The folks at Pixar are known for putting Easter Eggs into their movies. Each Pixar film takes so long to create—roughly four years—that it makes sense the animators and creative team would have plenty of time to think of ways to reference other Pixar movies and inside jokes within the context of their films. However, these Easter Eggs led to a pretty out-there fan theory gaining traction on the web that proposed that every Pixar movie exists in the same universe. Essentially, this theory states that all of the Pixar films can be connected so that Woody, Sully, and even Wall-E exist in the same world.
The filmmakers themselves have come right out and denied this one, but the outlandish theory then led toanotherfan theory, albeit of the comedic sort. In poking fun at the “it’s all connected” trope, the folks atMashableput together a video last year in which they proposed that every Pixar movie not only takes place in the same universe, butalsoexists within theDie Harduniverse.
Funny, right? Well the filmmakers behindFinding Dorythought so too, and when Collider’s own Steve Weintraub askedDorydirectorAndrew Stantonand producerLindsey Collinsabout Easter Eggs in the film, they admitted they saw theDie Hardvideo and took it to heart:
“There’s a lot of theories online that all of the universes are connected, so somebody made a spoof of how we put Die Hard in all of our movies, and it was very funny, we thought it was tongue in cheek. So we said, ‘Alright, let’s do it,’ so we made two Die Hard references in this movie.”
So yeah, when you catchFinding Doryin theaters after it opens on June 17th, keep a look out for a pair ofDie Hardreferences within the context of the film. Who knows, perhaps this joke theory may have actually spawned a brand new recurring Pixar Easter Egg? Your move,Cars 3.
Look for more from Steve’s interviews with theFinding Dorycast and filmmakers on Collider soon.
