Pixar

Toy Story graced the movie screens all the way back in 1995, but people are only just realising one hidden detail in the first film which shaped the entire Pixar universe

It’s been 30 years since the first Toy Story movie was released back in 1995. The adventure comedy, which features the voices of Tom Hanks, Tim Allen and more, follows a group of toys who prepare to move into a new house with their young owner Andy.

But trouble arises when Sheriff Woody, the leader of the pack, fears Andy will soon replace him when he receives a new toy, Buzz Lightyear, on his sixth birthday. Then things escalate further during a family trip for dinner at Pizza Planet where Woody accidentally knocks Buzz out of the window, making the others believe he killed him.

Buzz confronts Woody leading to a brawl and a fall out of the car where the two are left behind, fending for themselves. Since the first iconic instalment in the 90s, Toy Story returned for four sequels with the fifth set for release in 2026.

Now one movie fan couldn’t help but notice a tiny detail in the first film which shaped the rest of the sequels and even the entire Pixar universe.

Ivan Mars, known as the ‘Movie Detective’, boasts 962,000 followers on Instagram where he spots hidden details in films. And most recently, he was mind-blown after noticing one Toy Story detail.

He said: “It took me 20 years to notice something hidden in Pixar movies… something that started in Pixar’s very first work: Toy Story. In that movie, Woody and Buzz are lost and their only chance to get back to Andy is to the Pizza Planet truck.

“Without it, the story might have ended right there and because of this, the Pizza Planet truck became a symbol appearing in every Pixar movie from Ratatouille to Cars.

“In Wall-E, it’s the only abandoned vehicle on Earth. And more recently in Elio, it appears in a blink and you’ll miss it scene. So this means it actually became Pixar’s secret thread because it saved the very first characters giving birth to the entire Pixar universe. Mind-blowing…”

People were equally floored by the revelation as the post garnered a lot of attention pretty quickly. One said: “WHAAATTTT!” Another added: “Omg so cool.” A third pointed out: “Yes it’s one of the common Easter egg of Pixar movies!”

Others claimed there were other hidden details as someone commented: “The Pixar lamp is in every movie also I believe.”

Toy Story 5 is set to be released on June 19, 2026. Buzz, Woody and the rest of the gang’s job will get harder when they go head-to-head with a new threat to playtime.

Floating in the vastness of unknowable space, our miniscule planet contains all of our stories — victories and tragedies orbiting around a dying star. But what if we could leave it all behind and start anew elsewhere? To migrate if you will.

Elio Solís (voiced by Yonas Kibreab) dreams of leaving Earth — he feels he doesn’t belong. As day turns to night, the eponymous orphaned boy in Pixar’s new intergalactic adventure looks up at the sky and wonders if perhaps somewhere out there, on another levitating rock or among a still undiscovered alien race, he might feel more at home.

The animated voyage, with its themes of alienation and aliens, arrives at a time when immigrants in this country, and Latinos at large, have become the target of brutal ICE raids that ignore due process and racially profile citizens and undocumented people alike.

In turn, the production of “Elio” also illuminates the regressive political climate in this country. Last week, a piece published by The Hollywood Reporter claimed that leadership at Pixar erased the protagonist’s queer identity, prompting the original writer-director Adrian Molina to exit the project, with Domee Shi and Madeline Sharafian stepping in to co-direct “Elio.” Had his take come to fruition, Molina, who is Mexican American, would have become the first Latino and the first openly LGBTQ+ person to solo direct a movie for Pixar.

Still, the version that did make it to the screen, where Elio feels ostracized because of his obsession with extraterrestrial life and all its possibilities, remains relevant. Though not overt about his ethnicity, the movie features visual nods to Elio’s Latino upbringing: a Day of the Death altar (pertinent since Molina co-directed “Coco”), a Spanish language song on the radio and colorful conchas as part of a feast.

It’s not a stretch to think that the premise of a Latino kid alienated for who he is and who believes that he won’t ever feel fully accepted in the place he calls home could speak to millions of Latino children across this country; especially here in California, witnessing the disturbing, life-threatening consequences of the administration’s policies.

Elio (voice of Yonas Kibreab), left, and Glordon (voice of Remy Edgerly) in Disney and Pixar’s “Elio.”

(Disney/Pixar)

Kids who must be wondering why there are masked men violently abducting people that look like their family members solely based on their appearance, or why their parents don’t want to leave the house, or why the vendor near their school hasn’t shown up in weeks.

They might be devastated to learn via online chatter that the people in charge of this country don’t want them to feel like they belong, even if they were born here. Now think about the children whose parents were among those taken. Words fail to estimate the trauma they must be experiencing without any certainty of when or if they’ll be reunited.

How do you explain to a child that the president of the United States is gleefully targeting anyone he deems looks “illegal,” regardless of their immigration status? That millions of people in this country harbor such hatred against immigrants that they cheer on an ill child being deported, children crying for their mothers and people dying in detention centers?

“I voted for this,” they write on social media endorsing the inhumane atrocities their government is committing against people they consider “criminals.” But their rigid version of legality only applies to immigrants from underprivileged backgrounds, those who have no choice but to cross borders without documents in order to survive, to aspire to a dignified life. The “right way” is not available to the poor, and those in power know it.

Down here in our chaotic reality, the villains currently have the upper hand. But up in space, nobody asked Elio for a passport or questioned the validity of his existence. On the contrary, the leaders of other planets, who gathered in a striking locale known as “Communiverse,” take his claim that he is the leader of Earth at face value and the singular boy rises to the occasion. Elio helps deescalate a conflict with a space warlord and reconnects with his aunt Olga (Zoe Saldaña) by befriending and then saving the life of the warlord’s young son.

Unfortunately, “Elio” has become Pixar’s biggest box office failure, despite being one of the studio’s best reviewed releases in recent years. Grosses were low globally, perhaps as a result of poor marketing or because audiences have been conditioned to wait for Disney’s animated films to hit streaming rather than seeing them in theaters.

But while that outcome can’t entirely be attributed to Latinos not going to the movies, when millions who are part of the audience that most devoutly purchase tickets in this country — we see movies even though the movies don’t often show us — are frightened to step outside their door, one can’t help but wonder if the numbers for “Elio” would be at least slightly different if the ICE raids were not terrorizing the community. If people are afraid to even go to the grocery store, movie theaters are certainly not a priority.

This country takes Latinos for granted, including how our money impacts Hollywood.

I hope that “Elio” lands in front of Latino children soon, and that they see that the hero who saves not only himself but the entire planet is a Latino boy who ultimately redefines the meaning of home on his own terms. Amid the horrors, I also wish for them to not feel alone, and that they know thousands of people have taken to the streets to speak up for them.

People who believe they do belong here, that they are not “aliens” or “invaders,” but integral part of this country. And that their parents and others in their lives, documented or not, deserve dignity and compassion, no matter what the overlords do to deny them.

The version of “Elio” that hit theaters on June 20 is not the same movie that Adrian Molina, the film’s original director, intended to put out.

Pixar removed LGBTQ+ elements from the animated feature after receiving negative feedback from test screenings with audience members and executives, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

The film follows an 11-year-old boy named Elio who is mistaken for Earth’s ambassador by aliens and is beamed up to the Communiverse — an intergalactic organization — to represent the planet.

Trouble began in the summer of 2023 during a test screening in Arizona. After the film was over, audience members were asked to raise their hand if the movies was something they’d pay to see in theaters. No one did, causing Pixar executives to worry.

According to THR, Pixar Chief Creative Officer Pete Docter informed Molina after a separate screening for company executives that storyboard artist Madeline Sharafian would be promoted to co-director. Molina, who is gay, was given the option to co-direct the film with Sharafian but chose to exit the project instead after his original vision was changed. Shortly after, Docter announced internally that “Turning Red” director and co-writer Domee Shi would join “Elio” as co-director.

Changes to the film included getting rid of a scene in which Elio shows off a pink tank top made out of beach litter to a hermit crab, as well as removing picture frames from Elio’s bedroom wall that displayed a male crush. Executives also asked him to make the main character more “masculine.”

“I was deeply saddened and aggrieved by the changes that were made,” former Pixar assistant editor Sarah Ligatich, who was a member of the company’s internal LGBTQ+ group and provided feedback during the production of “Elio,” told THR.

Ligatich added that a number of creatives working behind the scenes left after the new directors went in a different direction.

“The exodus of talent after that cut was really indicative of how unhappy a lot of people were that they had changed and destroyed this beautiful work,” she said.

Actor America Ferrera was originally attached to the project as the voice of Elio’s mother, Olga. Following Molina’s departure, the “Barbie” actor left the production because the film lacked “Latinx representation in the leadership.” The character was later changed to be Elio’s aunt and was voiced by Zoe Saldaña.

In March 2025, Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger announced Molina would return as co-director for “Coco 2,” a follow-up to the 2017 film he co-wrote and co-directed.

“Elio” earned Pixar its worst domestic opening after it premiered on June 20. he film made $21 million at the box office and currently holds a “fresh” 83% critics rating on the website Rotten Tomatoes.

“The Elio that is in theaters right now is far worse than Adrian’s best version of the original,” a former Pixar staffer who worked on the film told THR.

“[The character] Elio was just so cute and so much fun and had so much personality, and now he feels much more generic to me,” added another Pixar staffer.

In a 2018 interview with the Huffington Post, Molina said he was “all for it” when asked what it would take for an animated studio to green light a story with a queer protagonist.

The Times reached out to Pixar for comment, but the studio did not respond.

The Brad Pitt-led racing film “F1 The Movie” sped to the top of the box office this weekend, another in a string of big summer movies that Hollywood hopes will keep driving people to theaters.

The big-budget film from “Top Gun: Maverick” director Joseph Kosinski and producer Jerry Bruckheimer hauled in $55.6 million in the U.S. and Canada, according to studio estimates. That’s better than analysts had expected for a non-sequel racing movie. People who read pre-release audience surveys had anticipated a debut of $40 million to $50 million.

Powered by the global appeal of Formula One racing, the film took in an additional $88 million internationally. Still, with a reported budget of more than $200 million, not including marketing costs, “F1” will still need significantly more ticket sales to break even.

Only three Hollywood films so far this year have grossed more than $500 million globally — “A Minecraft Movie,” “Lilo & Stitch” and “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” — and each of those opened above “F1” domestically.

Nonetheless, with “F1,” the iPhone maker has its first box office hit.

While Apple TV+ has found critical success with its shows, including “Severance,” “The Studio” and “Your Friends & Neighbors” — and notched its first best picture Oscar win in 2022 with “CODA” — its films had not yet clinched box office gold.

Its previous star-studded and filmmaker-driven movies have struggled at theaters, including the 2024 spy comedy “Argylle” and space-age romantic comedy “Fly Me to the Moon,” starring Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum.

“F1” benefited from a heavily promoted Imax run, which helps make it seem like a must-see on the big screen. Imax screens accounted for 23% of the domestic weekend revenue for “F1,” the cinema technology provider said Sunday. Around 55% of domestic sales came from large-screen formats including Imax, Dolby Cinema and motion seats.

As usual, Apple worked with a major studio to handle the theatrical release. “F1” is being distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, adding to the studio’s winning streak that includes “A Minecraft Movie,” “Sinners” and “Final Destination Bloodlines.” Pitt and Dede Gardner’s Plan B Entertainment produced along with Bruckheimer.

Quality also helped.

“It’s emotional, it’s exciting, it’s got romance, it’s got humor,” producer Jerry Bruckheimer told The Times earlier this month. “It’s the reason I got into this business — to make movies that thrill you on that big screen, that you walk out feeling you’ve been on a real journey and got lost for a couple of hours. That’s the goal every time.”

Strong reviews from audiences and critics bode well for the film’s future grosses and its eventual performance on streaming for Apple. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the movie a grade of “A,” while the movie holds a critics’ score of 83% “fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes.

Not faring as well was Universal Pictures’ murderous doll sequel “M3GAN 2.0,” which debuted with a weak $10 million and landed in fourth place at the domestic box office, behind holdovers “How to Train Your Dragon” and “Elio.”

The Blumhouse film was expected to open with around $20 million. It fell far short of the success of the original, which opened with $30 million in 2023 and eventually collected $180 million worldwide.

Overall, though, it’s been a strong last few months for the horror genre, starting with Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners,” which has now grossed $364 million worldwide, and followed by “Final Destination Bloodlines” and zombie franchise revival “28 Years Later.”

The staying power of movies like “How to Train Your Dragon” and “Lilo & Stitch” shows the continued draw of family-friendly films at the box office, which have been major winners since the spring. The exception has been Disney and Pixar’s original animated movie “Elio,” which notched Pixar’s worst opening weekend ever last week.

“Elio” collected about $11 million Friday through Sunday, bringing its total to a poor $42 million in the U.S. and Canada for the $150-million animated picture.

Times staff writer Josh Rottenberg contributed to this report.

Aliens may have embraced Elio, but earthbound audiences did not, marking the lowest opening weekend ever for a Pixar film and highlighting the challenges for original animated movies.

“Elio” hauled in $21 million at the box office in the U.S. and Canada through Sunday, according to studio estimates, falling short of Walt Disney Co.-owned Pixar’s previous lowest domestic opening, 2023’s “Elemental,” which made $29.6 million in its debut. (1995’s “Toy Story” had a domestic opening weekend total of $29.1 million, not adjusted for inflation, though it was released ahead of Thanksgiving weekend and reached $39 million over that five-day period.)

The family-friendly film, which centers on an alien-loving boy who longs for a community that understands him, came in third at the box office behind Universal Pictures’ live-action remake “How to Train Your Dragon,” which maintained its grip on theaters, and Sony Pictures’ Danny Boyle-directed horror franchise revival “28 Years Later.”

“Elio” had strong reviews (84% “fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes), but its soft opening underscores the postpandemic difficulty that original animated films have faced in attracting audiences, analysts said. The movie’s performance could also have been hurt by its timing — the film was up against “How to Train Your Dragon” and the long tail of Disney live-action remake “Lilo & Stitch.”

“It feels to me that it’s a good movie that got lost in the shuffle,” said Eric Handler, media and entertainment analyst at Roth Capital. For families, he said, “there’s only so many summer weekends a year, and you have to pick and choose which movies you do. ‘Elio’ just got squeezed out.”

Marketing may also have played a factor, with analysts noting that audiences may have been unfamiliar with the title, a critical issue especially for an original film with new characters. People grew up with Sonic the Hedgehog long before he got his own movie. A fresh story is a tougher sell with so many entertainment options out there.

Disney said in a statement that it was encouraged by the movie’s audience and critics’ review scores and hopeful “Elio” would be discovered by families and moviegoers throughout the summer, similar to what happened with “Elemental.” Despite a disappointing opening-weekend haul, “Elemental” went on to gross $496 million worldwide, propelled by word-of-mouth reviews.

The company also said it would continue to take swings on original animated intellectual property so it wasn’t reliant only on sequels and existing franchises. Pixar plans to release another original animated film next year called “Hoppers,” about technology that helps humans and animals communicate, followed by a 2027 original film called “Gatto.” It also plans to release “Toy Story 5” next year.

While originals have had a harder time at the box office, animated sequels or films based on existing intellectual property have proved consistent hits. Films like Pixar’s “Inside Out 2,” Disney’s “Moana 2” and Universal’s “Super Mario Bros. Movie” each grossed more than a billion dollars in worldwide box office revenue, with Universal and Illumination Entertainment’s “Despicable Me 4” hauling in $969 million.

By contrast, Universal’s 2023 original animated film “Migration” brought in $300 million worldwide. Even the critically acclaimed DreamWorks Animation title “The Wild Robot,” which is based on a 2016 children’s book, grossed $333 million.

But industry insiders and analysts have said that focusing solely on sequels and reboots risks making the animation business stale and that fresh stories are necessary for the health of the industry.

“We should celebrate when studios and production companies like Pixar and Disney take their best shot, create a really great movie — an original film — and with everyone decrying the lack of originality out there, at least they went for it,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore. “It will certainly be a big winner on Disney+. But there’s no sugarcoating the fact that this was an incredibly low opening weekend for a Pixar movie.”

Pixar’s track record with original animated films was nearly flawless for decades, with the occasional miss such as 2015’s “The Good Dinosaur.”

But the box office reception for its latest original films have been muted, largely because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pixar sent three of its original films — 2020’s “Soul,” 2021’s “Luca” and 2022”s “Turning Red” — straight to Disney+ to give families something to watch during the stay-at-home orders. But as the pandemic waned, families were some of the last to return to theaters as they got used to the ease of watching animated movies at home and were concerned about the health implications of enclosed spaces.

The reported budget for “Elio” was between $150 million and $200 million, which compounds the opening-weekend problems for Pixar. That number doesn’t include the tens of millions of dollars that go into a global marketing campaign. Studios split box office revenue with theaters.

Disney has said animation budgets are higher for Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios films because the work is done in the U.S., as opposed to outsourcing overseas where the work is cheaper.

The low opening weekend may not be the end for “Elio,” even if “Elemental”-esque box office longevity is not in its future. The fact that “Elio” had a theatrical release bodes well for its eventual debut on the Disney+ streaming platform since it will benefit from the additional marketing, Dergarabedian said. And “Elio” could be incorporated into Disney merchandise and theme park events, which could boost its visibility.

“Disney’s big enough and broad enough,” he said. “‘Elio’ will be a well-received film that’s absorbed into the Disney ecosystem.”

For decades, Pixar could hardly miss with its original animated films.

Whether the subject was toys, fish or a cantankerous old man, the Emeryville-based computer animation studio churned out hit after hit.

But since the COVID-19 pandemic, Pixar and other animation studios have struggled to break through at the box office with the same kinds of original movies that defined the industry. Instead, sequels such as “Inside Out 2” have ruled the genre.

This weekend, Walt Disney Co.-owned Pixar will face its latest test with the release of “Elio,” an original film about a young boy who seeks connection with aliens to make up for his loneliness on Earth.

The movie is tracking to bring in $18 million to $25 million in ticket sales from the U.S. and Canada during its opening weekend, according to box office analysis. (The film’s reported budget is in the range of $150 million to $200 million.)

That would be considered a soft debut by Pixar standards, indicating the dilemma the animation business — and the movie industry writ large — faces with original content. While audiences often say they want to see new stories, box office ticket sales show they gravitate toward sequels, reboots and other familiar fare.

“You need to be launching new franchises to keep the pipeline fresh,” said Doug Creutz, senior media and entertainment analyst at TD Cowen. “Since the pandemic ended, original animated films have just been getting killed at the box office … no matter how good they are.”

Pixar executives, nonetheless, say they’re committed to telling original stories, which are key to the future health of the industry.

“You wouldn’t have Pixar without ‘Toy Story,’ our first original film 30 years ago!” Pixar Chief Creative Officer Pete Docter wrote in an emailed statement. “And while we also love digging into new layers of familiar worlds and characters through our sequels, I’d say there’s a unique thrill in unearthing a new story.”

Disney and Pixar’s previous original movie “Elemental” made just $29.6 million in its opening weekend in 2023, causing many in the industry to write it off as a flop, before strong word-of-mouth reviews propelled the film to a solid worldwide gross of $496 million.

Sister studio Walt Disney Animation Studios has also recently struggled with originals, including 2022’s “Strange World” and 2023’s “Wish.”

The pandemic had a major effect on theatrical attendance for animated films. At the onset, studios including Pixar put their new animated movies on streaming services to give families something to watch during the COVID-19 stay-at-home orders and keep people from spreading the disease.

Movies such as 2020’s “Soul,” 2021’s “Luca” and 2022’s “Turning Red” were all sent straight to the Disney+ streaming service. Despite critical acclaim — winning an Academy Award for animated feature — “Soul” grossed just $121.9 million in worldwide theatrical revenue.

Even when movie theaters started reopening, families were slow to return due to health concerns and familiarity with watching movies at home, which dented animated films’ box office potential. Pixar’s 2022 “Toy Story” spinoff “Lightyear” did poorly at the box office partially due to this timing, as well as quality issues, marketing challenges and right-wing backlash to an on-screen kiss between a same-sex couple.

Other studios, too, face challenges with originals.

Universal Pictures’ 2023 original animated movie “Migration” also saw a soft box office total. The same year, Universal grossed more than $1 billion from “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” based on the Nintendo game franchise.

Last year, Universal’s “The Wild Robot,” which is adapted from a 2016 children’s book, debuted to strong reviews, but grossed $333 million in box office revenue, compared with the $492 million reaped by Paramount Pictures’ “Sonic the Hedgehog 3.”

Now family films are ruling the box office.

So far this summer, many of the films that have propelled the box office are family-friendly — Warner Bros. Pictures’ “A Minecraft Movie,” and live-action remakes “Lilo & Stitch” from Disney and “How to Train Your Dragon” from Universal.

Last year, Pixar’s “Inside Out 2” hauled in nearly $1.7 billion in global box office revenue last year, while Universal and Illumination Entertainment’s “Despicable Me 4” grossed $969.6 million worldwide and Disney’s “Moana 2” made $1 billion.

The common denominator among these films? They’re all sequels, reboots or rely on known intellectual property.

But industry insiders and analysts say that simply focusing on new chapters of existing stories risks making the animation space stale.

“If you’re trying to grow the business, you need new content, you need new franchises, you need new things for people to be excited about,” said Creutz of TD Cowen.

But beyond the box office, Pixar original films can get exposure — and drive business — through other parts of the Disney empire. Movies eventually debut on Disney+ and characters will show up on merchandise or in the theme parks, which can expand a film’s reach.

“Pixar is in the long-term business,” said David A. Gross, who writes a movie industry newsletter. “They want to create stories that last, and if that works in bringing back a sequel, great, but there is enormous value for streaming for these pictures, whatever they do in theatrical. There are a lot of revenue streams.”

Pixar intends to release three movies every two years, and the company’s strategy is to make one original for every sequel, company sources said. For instance, “Elio” was intended for release in 2024, but was delayed by the dual writers’ and actors’ strikes of 2023. Instead, it swapped with “Inside Out 2” since sequels can be easier to move through the production process due to existing assets.

“Pixar was really instrumental in defining the look and the feel and the tone of computer-animated films,” said Christopher Holliday, a senior lecturer in liberal arts and visual cultures education at King’s College London, who wrote a book about computer-animated films.

The company “is now at one of those crossroads where they are trying to balance films that have an audience built into them,” Holliday said. “And then they’re also balancing their identity as a studio of innovation that is pushing the boundaries and the limits of computer animation.”

Next year, Pixar plans to release “Toy Story 5” as well as an original film called “Hoppers” about a new technology that allows humans and animals to communicate. In 2027, Pixar said it will debut “Gatto,” an original movie about a cat with multiple lives.

“We think audiences love originals too,” Docter said. “Sure, it might be a bit harder nowadays to break through all the noise out there, but if we do our jobs, and create something that people will love, we trust that audiences will show up.”