not, but even back in 1933 Disney animators had some very dark sense of humor, and loved to include that in their animations. We hope this one from the short Three Little Pigs went over the youngest kids’ heads, because it’s pretty morbid…
Throughout the movie, and in future ones about the little pigs, their dad is always pictured as…dead. He’s either sausages, or pork chops, or some other way pork is consumed.
The chicken and the rock
Hei-Hei might be the most hilarious non-verbal sidekick in an animated movie ever. Despite not saying a word, he keeps offering comedic relief, and melt our hearts at the same time.
Right from the beginning of Moana, one of his most odd behaviors is trying to swallow rocks. We realize later this was the clever build-up to a joke, because later on when he tries to chomp down on Maui’s finger – he is literally eating the rock. As in, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who is voicing Maui.
Casually referencing Oedipus
We’ve already mentioned the prevalence of adult jokes in Disney and Pixar movies, here is yet another one that’s pretty daring. Hercules here makes a reference to Oedipus, which is one of the more controversial characters in Greek mythology.
For those of you who don’t know the story, the short version is he killed his father and married his mother (yikes). So Hercule’s comment here is kind of on point, literally all of our problems pale in comparison to Oedipus’.
The same villain
Here is a cool theory/hidden message you probably haven’t heard before. Some Disney fans have analyzed Snow White and Tangled, and believe the latter is actually a sort of sequel to the former – a continuation of the Evil Queen’s story.
They think the Evil Queen from Snow White survived, and simply faked her death in the end of the movie, and is Mother Gothel in Tangled. The two do look pretty similar, and both used their magic to look older or younger than they really are. So there might be something to this theory.
People do really have crazy imagination
If to believe fans, Disney doesn’t only include adult jokes and innuendos in the actual movies. But even on printed material, such as movie posters, there can be hidden raunchy jokes. And in the case of this Lion King poster, it’s hard to disagree with that theory.
Sure that’s the face of a lion. But was it really so hard to draw a face of a lion, that also doesn’t look exactly like a woman from behind wearing very revealing underwear?
Recognizing the creators
Recognizing the creators is something both Disney and Pixar take very seriously, as they should. The animators in these movies are immensely talented artists, who work hard for years to make these masterpieces come to life.
In this dramatic scene in Mulan, the text on the graves in the temple is in actual Chinese – but whats written has nothing to do with Mulan’s dead ancestors. Instead it’s the movie credits, with the names of all the people who worked on this great movie.
A hint at WWII
Scar is one of our all-time favorite villains. He’s terrible, of course, but his dry sarcastic humor and clown-like hyena minions just make the bad guys of The Lion King hard not to love on some level. But, the scene where Scar is delivering a speech to the hyenas and they march around him, is one that gave us the chills.
Suddenly we see Scar for the dangerous lion he really is. And there’s no wonder this scene is so scary – as it was modeled after World War II Germany and Hitler’s infamous speeches.
That’s not just a random name
Ok this isn’t an animated movie, but since the original Scooby Do is an animated adventure, we figured it was worth including on this list.
When Shaggy, played by Matthew Lillard, meets Mary Jane, he exclaims that that’s his favorite name. Well, that may come off as a genuine, innocent comment to children (and some adults). But it’s more than likely a reference to Shaggy’s love for a certain herb that goes by many names – one of which is Mary Jane…
