The One About Pixar

Join Becky and Amber for a heartfelt, fangirl-fueled deep dive into the world of Pixar—where storytelling meets soul. From its groundbreaking beginnings in 1986 to the emotional masterpieces we know today, this episode explores how Pixar continues to shape the way we see animation, connection, and ourselves.

Together, they unpack iconic Easter eggs like the legendary A113 and the ever-present Pizza Planet truck, while celebrating fan-favorite films like Toy Story, Up, and Inside Out. Along the way, they reflect on unforgettable characters (yes, Sox the robot cat gets love!) and the emotional moments that hit harder than we expect.

Through playful segments like “Easter Egg Hunt” and thoughtful discussions on storytelling and character archetypes, Becky and Amber reveal how Pixar films tap into universal emotions—grief, joy, anxiety, identity—and turn them into something magical. They also spotlight Pixar shorts like Float and Loop, exploring representation and neurodivergence in ways that resonate deeply with audiences.

Whether you’re a lifelong fan or just discovering Pixar’s brilliance, this episode invites you to laugh, reflect, and maybe even see your favorite movies—and yourself—a little differently.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:30

Hello everybody, fangirl Becky here. I am introducing today you to your favorite new podcast. Why do we always say your favorite new podcast? I don't know. But uh introducing you to the best podcast. Let's just turn it around. Uh oh, the best. Yeah, fangirls of a certain age. And you hear that beautiful voice. Uh, and it is, of course, my gorgeous, wonderful, amazing, so so so cute. A bestie fangirl, a miss fangirl, Amber. How are you tonight?

SPEAKER_02 1:05

That's me. I'm wonderful. I am so excited about this episode. How are you?

SPEAKER_00 1:14

I'm good. So I'm the one who normally lets Amber intro us in. But today, Amber is in the driver's seat because we are going to be talking about something that both of us love, by the way. We both really love this. But Amber is like an aficionado, maybe even a fangirl aficionado. Uh, and that is we're diving into the world of Pixar. But before we get there, we do have a fangirl 50 to talk about, right? Do you want to go first? Do you want me to go first?

SPEAKER_02 1:51

Um, well, I'll go first. All right. So my fangirl 50 for uh this week is just this past week. There was MegaCon here in Orlando, and the first Halloween horror nights announcement has happened. And I know that it's March, and I know that there's some haters out there that are like, it's March, and it's too early for a Halloween. No, it's not. It is never too early for a Halloween, and springtime is not springtime for me, unless I'm hearing about Halloween Horror Nights houses, and I'm so thrilled that we have gotten our announcement. So this is the 35th year for Halloween Horror Nights, and so we knew that there was gonna be some you know big stuff coming. And the very first announcement is the return of our icons, our big baddie icon of Jack the Clown. But the part I am most excited for is that my favorite icon is back, and he is co-hosting the 35th Halloween Horror Nights event, and that is Dr. Oddfellow. And I'm so thrilled. So not only are they like the big hosts and the big theme this year for the 35th anniversary, but they are also the first house announcement where it is Jack and Dr. Oddfellow, and I am so so excited because now the um the season has started, so I'm just patiently waiting for more announcements to come. But that is what I am most excited about as of this moment.

SPEAKER_00 3:20

I'm so excited for you because I know this is a big deal to you. I also have a vested interest in l paying attention to this little journey this year. Because why, Amber?

SPEAKER_02 3:32

Because it is official. Becky is going to be here in Orlando this fall. And you guys, I have gotten her to fully commit to going to Halloween horror nights, and I promised her we will do it upright. We are going to make sure that she doesn't unmasking the horror tour, we're gonna make sure that she experiences all of the houses. I can't wait. But the most important thing is because she does have conditions, is we have to make sure that there's food, we have to make sure that there's shows. I have to take her on the mummy, that was part of it, and she has to have a proper ScarePal.

SPEAKER_00 4:11

I'm taking applications now.

SPEAKER_02 4:14

Mm-hmm. She's taking applications for a proper ScarePal. ScarePal TM. I will be bringing Rhino and uh Andrew, my my two horror nights besties. It might take two. They will definitely help uh take the pressure off, I promise.

SPEAKER_00 4:30

It might take two. Alright, I I love it because you know fangirls are nothing if they aren't loyal and ready to jump in and fan after whatever somebody loves because that's how we roll. So, yes, I will be attending Halloween horror nights, but it's the 35th anniversary, so that seems nice. That's right. It's um I would like to talk to your to your odd fellow friend. I'm not so interested in Jack. I have seen him. Yeah, thank you.

SPEAKER_02 4:57

Jack is Jack is a little too nuts for me. I'm not a person who's like afraid of clowns.

SPEAKER_00 5:02

Art was fun. Jack seems not fun.

SPEAKER_02 5:05

Yeah. Yeah, Jack is crazy. I think I think uh I was telling you this the other day. You know how how sometimes people are scared of clowns because they're like creepy and they're quiet and they like just kind of stare at you. Jack's not like that. Jack is very forthcoming with with who he is. He is a murderous killer clown, and he will let you know that. He so I get I don't know if that like takes the suspense out of it, I guess, maybe.

SPEAKER_00 5:28

Oh, because that's what I need is more suspense about any of this. Right. Right.

SPEAKER_02 5:33

It should it should help you, uh, it should it should calm you because you're like, oh, I know what I'm getting. It should calm me.

SPEAKER_00 5:41

Okay. Okay. Yeah. Let's let's throw our roll turbo over here. Turbo.

SPEAKER_02 5:49

Oh my god, that's funny. All right, what are you what's your fangirl 50? Tell me all about it.

SPEAKER_00 5:54

Well, it couldn't be any different. Um, my fangirl 50, actually. I have two, so get it. And the first one is the original fangirl 50 that I had ready and prepared.

SPEAKER_02 6:08

I know exactly where this is going.

SPEAKER_00 6:11

Uh the first one I have for you is a show recommendation. It is young Sherlock Holmes. It's a really great show. It is along the lines actually of the Artful Dodger, which we talked about. Very much uh also speaking of reminding me of the mummy. It's old sort of England and that kind of stuff, but it's living in that area of like a fun adventure. Stakes are high enough, but not too high. It's not dramatic in that way. And I have fun facts for you, real quick, in this okay. Let's try that. Fangirl 50 fun fact.

SPEAKER_02 6:45

Oh, that's a tongue twister.

SPEAKER_00 6:48

I learned this yesterday. So, of of course, I have started to fall in love with young Sherlock Holmes. Of course I have. He has blue eyes, brown hair, and an accent. Like, okay, come on. Like it's hook, line, and sinker. It's factual information at this point, people. Um, and his name is Hero Finds Tiffin. And I took a little walk to the IMDB and I was like, let me find out more about this gentleman. So in the show, his father is played by Joseph Fiennes. And if you know who that is, that is the lead from a lovely romantic movie, but that is Shakespeare and Love. I love that movie. I love Shakespeare in Love. And he is famous or started his career there. Um, and that is his uncle, which also means that Ralph Fiennes is his uncle, which would be Voldemort.

SPEAKER_02 7:43

Wait, so his uncle, who is Ralph Ralph Fiennes. Let's follow the thread.

SPEAKER_00 7:49

Yep. Both are his uncles. Joseph is. But which one plays his dad in the show? Oh, Joseph. So the Shakespeare and Love Gentleman plays his dad, who is actually his real life uncle, and then Ralph Fines is also his uncle, who because he is brothers with Joseph Vines. Isn't that the funniest thing? That's fantastic. And because when you watch a British show, you can play Spot the Harry Potter person. He was young Tom Riddle, which means that technically he was the young version of his other uncle. Because Tom Riddle is crazy.

SPEAKER_02 8:36

That's crazy. Yeah, it took me a minute. I was like trying to follow the family tree. That is actually really crazy, okay? That's fun. I like it.

SPEAKER_00 8:45

But in any event, it's a great show, really fun, adventure type show. So uh if you like that adventure kind of movie, the mummy jungle cruise, if you've seen that one, that's the kind of vein that it's in. And check out my buddy young Sherlock.

SPEAKER_01 9:02

He is hot.

SPEAKER_00 9:04

I don't know much about Sherlock Holmes, the lore of it all. Um, but apparently his buddy in the show is his art nemesis in like later times, Moriarty. So it's not so it's not Dawson? I have no idea what you're saying right now.

SPEAKER_02 9:19

Are you speaking English? Is his friend's name Dawson?

SPEAKER_00 9:23

No.

SPEAKER_02 9:25

Because that's his that's his his partner when he's an adult.

SPEAKER_00 9:29

Oh, no, no, no, no. This is like an enemy of his, I'm told.

SPEAKER_02 9:33

So this is okay. Well, that's actually really cool. I like that.

SPEAKER_00 9:36

My husband said to me, Oh, I wonder how this how they fall apart. And I went, excuse me, what? So. Oh, okay, okay.

SPEAKER_02 9:44

Very cool.

SPEAKER_00 9:45

Well, I actually am very interested in that. I should watch it. And now, Amber, drumroll, please. Can you give the shared fangirl 50 that you gave me today? Amber scooped me on this, y'all.

SPEAKER_02 9:56

I was on Instagram, and there was this um Brady Bunch looking grid that came up on my stories, and it was the School Spirits account, and I was like, oh God, oh god, what are we doing? And they were announcing that season four for School Spirits is a go, and they were telling the whole cast, however, couldn't help but notice someone was missing, but we'll get there.

SPEAKER_00 10:20

Um I don't think, don't think I didn't clock that immediately.

SPEAKER_02 10:25

I was like immediately. I was like, where's Milo?

SPEAKER_00 10:28

They got a problem on their hands.

SPEAKER_02 10:33

He was probably just busy, he was probably flying home from New York. He was just at a Knicks game. I don't know. I was so happy because I was like, oh my gosh. I and I was like one of the first people to comment from fangirls of a certain age. So like I was I saw it as soon as it got announced. So then I like sent a voice memo and I was like, No breaking news.

SPEAKER_00 10:57

And so I was so happy to tell you. Um, it's seems appropriate that you were the first person to comment because we clearly made that happen. Duh. I mean, they listened to this podcast and went, oh, oh.

SPEAKER_02 11:13

We just obviously like the the executives at Paramount probably were ready to pull the plug, and then they were like, wait, what are those girls saying? Oh my god, they're so right. Like, we need a season four post-haste, and sure enough, you know, so you're welcome, Earth.

SPEAKER_00 11:28

We congratulated our fangirl Bestie Chiara, uh, who plays Nicole, if you don't remember. And then I actually DM to her that if she needs two fangirls of a certain age to like serve her coffee or something in a scene, that we were a veil. You know what? You shoot your shot. And it's totally fine. We're gonna be walking by in the back of Split River.

SPEAKER_02 11:52

Yeah, big shout out to our girl Kiara. We're so happy for everybody on the show. Congratulations. And we're so happy for our fangirl community. We are so excited that we will all be able to return to Split River hopefully soon.

SPEAKER_00 12:06

27 is what Nick said. Nick said 2027. So when, I don't know. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 12:12

Uh, so we're gonna move on from Split River High, and we're gonna mosey on down to a little place called Emeryville, California, which is where our story begins with the topic of our episode, which of course is Pixar Studios. Um this is one of my biggest fandoms. I am so excited to talk about this. Um, I'm a little sad that fangirl Darius is not with us because he is also a huge Pixar fan. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 12:42

Shout out, Darius, you're here in spirit. But what are you on the fangirl scale, ma'am, before you get into history?

SPEAKER_02 12:48

Oh, I am an A113. That's what I am. Okay. I am an A113 on the fangirl sale. Yeah, it's very good. I, since I was very young, I was immediately taken by Toy Story. I saw it in the theaters with my dad, and I was just amazed by it, and I loved the storytelling and the characters and all of that. I watched the DVDs so much, and I love trivia and history and Easter eggs, and Pixar is what introduced me to Easter eggs, which we'll talk about in depth very shortly. But that was a big part of what made me fall in love with Pixar was not only were they creating these incredible characters and heartwarming stories and really beautiful films, but they were also creating an entire fan base by leaving these little trinkets for people to discover. And that was just another layer of what I just fell in love with because there's so much care put into these stories in these movies, and I fell in love with like as a kid. So, yes, uh I'm a proper obsessed fangirl with Pixar, and I'm sure that that might come through on this episode in more ways than one. Uh, but what about you, Becky?

SPEAKER_00 14:05

I would be a 95. How about that? Oh, okay, okay. So for all our Easter egg fangirlies, you can decide what a 113 and 95 equals. We'll reveal at the end.

SPEAKER_02 14:22

Yeah, we'll reveal. So you are a big Pixar fangirl as well. I'm wondering and hoping that um that I can teach you something maybe you didn't know.

SPEAKER_00 14:31

So I am certain that that will happen because you are such a wealth of knowledge on this.

SPEAKER_02 14:37

And I can't wait. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, uh, so let's start with a very brief history. So Pixar Animation Studios has a very, very big history um that involves um Lucasfilm and Steve Jobs and Disney and all these things. Um, I'm not gonna go too far in the weeds about all of that. There's a great documentary on uh Disney Plus, it's called a Pixar Story that really goes in depth on that. I encourage you to watch that. It's really, really well done. Um, but Pixar Animation Studios Proper was founded in 1986 with funding from Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs was one of the uh uh uh early shareholders very early on. So it started out just as as a as just a little pocket, um, a little team that was part of Lucasfilm, and then it evolved into this Pixar Animation Studios after initial struggles as they were trying to get their footing. Uh, it's 1995 release of Toy Story, the first fully computer animator animated feature film revolutionized animation, and that's truly what put Pixar on the map was Toy Story. Uh, not only was it just an incredible film and it was a huge breakthrough, but it starred Tom Hanks and Tim Allen, which were at the height of their golden careers in 1995. So it really, really was a great, great achievement and huge milestone for the company. So Disney did acquire Pixar in 2006, uh, and it continues its legacy of technological innovation and that emotional storytelling, um, which is a huge cornerstone of what Pixar is. That no matter what, they won't, they won't um compromise storytelling, and I think that that is very evident in the films. So, again, that's just a very, very brief history um that has been around now since 1986. So, 2026, how old is that? 40 years old this year, which is crazy. 40 years old. Pixar has is Pixar has been around. That's wild, right? I'm older than Pixar. Uh-huh. I'm a whole lot older than Pixar.

unknown 16:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 16:48

I would say a whole lot older. Almost 10 years. No, you're rounding up. They're 40 and you're 48. Uh-huh. So you still have two years. See? You're perfect. Okay, so we've got a couple of fun facts. Again, in 40 years, they have accomplished a lot of things. They've done a whole bunch of shorts. That's what they started with doing. Again, they were they're uh innovators with this brand new technology that had never been used before. So shorts was the right medium to test these different things on. Um, and so uh they did a lot of shorts in the beginning. And the first Pixar short was called Andre and Wally Bee. The second Pixar short was Luxo Jr. And that's where they were really able to test out different technologies, and everything that they learned in Luxo Jr. they put into Tin Toy, which came out in 1988, and they actually did get an Academy Award for Tin Toy in 1988. But that's because of all of the things that they accomplished with Luxo Jr., which is why the Luxo lamp and the Luxo Junior ball are such uh important icons to Pixar, because that was kind of the big milestone for them. Toy Story uh was the first ever fully computer animated film and it won a Special Achievement Academy Award for the groundbreaking computer animation. Uh in 1995, they signed a five-picture deal with Disney. And then once that was up, once those five films were up, Disney bought Pixar in 2006 for $7.4 billion. And I think that they definitely got a return on that investment, if I do say so myself, because while they have uh dozens of shorts, they have now created uh 30 films with Pixar. This is one of my favorite pieces of uh trivia. So Barbie was actually supposed to be in the first Toy Story, she was supposed to be Woody's love interest. But Mattel was like, what if this is a flop? We're not putting our most iconic girl in this movie if it turns out to not do well. So Mattel said no thank you, no Barbie will not be a part of it, and then regretted it big time when Toy Story blew up. So that's why in Toy Story 2, Barbie was introduced. So they kind of righted that wrong. Thank you very much, Mattel.

SPEAKER_00 19:15

I did know that about Barbie, by the way.

SPEAKER_02 19:17

I'm so impressed. So, but because of that, uh just as a fun fact, um, Bo Peep is the role that Barbie was supposed to have.

SPEAKER_00 19:26

And I also like that when they're in that Al's Toy Barn, they talk about how short-sighted retailers didn't order enough Buzz Lightyears, and that's a true story.

SPEAKER_02 19:37

That's on my list. I'm so glad you mentioned that. That is a great example of an Easter egg, actually. So uh there is a line in Toy Story 2 because they go down an aisle and it's all Buzz Lightyear toys. And they and say the line again, Becky. What what does what does Tour Guide Barbie tell Ham and Rec?

SPEAKER_00 19:56

Short-sighted retailers didn't have enough Buzz Lightyears or something like that. I can't remember what she says, but I do remember short-sighted retailers.

SPEAKER_02 20:03

Short-sighted retailers did not uh have enough Buzz Lightyear toys to meet demand, but that was that's a true story. Again, very similar to Mattel uh underestimating Toy Story's success, so did retailers. They did not think that they that Buzz Lightyear or any Toy Story toys were going to fly off the shelves, and they did. Because reminding you, Toy Story came out November 1995. November. So you're talking Christmas, everyone wanted a Buzz Lightyear.

SPEAKER_00 20:32

Yeah, let me tell you this, because we worked at the Disney store, everybody knows that by now. Um, our thoughts and opinions do not reflect that of the Walt Disney Company, they reflect our thoughts and opinions, by the way. Left the Disney stores in 2017, and Buzz Lightyear was still the number one toy for Christmas. Still. I believe the number one toy for Christmas. We would get palettes of them.

SPEAKER_02 20:54

So, yes, so that is that's a great example of an insider's kind of Easter egg. Since we're on the topic of Easter eggs, we're going to talk about it. This is probably going to be a nice little chunk here. Anyone that knows me knows that this is something that I obsess over. I love hunting for Easter eggs. If you're not familiar, an Easter egg is a uh an industry standard term these days, uh, where movie makers will put in little references or inside jokes in their films, and some are more obvious than others, and that is part of the culture at Pixar is to put in references and Easter eggs and little jokes and things like that. And if you know your Pixar characters, your Pixar movies, your Pixar lore, you can find so many Easter eggs, and I do have a um process. I will watch the movie in theaters and I will enjoy it. If I see any Easter eggs along the way, great. But then when it comes out on Disney Plus, I watch it again standing about two feet from my TV. This Is a real thing. And my kids are in it too.

SPEAKER_00 22:02

Fang.

SPEAKER_02 22:05

And I have the remote in my hand, and I'm pausing scenes that could have things hidden in them. So classrooms, bedrooms, okay, stores, things like that. Yeah, there's certain settings that are better hiding places for Easter eggs. So let me tell you, Toy Story 4 is an Easter egg feeding frenzy. Anytime that the antique store is on the screen, pause it. I'm confident to say literally anytime that they are in the antique store, hit pause. You will find an Easter egg. I will venture to say hundreds, and they're all over the map. There's so many in the antique store in Toy Story 4. While Easter eggs will range from movie to movie, there are four that tend to show up in every single Pixar film asterisk. The first is A113. What's special about A113 is this was actually the room number of the classroom at UCLA where many of Pixar alumni learned their craft. So John Lassiter, Andrew Stanton, Doctor, Brad Bird. But what's special about A113 is it's not exclusive to Pixar because many filmmakers went to UCLA and studied in that classroom. So you can see A113 in a lot of other films. Tim Burton uses A113. It shows up in The Iron Giant. It shows up in Princess and the Frog. It shows up in Simpsons. It shows up all over the place because filmmakers all came from that classroom. So that's kind of an industry in uh inside Easter egg, but it does appear in every single Pixar film, sometimes more than once. In Hoppers, it appears twice. The second Easter egg that is in every Pixar film, with the exception of the Incredibles, is the Pizza Planet Truck.

SPEAKER_00 23:58

I know about the Pizza Planet truck of it all, but I didn't know it didn't come in Incredibles.

SPEAKER_02 24:03

The Incredibles is the only film that it is does not appear in, and I'll tell you why in just a second. So Toy Story 1, we're introduced to Pizza Planet and the Pizza Planet Truck, and so that kind of just became uh an inside joke. It appears everywhere. What Pixar ran into was if the story, if the story world was more fantastical, or if the story took place in a different time period where it didn't make sense for a Pizza Planet truck to appear, they didn't really know how to how to deal with that. Brad Bird was the director of The Incredibles, and he was very set in this is 1960s kind of style movie. A Pizza Planet truck doesn't make sense in this film, so he was adamantly against putting it in, and so it doesn't appear. However, Pixar got creative. The Pizza Planet truck appears in Brave. Brave is not a place, a time, place or time that would have a Pizza Planet truck, but there is a wood, a witch, and she carves things out of wood, and so there is a pizza planet truck carved out of wood in her workshop. So that's how they make it in there. So they've just had to be a little bit more creative of how they hit it. Um and so in The Incredibles 2, the Pizza Planet truck does appear, and the way they got around that is they just changed the style of truck. So now it's not, you know, your typical 1995 truck. They changed the style so that it fits with the 1960s setting. Um, in Toy Story 2, when they're learning how to drive the car, Ham is reading the manual, and you can see the front it says Gaioza, because obviously, if it was a Toyota, then we would have to pay to have that. But the fact that it says yo on the back, people think it's a Toyota, it's a Gaiosa, which is actually an Asian dumpling. Um, anyway, so Pizza Planet Truck is in everything except for the Incredibles. The third one that appears in every single film is the Pixar Ball. And we talked a little bit about this earlier. It's iconic and it's from Luxo Jr. Sometimes the Luxo Lamp will make a cameo, but that's not in every film, but the Luxo Ball. That's the yellow ball with the blue stripe and the red star. That will appear in every single one. And then the fourth one changes from movie to movie because it will have a reference to the next film. So in some cases, it will be um a picture, in some cases, it will be a full-on character. Um, in Up, you see Lotto in a little girl's bedroom because Toy Story 3 was the next film after Up. So provided that nothing changes and that film is the next one to come out, there will always be a reference. There was one instance where that didn't happen, um, and that was uh with Monsters University and the Good Dinosaur. So the good dinosaur was slated to come out after Monsters University, but because of production issues, the good dinosaur kept getting pushed back. So there is a reference to the good dinosaur in Monsters University. However, Inside Out came after Monsters University, not the good dinosaur. So there is no reference to Inside Out anywhere. But in Inside Out, there's a reference to the Good Dinosaur because the Good Dinosaur came out after the ins after Inside Out. So there's that. I could go on all day about Easter eggs, everybody. But it's so fascinating. I love it. So those are just the four that you can always count on, but there's so many more. Uh, just for your information, I did see hoppers, and on my first watch, I was able to find the Pizza Planet truck immediately. Um, and without giving any spoilers or anything, um, I can say where everything is located. Just so if you guys want to keep your eyes open for these Easter eggs, um I can tell you. And if you don't, skip ahead because I'm gonna say it now. If you're looking for the Pizza Planet truck, it's within the first couple minutes of the movie, it's on a shelf in the background in the school. If you're looking for A113, it is a room number of a classroom, as well as it appears on a chalkboard towards the end of the film. Um, if you're looking for the Luxo ball, it is on a shelf inside Mabel's classroom in the very beginning of the film. I missed that. Um, and then if you're looking for the Toy Story 5 Easter egg, there is a specific toy that is sitting on on a windowsill in her bedroom. So I'm not telling you what any of those scenes mean, but if you see those most those moments or you're like, oh, that's her bedroom, start looking around. So that's just uh some little Easter eggs that you can look for in hoppers. And that is pretty much all I've got for fun facts. I know that was a lot.

SPEAKER_00 28:54

So I have one that I enjoy actually. I think um about how they record the minutes of animation that they actually do. And so, like, that is one of their hallmarks is you know as an animator how many minutes of your entire career have appeared on screen of what you've animated. So, like somebody who's been there like 20 years, 25 years, might only have 40 minutes total because they work on such small pieces, but they have they like record that yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:28

I don't think I don't know that I've ever heard that.

SPEAKER_00 29:31

That's so interesting and makes perfect sense because it just go it goes to show how much time but it's very cool because it's like they work on such you know, minutia is like the name of the game over there, right? It doesn't feel like that when you're watching it, but it's you know, again, it's science actually that you're watching, if let's be for real. Um, computer science anyway. So yeah, they record how much time your actual animation has made it onto the screen. And there was a guy who'd been there very, very long and it was something like 40 minutes.

SPEAKER_02 30:04

Wow, that's crazy. And I'm I'm not surprised either. Watch just watch the credits of one film. Oh, yeah. I mean thousands of people working on a on a film that's you know an hour and a half.

SPEAKER_00 30:17

And of course, the one other Easter egg that is important to the both of us is at the end of Up, Mr. Frederickson goes.

SPEAKER_02 30:28

Oh, you're so right.

SPEAKER_00 30:31

I will let you take it. Go for it.

SPEAKER_02 30:33

No, no, I just yapped all about Easter eggs. Tell them, tell them.

SPEAKER_00 30:38

Um, so at the end of Up, Mr. Frederickson promises Russell, I think somewhere in the middle of the movie, right, that he they'll go to ice cream.

SPEAKER_02 30:46

Russell tells him that he goes that he goes to this place with his dad, but his dad's gonna be. Oh, that's right.

SPEAKER_00 30:51

Okay. They go to Fenton's, and that is into Oakland, California. And you can go to Fenton's, and we have gone many a time, not together. Let's go together next time we're together. We should go to Fenton's and take a picture outside on the curb. Yes! How many people have done that? I'll bet, right? But oh my god, how cute. Oh, I'm sure so many. In any event, that is because a lot of the Pixar people have been to Fentons themselves because it's very adjacent to Embrieville, and you can see a picture from the end of the movie hanging in Fentons of Mr. Frederickson and Russell. But yeah, it's a real place. You can really go. I've been in many times, and when of course that came out and we saw that, it was like, What? Fentons! It was so great.

SPEAKER_02 31:35

Yeah, the the filmmakers are very connected to the Bay Area culture and and different restaurants and stuff. So there's actually quite a few little nods and references in a lot of different films. Um one of my favorites is in The Incredibles when he in the beginning when Mr. Incredibles going through in the Incredicar, um, it says like they're taking San Pablo Boulevard, which was actually where the original uh Pixar Studios was located in Richmond, was off of San Pablo Boulevard. I thought that was just a nice little, a cute little nod.

SPEAKER_00 32:05

So, Amber, what are we going to do today? What kind of stuff are we gonna get into?

SPEAKER_02 32:12

I think we're gonna talk uh just a couple of our basic superlatives, and then I have uh a little game that I'd like us to play as a game. We love a game. We love a game. We love a game. So I'm gonna start it out super simple. We've got 30 films to choose from. What's your favorite Pixar film? Easy.

SPEAKER_00 32:32

Oh, oh very easy for me. Monsters University.

SPEAKER_02 32:38

Tell me about Monsters University. Why do you love it so much?

SPEAKER_00 32:41

Obviously, uh one you wouldn't think maybe would come out of someone's mouth. Uh, but I love Monsters University for the message. I love so much of the messaging that Pixar puts out in all of their films, right? But I really love the messaging of friendship in Monsters University. I love the messaging of outcasts. I love more than anything the lesson at the very end. It doesn't shy away from hard fact truth, right? Which is to say, Mike is not a scarer. He's not. He's never going to be. And they don't shy away from that. It's not a happy ending where he finally gets to be and da-da-da-da-da. Obviously, we know what happens later because this is the origin story. We've seen the back half. But, you know, that he tries his hardest. He studies, he does everything that he can possibly do to be the best scarer, and it still doesn't happen. And in life, how often do you do that, right? You could do everything, you can dream it, you can pray for it, you can hope for it, you can get internships, you can study, you could do all the things, and you still possibly won't get that thing, whatever it is. But a new door and a new path opens up, and you go where you're meant to go because of that. And that is so shown in Monsters University. And of course, the friendship piece is a huge piece of that. That is, you know, the friends we make along the way, but again, that was a huge part of the journey, number one. Um, but number two, that he had talent, it was just not in the same space, and it was his talents he finally figured out, and they were so key and important in their own way. Uh, and I just love that lesson. And the other thing I love is they cheat, right? And that's wrong. And they're kicked out of school, and then they save the day, and they still aren't let back in school because that's the rules, and you cheated, and that's still not okay. And I like that too, because again, it's like just because you do something wonderful, it doesn't mean the rules don't apply to you, and you're gonna have to figure out a new way to go. So that is why I love Monsters University. There's so much fun and funny in it, too. Please. Oh my god, please. So fun. All of those outcasty characters that um are in the fraternity are like just golden. Golden. But that is why I love Monsters University, and to me, it is I know some people might disagree with this, but I think it is the biggest friendship movie that they have. Because Mike and Sully are, to me, the biggest representation of friendship within all the movies.

SPEAKER_02 35:26

I can see that though, and my favorite thing about Monsters University, again, to your point, is that they don't shy away that failure is not always a bad thing. Correct. Failure is inevitable, you're going to fail. No matter how hard you try, sometimes you just don't make the cut. Sometimes you're just not good enough.

SPEAKER_00 35:45

And sometimes your friend is the one who gets to do the thing and you don't and you have to navigate that.

SPEAKER_02 35:51

Mm-hmm. Right. Does that affect your friendship? Does it affect your own self-worth? Like, these are the things that I do really love about Pixar because these are real world challenges and real world problems that you're going to come up against. I do think Monsters University doesn't get enough credit because I think it's really clever and I think it's really funny. I'm standing on that mountaintop.

SPEAKER_00 36:13

Hello. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 36:15

You know, there's a there's a Bay Area nod in that one as well. So when Don gives, he has like a little business card that he gives, and there's an actual phone number on his card, and it's a it's a 510 phone number. Because usually it's like 555 or something, and doesn't have like you know, uh an area code, but the area code was 510, and I was like, that's a Bay Area code.

SPEAKER_00 36:40

Like, yeah. So I love that. Yes. Um, okay, so what is yours, my friend?

SPEAKER_02 36:46

Don't tell me you have like four. Okay. I mean, I do, I do, um, but I'm not gonna go down the rabbit holes too much on them. Um, but I would say like my top two are Up Um and probably Inside Out 2. Um to your point, the themes in both of those movies I think are such important values. The thing about UP is you can't live in the past. And sometimes sad and bad things are going to happen. People are going to pass away, you're gonna lose jobs, you're gonna fail, whatever the case may be. If you dwell on it, you are never going to move on. You're never going to be able to seize those opportunities that are coming, just like you were saying about Monsters University. Like, failure is what allows those opportunities to happen. And if you don't accept them and embrace them, you're stuck. I just want to say this thing that I find so incredibly beautiful about Up. Pete Doctor is my favorite Pixar director. I think he's absolutely brilliant in everything that he's done. He did Monsters Inc., he did Up, he did Inside Out, he did Soul, and he is just, he's incredible. And what I love is the villain in Up is Charles Munz. And at first glance, he's heroic. He's this person that Carl and Ellie looked up to, and they idolize him and they they think he's so great. But the truth of the matter is, Munz is what will happen to Carl if he doesn't let it go. Munz is by himself. He's completely isolated in the middle of nowhere because he is obsessed with capturing this bird. He has no idea that the whole world has moved on, he has no idea that the whole world does not really care about him anymore. But he is so obsessed and infatuated with this bird that that is it drives him mad to the point where he's like willing to do these awful things to other people to because that's all he can focus on. He cannot let it go. Whereas Carl's in the same boat, if he doesn't let go of the fact that Ellie's gone and that, you know, she wants him to move on and have a new adventure, he's gonna end up just like months. And I think that's so beautiful and such a brilliant mirror image of what can happen to you if you don't allow yourself to move on. So I that's what I love about up, I think, like overall, and how letting new people into your life can rejuvenate you. That's what Russell is, that's what Kevin is, that's what Doug is. All of those things show Carl that there's so much more to look forward to. Just love it.

SPEAKER_00 39:33

I like your retelling of that better than the movie. I know, I know, I know you are someone who doesn't like up. I don't there's two Pixar movies that I just are just over my head and that everyone loves, and they just are not for me. Now, everybody who knows me out there in the fangirl world who knows me knows the the only problem I have with any Pixar movie is there's nobody singing in it. So they get a little knock from me for that, and I would like to see them enter into their first musical because I bet they could do an amazing job, by the way. And yes, there are music. There is music in these things, don't get me wrong. But I and that's a hallmark of them, and I think it's probably what they like that keeps them, you know, set apart or whatever, and that's okay. But uh I also am wrecked by the first 15 minutes of up as anyone else. If you're a human being and you aren't wrecked by that, then I'm not sure if you're actually human. That's how, that's how when like all the aliens come to town, we'll know. We'll know which person's an alien if they don't cry at the beginning of up.

SPEAKER_02 40:41

Right? Can I make it worse for you? I'm gonna make I'm gonna make this 15 minutes worse for you. This is one of the most beautifully artistic choices I've ever seen in a film in my life. Color plays a really big part in Up. And the color magenta is directly connected with Ellie. So in the fur, like in the whole montage, you see her wearing like a magenta bandana or she has a magenta dress or whatever. There's little pops of magenta that keep showing up and are her. And when she gets sick and she's in the hospital bed, there's sun coming through, and there's like a little bit of magenta in the light that's coming through into the room. And then when he's in the funeral home, sitting there with all of the flowers behind him and the stained glass behind him, the sun is setting and it's all magenta backlighting backlighting him. And as the sun is setting, the magenta starts to fade and goes completely out.

SPEAKER_00 41:39

So sad. I mean, listen. So that it is so beautiful, though. I know, I know. And he had one love, and that was that. Like, you know, all of it. And then the rest of the movie is so boring to me that I can't even get behind it.

SPEAKER_02 41:55

God, I disagree. I love up.

SPEAKER_00 41:58

I know, and my kids love up. My kids are like, what are you talking about, Mom? Like, get out of here.

SPEAKER_02 42:02

You said there was a second movie that everybody loves that you don't like. What is it? Do you want to guess? Okay, hang on, let me think. Something about. Oh, it's gotta be cars. No, I actually like cars. Okay, good. I love cars. What is it?

SPEAKER_00 42:17

Wally.

SPEAKER_02 42:20

Oh, oh, that that has music in it.

SPEAKER_00 42:24

I can't stand it. It's the most boring film to me. It's so boring.

SPEAKER_02 42:29

Because you're bored. Okay. I'm so bored. You know, I can't argue with you. It is very slow. It is. It is.

SPEAKER_00 42:38

It I think the messaging is a bit more heavy-handed in that one than it is in some of the others as well. Now, you know I I I like my girl Eva, but that's about it.

SPEAKER_02 42:49

Eva.

SPEAKER_00 42:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 42:50

Yeah, I do enjoy Wally. It probably doesn't crack my top ten though.

SPEAKER_00 42:53

But you know people love Wally.

SPEAKER_02 42:55

People love Wally. Yeah. I like Wally as a character. I think he's adorable. I like him. Of course. Okay, so we got our favorite Pixar films. What about our favorite Pixar characters? You go first. Uh, mine's Woody. What I like about Monsters University, what you were saying about them being like the epitome of buddies. Um, I also love that in Toy Story because friends aren't always friends right off the bat. Sometimes you're threatened by somebody. Sometimes you're immediately turned off by somebody because maybe they're too much like you, or maybe you think what they're like that they're too much, or whatever. And so you're kind of on guard. And Woody was the leader, and Woody was the favorite, and Woody was happy with his life and set in his ways, and he knew exactly what was gonna happen, and then his whole world got turned upside down, and he didn't react greatly, like right off the bat. And I loved that Woody was flawed, I loved that he. He was kind of mean at times. I loved that he was sarcastic, but also at the at the core of it all, was he was just scared. He was so scared. He didn't want to lose everything that he loved. He didn't want to lose everything that was special to him. And then he learns about himself. And then he helps Buzz learn about himself. And I just I four movies later, and I think Woody has such a beautiful arc of where he started and to where he's at now. And I know a lot of people have feelings about Toy Story 4 and how it ended with Woody. I also have feelings about it. And mine are in the minority where I'm very happy with what happened with Woody at the end of Toy Story 4, but that's a different argument to have. But yes, it's Woody. Woody is my favorite. I love him so so much.

SPEAKER_00 44:49

And who does Woody remind you of? Because he reminds me of a another character in a decom. And I'm not just saying this. You think he reminds you of Zed? I do, actually. I do. Okay, show your work. Show your work. Oh, here we go. Um, so I think Zed is very much like Woody because he is trying always to do the right thing in the wrong way. Woody is often his intentions are like spot on, right? He wants to keep the toys together. He wants to make sure everybody's safe and protected and wonderful, but jealousy gets at him and it eats at him. And then he's starting to make some really not great choices because he's, you know, blinded by that and he has to come to terms and to learn, you know. So it reminds me especially in um zombies too. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 45:43

Okay. All right. I see you.

SPEAKER_00 45:47

Also, he's very tall and lanky, like Woody.

SPEAKER_02 45:50

He is. He is tall and lanky. I mean here we are.

SPEAKER_00 45:54

Okay. What about you? Okay. Uh my favorite character is Joy.

SPEAKER_02 46:04

I love Joy. I'm just like, I I'm over I'm overjoyed that it seems that we both picked characters that not only do we just love, but I feel like we are very we relate to them a lot. I am very Woody energy, and you are very joy energy. Absolutely. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 46:29

Uh you and I have a superpower. This is our party trick, right? That's what they always say, what's your party trick? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and both of us share this party trick and didn't know that about each other until we connected that we both have this party trick. Um, but if you tell us your favorite character, we will tell you what kind of person you are. Yeah. Because you relate so much to the values of these characters, Pixar or otherwise, P.S. Um, and but if you're relating to these characters, any movie, any film, whatever, it's because you are seeing yourself in them. You're seeing something you want to emulate, you are connecting to something they're feeling. And yes, you're right. You give Woody energy, and again, you care so deeply about everybody around you to a fault sometimes, and to your own fault sometimes. And I think that is so true. Energy of um of Woody. For me, joy is I enjoy being joyful, yes, and I think I give like that energy of like she does a lot, right? But I also think that joy is going to be joyful at all costs, even if it's not time to be joyful, and she's gonna like try to find the bright side in anything to a fault. And I think sometimes that I do that.

SPEAKER_02 47:49

That is you, yes. That's why I as you're describing it, I was like, oh my god, she is joy. The fact that she feels that if she cannot see the the sunshine in this moment, that she's failing, and that's you where you're like, Well, I know I should be grateful about this, or I know that I'm like, no, this sucks. This is a shitty moment. Be upset, be sad, be angry. Like, yes, but that's the whole journey of joy, right? Is she realizes that you can't have joy without the other emotions. Yep, it has to be a balance, that's such an important thing. Oh my god, you are so joy. She also likes control. Yep. Mm-hmm. Of the beginning when she just like, I'll just she like shoves sadness out of the way. I'll just take this. That's so good.

SPEAKER_00 48:46

By the way, I was uh re-watching the end of it, and there's a boy band island PS. There is a boy band island. You're so right. Oh my god. We've said this before, but and I'm not gonna go into it, but I'm giving a quick honorable mention to all of our girlies from Turning Red.

SPEAKER_02 49:03

Yes, yes, all of our fangirlies from Turning Red. Yeah, 100%. Turning Red, I love that movie.

SPEAKER_00 49:09

It's such a good movie. If you have not seen Turning Red and you are listening to this podcast, you must.

SPEAKER_02 49:15

It's so much fun. Uh and like, and and again, to your point, if you if you feel connected with us and our brand, oh, you will love Turning Red. Yes. Entirely fangirls. I love it so much. Shouts out for town. Um, okay, so we all know that Pixar has scenes that are going to like emotionally wreck you, right? We've mentioned the one in up that I think that's a given, right? Like everybody cries it up. So I want to know which Pixar scene emotionally wrecked you, or which Pixar scene was the most uncalled for emotional trauma. So, like whether it was supposed to be emotional or not, but it it it hit you in whatever way, what did that to you?

SPEAKER_00 50:03

Well, will you allow me a little departure? I did think deeply about this and whether I really wanted to go down this road. So, ready? Um also honorable mention to the frickin' trash compactor scene. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_02 50:20

We just rewatched Toy Story 3 last week. I often forget how good that movie is. It oh god, that movie.

SPEAKER_00 50:28

Anyway, sorry, go on. Okay. Um, so if you will allow me to just take you on a small little journey of emotional things. Yes, every Pixar movie, if you're not emotionally wrecked by something in every Pixar movie, you're not human. So I have two, and they're sort of connected, and they emotionally wreck me for a very certain reason. Um, I'm just gonna put it out there because it's important to me, which is uh both float and loop emotionally wreck me. And float and loop are both Pixar Shorts, and we could do a whole fangirl thing on Pixar Shorts P.S. by the way. They're both actually about autism and autistic children, and that is on record, that's not me just saying that. Um, and which is what I do love, it's forward that way. Um, and float is basically the depiction of a parent who has a uh different ability child for whatever the reason, and Loop is very specifically autistic. So uh Bobby Rubio is the director of Float, and his son is autistic, and so he wanted to epitomize that on screen, um, and he did so very beautifully the sort of feelings that you have as a parent when you have a child who has a different ability. I personally do have a child who has autism, so both of these speak to me very directly. But again, I think every parent has a hope and a dream for their child, and for whatever the reason it may not come to fruition, and it could be for all manner of reasons. But there is no speaking in float until the father yells at the son, why can't you be normal? And if I didn't burst I'm gonna do it now. If I didn't burst into tears, I was like, I'm about to cry right now, just thinking if I didn't burst into tears when I saw that, I can't I cannot tell you how profoundly that that snapped me. And what you also watch is the disintegration of him. He's very different at the very beginning. The father is very different at the beginning. Um, he's sort of clean cut and happy and and whatnot. Um, it's the depiction of all these people watching and judging, but also are they, or is that him thinking they're watching and judging? Um, and then he turns very like straggly. He's got hair that's like unkempt and whatnot. And the house is dark because he and the shades are drawn because he doesn't want anybody to see, he doesn't want anybody to know. And of course, then at the end he kind of comes to reckon with it. It really, really, really does that. So Loop is not connected at all in story, but sort of is to me the secondary piece or the sequel, if you will, to Float. Um in fact, what I always say is Float puts my brain out for everybody to see, and Loop puts my heart out for everybody to see. So Loop is now really um about the autistic child. It actually is the first depiction of a nonverbal autistic person in um animated film. So thank you so much, Pixar, for that. I didn't know that. You just taught me something. Yes, it is. They actually employed a nonverbal um autistic actress, um, Madison Bandy is her name. They went to her house and they recorded all of her stimming, um, which, if you're not sure what stimming is, it is sort of the noises and the sort of flapping um uh arms. It actually has a lot of different um ways that it can come out, um, but it is largely known for um those characteristics. They filmed um it as well so that the animators could actually be accurate in depicting her on screen. Renee is the name of the character. But what's so beautiful about it is it is a neurodivergent, autistic girl, and she is paired with a neurotypical male, and he has to understand her, and she can't communicate to him, and he is uncomfortable at times, he doesn't know what to do. There's a beautiful depiction in the middle where she has, you know, an incident, an outburst, which if you're in the community, you know happens often, and he doesn't know what to do, and they stop the animation, and it's just still shots of him like time is passing, and he's like kicking his feet, he's had his head down, he's sitting down, he doesn't know what to do. Um, and then of course, by the end, they figure out how to communicate in a way, and he kind of goes into her world. And again, as a parent with a child who is different, you can understand just wanting anybody to want to be in your child's world on that level. So I've gone on a little long, but it is very important to me that I give the flowers to the Pixar team. They are incredible when it comes to representation in general, in a lot of different ways. So, of course, in this particular instance about neurodivergence, but also about a parent's journey for that. It was so beautiful and so unexpected, and um, it is definitely what gets me of a re time.

SPEAKER_02 55:40

I'm so happy that you brought up those shorts. If you have not um partaken in the Spark shorts that was created for Disney Plus by Pixar, and these were opportunities for Pixar employees who might not have the opportunity to work on a film or it might not have like a fully fledged idea that's a film level or film uh length. So many of the Spark shorts will get you. They are very beautiful and they are incredibly powerful, and those two especially are very powerful. You said it perfectly that loop is loop, I feel is a little bit more um literal of this is this is what we're talking about, this is what we're representing. Where float, the way that he illustrates this, it's kind of metaphorical in a way, because the idea is that for whatever reason, this child can float. He can float, but it was seen one time by one person when the child was very young, and they were like like shocked by it, and so the dad immediately was like, I have to hide this. And I love that you mentioned how you could see that it the effect it had on the father deteriorating, but also the symbolism of what it meant to keep the son, to keep the kid on the ground, he had to wear a backpack full of rocks. He was literally weighing him down, and that's so sad to me. That's so sad to me that there's a parent that felt to protect his kid because he wasn't doing it to be mean, but he was he felt he had to protect his son. He had to weigh him down, he had to water down who he was, that he had to hide who he was. And that I I loved how they told that story because yes, it it was said by the creators that it was to represent the uh the autistic community and those challenges that autistic families can face, but it can also be relatable in many other ways that people can still get that that message from it, you know, that we shouldn't have to hide who we are from other people, that we shouldn't have to dim our light. And I just I think it's so so important. So I'm so happy that you mentioned those two. Those were very, very powerful shorts, and I don't think that that they're as well known because they're the again, they're only on Disney Plus. So if you have Disney Plus, definitely go check out the Spark shorts, Loop and Float. They're both absolutely wonderful. So good shout.

SPEAKER_00 58:07

Now, tell me yours.

SPEAKER_02 58:11

Okay. Um, so there's obviously a bunch of moments in the Pixar films that get me, but I would say the biggest reaction that I have ever given to a Pixar film is Inside Out 2. Um, this should be no surprise to anybody because Inside Out 2 has a very big focus on anxiety. We have the same feelings on this. And how when you get into a panic attack or you get into an anxiety spiral, you can't you can't really do anything but work through it. You have to get just go through it, and it sucks. You could do breathing exercises, but it's not gonna make your brain stop moving. And the scene with Riley having the panic attack coupled with what is happening with anxiety in that moment. I was borderline hyperventilating in the theater because I was because it was so well illustrated. For anybody that's never had a panic attack, it was that's the best depiction I've ever seen in my life. From Riley's perspective of her like not being able to breathe, she's like clutching at her clothes and her knee is shaking. She doesn't know what's happening to her, she's imbalanced, she doesn't know how to regulate it. This is and this is the first time anxiety has happened to her because anxiety is a new emotion for Riley.

SPEAKER_00 59:49

Because fear is very different than anxiety. They can hang.

SPEAKER_02 59:54

They can hang, which they also illustrated really, really well. Fear protects you, fear protects you from things you can see, and anxiety protects you from things that you can't. But what it really means is anxiety protects you from things that you make up. Because in some cases, in some cases, it is a real fear, and in a most cases it's not. And that's the hard part to try to differentiate when you have anxiety. But Riley's reaction to the panic attack was spot on, but more so anxiety spinning around and creating that cyclone around the console. Like they're like, anxiety, you have to stop, you have to stop, and she's just going. And then when Joy breaks through the cyclone and sees that that anxiety is frozen, that was it for me. I was done. I was done. Because that was exact that's exactly what it is. Your brain is going and it is spiraling, but at the same exact time, you are frozen. There's nothing you can do. You're stuck. And the way that they depicted that the only way that you can get out of it is to recognize that there's other things to consider. That was so powerful and such a powerful thing to teach kids to understand at a young age. My kids were, you know, seven and five when they went to see this movie, and they know what those emotions are. They can they can speak that to me. I would I never at seven years old would have told my parents I'm feeling anxious. Those words never would have come out of my mouth. So Pixar providing these tools and these incredible stories and the ability to tell these really important things for kids to understand at a young age helps kids to identify those feelings and helps them to be able to express it so that they can then work on regulating. Just imagine having these types of things when you were a kid. It's just it's so incredibly powerful.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:56

And it's and to piggyback off what we were talking about, it's often used in the special needs community very big time now because I bet again, this is uh, you know, definitely something that they cannot convey on their own a lot of times and can't regulate on their own. And so, um, you know, depending on obviously um the level of uh the person you're dealing with, there's a really great way to use those characters um and their characteristics for that matter to be able to enter into those conversations or to manifest some regulation for them. And I don't know about you, but when I heard about Insight 2, excuse me, Insight Out 2, we knew an anxiety character was coming. And I thought to myself, all right, I am cautiously optimistic because who knows if you're gonna be able to put on screen what this feels like. Because if you don't know, you don't know. And I'm like, but Pixar people, they get it. I mean, I'm sure someone is working on this who absolutely gets it. It's hard to say if this is going to hit the mark in the right way. Of course, it did.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:01

Right, spot on. I I will agree, inside out, the first inside out is very special to me, but inside out too, I can safely say I like more. Uh, just because I feel like I relate to it so much more, and it I think it does such an incredible service to just the world because it is so, so helpful. And who voiced anxiety?

SPEAKER_00 1:03:24

Maya Hawk.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:26

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:26

And you know who Maya Hawk is? Friend of the Pod. L-O-L. Friend of the Pod.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:31

Robin Buckley from Stranger Things. That's right.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:34

That is right. I love it. We do need to shout out all of the absolutely brilliant voice actors, those you know and those you don't, for that matter. Yeah. Um who, you know, bring these characters to life because truly it is a beautiful marriage between the animator, the computer. I don't know what they call themselves. Computer animators? They're animators. Okay. Yeah, they're still animators. And of course, as we mentioned, they still do some of the traditional animation to get these things to what they need to be and employ traditional animators to be able to work in tandem and to watch these people do all of the mannerisms and whatnot, so they can also do uh the stuff in the uh computer as well. So, you know, shouts out to everybody. Oh, all right, so I want to get to our game.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:21

Okay, so this one's the this one's not gonna be a very big heavy question. Out of all of the different fantastical worlds and stories that we have been introduced to at Pixar, if you could visit it or go there on vacation or maybe live there forever, like what world would you want to be a part of?

SPEAKER_00 1:04:41

Um I think I'm going to Monsters University, sincerely. It looks like so much fun.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:49

Yeah, I mean, and and they're such fun characters at Monsters University.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:53

I love it and you know I love a jock. And Sully's giving that vibe big time. Yeah. I think I might have a crush on Sully if I was there.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:02

So I can see that. Of course, I would be. Well, you know who I would have a crush on.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:07

On Mike.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:09

No. You. Who? Randall.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:13

Oh, jeez. You can't have a crush on the villain. It's not acceptable.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:17

He's not a villain in Monsters University. He's misunderstood. Don't get me on a technicality. I love it. No. Um, I think that mine would be onward. I I'm not a big like fantasy person. Like, I don't read like Lord of the Rings and stuff. I don't like play Dungeons and Dragons, though I think I would enjoy it. I'd never have. Um, but just the idea that everything is fantastical and there's fairies and ogres and dragons and magic and stuff like that. And I think Onward is also super un underrated. I love Onward, and I really, really love the brother. Dynamic and that whole story in general, so I would pick onward, I think. Okay. Alright. Alright. What we're gonna do is we are going to draft a Pixar team. We're gonna pick four Pixar characters that are gonna be like our epitome of four Pixar characters. And then when we are done, and you have your lineup and I have my lineup, we're gonna take it to the socials and people are going to vote about whose lineup is better.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:34

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:34

So like maybe who you'd want to hang out with, or maybe you who you'd want to have like a dinner with. Okay. You go first. I'm gonna start off strong. It's gonna be Woody. Of course it is. Woody is funny, he's a leader, he gets stuff done, and we have a lot in common. So I'm picking Woody as my number one. Okay. Uh my girl Joy, of course. Is number one. Alright. She's picking Joy. What do you mean? I really do wonder if we're going to have uh if we're gonna have the same ones or not.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:11

If someone says the same one, then you have to pivot immediately and put a different person on your team. That's the rule. Okay. Alright. She's made a rule right here.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:20

It's a ruling because she knows that that'll throw me.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:23

And I love it.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:25

Okay. My number two is Mrs. Incredible. I'm going Mrs. Incredible. Okay. Helen Parr. Okay, I forgot that. Fine as hell. She's tough. She's a wife and a mom. Helen Parr. Mrs. Incredible.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:41

I'm coming in with a real side character right now. Very niche, and I don't care. Okay because she's actually one of my very favorite characters. And she appears minuscule time. I love uh hear me now, people. I love nostalgia. I love her and I want her back. I love her. If you think I'm like Joy, nostalgia is where I live.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:12

For those of you that needed a second to be like, what? Who's nostalgia? She comes in for two seconds. She's voiced by the legendary June Squibb. That's right. And she said Inside Out 2 has nostalgia. She has like two scenes that are each like four seconds long.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:33

Yep. And I love it. It's giving like, oh Nana, come on.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:36

Oh Nana, let's get you, let's put you back to bed. Oh my gosh, that's so funny. Nostalgia's important. Thank you so much. Okay, so so far you've got joy and you've got nostalgia. Alright. This is just so interesting. We're doing it right now. Like all like already, I'm like, yep, those two are Becky. And so far, I'm like, yep, these two are me. Yep. Alright, I'm gonna bring in this third one. And I don't know your opinion on this movie. This movie is in my top five, and that is Luca.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:12

I do love Luca. I actually quite love the look of Luca almost more than anything else. It's so beautiful. It's so gorgeous. So beautiful. I like Luca a lot. And Gabriel watches Luca a lot, which is interesting to me.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:26

Oh, okay. So Luca surprised the hell out of me. I did not think I would enjoy that movie. But the character that I love the most and who is my number three spot is Alberto.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:39

I thought you were gonna say the girl, I can't remember her name.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:41

Julia.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:42

Yeah, Julia. She's fun.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:44

I like her. Spulia. Um, she is fun. I love Julia. But Alberto is he's that person where you look at him and you're like, he's so confident and cool, and he's he's got it together, but he's so afraid and he has abandonment issues, and he's so sweet to me and funny when he teaches Luca how to walk in the beginning. I'm like, that's a that's a that's a man right there. I I love Alberto, so yes, that's my number three. Alberto from Luca.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:16

Okay, my number three, and that's Sully. Yes, I love Sully. He's coming on my team. If we need to do anything physical, he's going to be our guy. He willingly follows you. I can be controlling Joy. He would follow Joy anywhere. Like, that would be fine. It's true. It's true. And it will he'll he'll like answer the call, he will do the direction, he will play nice, it will be fine. And if we need some sort of fame scenario for whatever reason, like he's our guy, clearly. Yeah. Yeah. I like that. I actually have thought this out like a bit, just so everybody knows.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:56

You definitely have. And I'll be honest with you, my fourth spot was really up in the air. I've been between a couple of people. I wanted to put anxiety on the list, but I was.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:07

I did too, but I was like, I don't want to deal with her. Get out! Exactly, exactly. Only someone with anxiety could tell you that.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:18

It's exactly anything.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:19

If we're choosing emotions to have, she's out the door.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:23

So sorry, anxiety. Love you so much. But you're a little girl. Yes, so anxiety was on my list, but I was like, I don't want to deal with her. Like, she's gonna be annoying everybody. But I'm really gonna call in one that this is this is one of those things where I'm like, I'm just gonna go for it. I this is not a character I would normally think of. Okay. I don't even know if you know who this character is. It it's uh it is in a controversially disliked Pixar film that makes me sad because I enjoyed it.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:53

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:54

Um, have you ever seen Lightyear? You know what? I have not seen the whole thing. I enjoyed it. I've watched it, I think, twice, and Chris Evans is Buzz Lightyear, so obviously I'm a dumb. Chris Evans is one of my guys. Um, so obviously I was in. But the star of light year, if you don't resonate with light year, that's fine, but you cannot deny that Sox, the robotic cat, is the star of light year. He's the reason light year exists, is because we got socks. And so I'm picking socks as my number four. Because socks is cute, socks is funny, he's resourceful, he's a robot. So, to your point, if we need him to do something that the rest of us are like, oh, I don't know, send the robot cat in. He'll be fine. He's like a Swiss Army knife, he's got laser eyes, he can do white noise sounds to help you fall asleep. That's nice. Yeah, he's very nice. So I'm picking socks. I'm surprising myself here. By God, I love that cat. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:00

And my number four is a good one. Oh okay. I love him so much. And if we're going somewhere, we're gonna need to have some fun. And he is my particular brand of fun. Ken is coming to the party. Oh, what a good get! We're gonna have a great time. Nostalgia's gonna tell him what to wear, and he's gonna be like, I was there. I I got it, babe. What what were what do you want me to wear? And I feel like he was he's giving caretaker energy for nostalgia as well, so I feel like that's good. He would. Um, Joy would obviously love him, clearly, like best friends forever, like 100%. And Sully would be like, Okay, let's okay, sure. And he would wear whatever Ken wanted. Ken would be like, here's our outfits that we're gonna wear for whatever it is that we're you know up to. Our team name is this, like, Ken, I love you forever. Also, just so you know, I have been a Barbie girl since day one.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:02

Yeah, obviously.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:03

In real life, Becky was playing with Barbies in the 80s.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:08

I mean, I'm not surprised by any of this. Alright, so again, we have to I have we have to look at this uh lineup because I think it just says so much about who we are as people. So as a recap, my lineup is Woody from Toy Story, Mrs. Incredible from The Incredibles, Alberto from Luca, and Sox from Lightyear. And yours is Joy from Inside Out, Nostalgia from Inside Out 2, Sully from Monsters Inc., and Ken from Toy Story 3. These are such good lineups, and I'm so happy that they're so different. Yeah. So I cannot wait. I will put this together for our fangirl community to vote on, and we need to know whose lineup do you prefer. And then I also want to know what's your lineup. Yeah.

unknown 1:15:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:03

I want to know your lineup. What's your draft? Pick your four Pixar characters. We want to know. So make sure that you uh leave us your draft too. Alright. Should we do a Blessed Manifest? I think we should uh start to wrap it up. This has been such a fun episode. Um, I am gonna let you go first.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:23

Alright, so I would consider myself a fangirl blessed because I have been to Pixar Studios on more than one occasion. Um and it is equal parts, fascinating, and energy is very palpable while you're there, and you feel how much care goes into all of this. They have amazing props and pictures and animation, and they've got all sorts of fun stuff there. Not for nothing, the food is good in the cafe. But yes, and really getting to speak with people who work at Pixar, different animators, etc. Just get to immerse yourself in the place where these movies are made, in the place where these people think these things up. It just really just I I can't really describe it. It feels like an energy, like there's just just like a buzz that you're like so excited. Pun intended. Um, you're just so excited to be there and to be a part of all of that. So that I would call myself a fangirl blessed for that reason. How about you?

SPEAKER_02 1:16:25

Um, yeah, I I've had a couple of blessed moments. I have been to the Pixar Studios as well, and I have to agree. It is there's there's an energy for sure, and you can just tell that the entire building is filled with people who share the same passion, who share the same love for the company and for storytelling and the characters. They have all these different exhibits and um features all over the place, just in the atrium alone. That is just you can see how much care is put into everything. Um and I and not to mention the Pixar store is the coolest.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:03

Forget it. Money is gone. Money's gone. Uh, you I think you might know this about me. I've said this before. My favorite type of merch is when if you know, you know merch, right? It's not gonna be like I love Pixar or whatever on it. Subtle. I'm sure a lot of people know, but you know, they will create things for the cast and crew. And so a lot of times they will create things and merch specifically for the cast and crew of the specific movie, and if they have extra, they will sell it in the store. Um, and so I have a it's not a great color, it's brown, and I'm not a fan of brown, but I don't care. It's a sunny side daycare hooded zip up sweatshirt that says that I work there essentially. And again, I love it. I love it so much because again, it's like if you're not in the know, you wouldn't know that. You'd be like, Okay, great, your sunny side daycare, great. I love that you could you love your kids' place, whatever. Like, you know, right. So that's what I love, and that's my favorite thing that I own and that I have ever gotten there. Um, but I've gotten a few things. I had a little problem.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:12

I have gotten a few things as well, but they have such good merch. The shirt I am wearing right now has just baby Kevin on it, and on the back it says Pixar Animation Studios, and it has the tennis ball that the baby Kevins swallow in the movie. Um, so this is one of my prized possessions. This shirt is threadbare, it has a hole in it, and I won't get rid of it. I will not get rid of it. I love it so much. Um, I am not a Buzz Lightyear fan. Like, I'm so sorry. I don't like Buzz Lightyear. Said what she said, people. I said what I said, I will not take it back, and I do have uh I have an entire dissertation about why I don't care for Buzz Lightyear. It's not that I don't like him, I just don't care about him.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:56

Um but I have a it no, it means that it's not It's not that I don't like him, I just don't care about him.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:03

I just don't care about him. It's like there's not anything about him that I like that I hate him. A woody stand, of course.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:10

Buzz is gonna bother you. Also, honorable mention the one, but I won't Honorable mention to Spanish Buzz.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:16

Okay, that's what I was talking about. I have a Buzz shirt that I got from Pixar Animation Studios, and it's Buzz on the front, and he's flamingo dancing, and on the back is the switch. It's the red switch that of like, you know, him switching from Spanish to English. And that's why I bought it because I was like, that's so flippin' cute because it's got the switch on the back, even though I don't care about Buzz, but Spanish Buzz is funny to me and so on.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:42

And again, a fun fact that it pertains to our fangirls of a certain age, they employed Dancing with the Stars Pros.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:49

Yes!

SPEAKER_00 1:19:51

To dance for them so they would understand how to properly animate that scene.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:55

And the end, the end credit scene where Buzz and Jesse are dancing during the end credits, that was choreographed by Dancing with the Stars Pros.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:04

I believe it was Cheryl Burke and I forget who the other person was. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:09

Um, anyway, so yes, I will also say that I have been blessed. Um, I've met John Lasseter, I've met Pete Doctor, um, I have some really, really incredible art in my in my kitchen that Pete Doctor did for me. It's it's Kevin, Doug, and Carl, and it says, Hey Amber, glad you like up. And I was like, ah, because I was ridiculous. Is my favorite. I love him so much, and I just think he's incredibly talented and such a good storyteller. So I will absolutely say uh blessed as well. And I I just uh I love Pixar so so much, and I thank you for letting me just completely geek out, and I hope that you guys learned something. And uh I could do a whole other episode. Oh, for sure. There's plenty I haven't talked about.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:58

Oh, for sure. I did forget. You said, of course, why A113 was what you were on the fangirl scale. I am a 95 because yes, that is the year that Toy Story came out, but also that is Lightning McQueen's number because that is the year that Toy Story came out. That is why. But also, uh, what are his tires? His tires are light year, not good year, light year. Yep, we love that. We love that. Uh for your not friend Buzz Lightyear.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:28

I don't, I just don't care about him. It's fine. I'm telling you, I I should do a follow-up eventually that explains why I don't care about Buzz Lightyear. Um, he's fine and I like their dynamic, but as a character, I can he could he could have stayed at Sunnyside as far as I care.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:43

Shots uh anyway. Shot fired. You know what though? I also want to tell this story really quick. It's funny that when Toy Story 3 was coming out, everyone, I was working at Disney store still, everyone bought lots of bear because he was so cute and he smelled like strawberries. Oh, were people angry?

SPEAKER_02 1:22:03

Oh, were people angry? For lotso, do you know who hates lotso more than anybody in the world? Like, hates lotto? My best friend Andrew. Oh, Andrew. He hates lotso, and so sometimes for like Christmas or his birthday, I just buy him lots of merchandise. I love that. Fancy face. When he moved to Pennsylvania, I bought him a huge lotzo stuffed animal. He was pissed.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:30

So good. Alright, Amber. Well, we're coming to a close on Pixar. Um, we will go to Fenton's the next time Amber is here and we will post a picture. Don't you worry, because then we'll eat ice cream. Jeez, twist our arm. Yeah, if we have to.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:46

Um, but anyway, thanks everybody for uh for joining us for this episode. As always, if you enjoy what you're hearing, make sure that you are subscribed to the podcast and that you leave a rating and review. And also be sure to follow us on social media on TikTok and Instagram at Fangirls of a Certain Age. So thank you everybody for joining us. And Becky, I love you so much, and I love Milo Mannheim.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:11

Well, guess what? Right back at you, babe. I love you, and I love Milo Manheim, who looks so good at the Oscars in his gap studio tuxedo. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:21

Okay, that's it. Okay. Alright, bye everyone.