26 Trivia Facts and Easter Eggs in 'Toy Story 3', Celebrating its 10th Anniversary

Image via Disney Pixar

The rock formation in the background of the opening train sequence is real; it's the "East Mitten" Butte in Monument Valley, which is part of the Navajo Nation reservation in Arizona. It's famous for appearing in multiple Western films, most notably in John Ford's The Searchers, starring John Wayne.

Mr. Potatohead yells "Money, money, money!" during the train sequence. He says it with the same affect and pronunciation as Andy does in the opening of Toy Story (1995). This makes sense because in both cases, Andy is the one who is playing pretend.

The train's number is 95, the year the first Toy Story film was released in theaters.

By the time of Toy Story 3, most of Andy's old toys have been given away or donated. But during the opening montage, most of these side characters make brief cameos, like the Troll and the RC Car. Pictured in this screenshot is Wheezy the Penguin, who was central to the plot of Toy Story 2.

Pixar cast the same actor, John Morris, to voice Andy in all three Toy Story films. He was seven years old when Pixar cast him in the first movie, and he was 13 years old when he read for the second movie. Morris was 25 when he performed the role in Toy Story 3.

Pixar is well known for putting references to their future films in their current films. Andy has a picture of an Aston-Martin car in his room, which is a reference to the Finn McMissile character in Cars 2 (2011).

Pixar also includes dozens of self-references. For example, the PU pinnet refers to Pixar University, which is the company's professional development program.

You might remember the circled Buzz Lightyear poster from the first Toy Story, during the musical montage where Andy replaces all his cowboy posters with Buzz posters. Apparently, Andy held onto it for nostalgic purposes.

Andy graduated high school and is headed to State University in Emeryville, CA. The Pixar Animation Studios is also based out of Emeryville.

Sid, the villain from the first movie who mutilated his toys, makes a cameo as a sanitation worker in Toy Story 3; you can tell by the skull t-shirt. Erik von Detten, who voiced Sid in the first movie, reprised his role.

All three Toy Story movies are loaded with references to Stanley Kubrick's horror film classic, The Shining. The license plate on the garbage truck is RM237. In The Shining, Room 237 is where Jack Torrance meets the rotting old woman in the bathtub.

Andy's mom's license plate is A113, another recurring visual reference in Pixar movies. It is the classroom number at the California Institute of the Arts, where many Pixar alumni took classes in design.

The burger, shake, and fries toys at the Sunnyside Daycare are based off a McDonald's Happy Meal toy line called McRobots from the early '90s. It was comprised of mini Transformer-inspired action figures, which were initially shaped like McDonald's menu items.

Here's a screenshot from the 2009 Pixar movie Up, which came out the year prior to Toy Story 3. There's a Lotso Huggin' Bear in the lower left-hand corner of the girl's room. At the time, most fans didn't know they were getting an early peek at a future villain.

The Lotso Huggin' Bears that Disney sells in its online and brick-and-mortar stores actually do smell like strawberries.

When Pixar was designing Trixie the Triceratops, they imagined that she was from the same toy line as Rex. That explains why the two dinosaurs' eyes and dimensions are so similar, and also why they get along so well during the post-credits scene. Also notice that Trixie is an older toy; the white paint is chipping off her horns.

One of the little kids in Sunnyside's Caterpillar Room is wearing a Lightning McQueen shirt. Lightning is the main character of the Cars franchise, which was also created by Pixar.

Jim Varney, who voiced Slinky Dog in Toy Story and Toy Story 2, died before production began on Toy Story 3. Varney was replaced by Blake Clark, who has performed the role ever since. 

Toy Story 3 was also the final movie performance by legendary insult comedian Don Rickles (Mr. Potatohead) prior to his death in 2017. Even though Rickles died before recording his lines for 2020's Toy Story 4, Pixar did not recast the role. Instead, they resurrected the character via archival audio recordings.

Buzz Lightyear is powered by Buy n Large alkaline batteries. Buy n Large is a massive fictional corporation in Pixar's 2008 movie Wall-E, where it serves as a satirical critique of rampant consumerism.

Buzz's "night in the box" speech is directly inspired by a similar monologue in the movie Cool Hand Luke, starring Paul Newman. In that movie, Newman is a new inmate in a Florida prison camp, and Carr, the floorwalker, recites the Draconian rules of the camp.

A Post-It note on Bonnie's parent's computer reminds them to "walk for the kids" on November 2. November 2, 2010 was the Blu-Ray release date for the movie.

Bonnie owns a stuffed animal of Totoro, a main character in the Japanese animated film My Neighbor Totoro, written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Ponyo). Pixar included the character as a tribute to Miyazaki.

After leaving Daisy's home, Lotso, Big Baby, and Chuckles are riding on the rear bumper of a Pizza Planet truck, which has appeared in every Pixar movie.

The climactic scene where Big Baby throws Lotso in the dumpster is a tribute to the ending of Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, where Darth Vader throws Emperor Palpatine into the core of the second Death Star.

The Post-It note that Woody sticks on Andy's attic box says "1225 Sycamore," which is Bonnie's home address.

The movie's final shot brings the Toy Story trilogy full circle. The first Toy Story opens with a shot of Andy's room, which has wallpaper with blue skies and clouds. At the end of Toy Story 3, the camera pans to the actual sky, which is also blue and scattered with clouds.

Like the Pizza Planet truck, the Pixar ball has appeared in every one of the studio's films. It recurred multiple times during Toy Story 3 but featured most prominently during the end credits, when the Sunnyside toys used it as a beach volleyball.