Easter Eggs in Turning Red That Are BEAR-y Fun to Look For

Obsessed with finding Disney Pixar Movie Easter Eggs? Come check out the cast and filmmakers spill in this exclusive interview all of the best Easter Eggs in Turning Red That Are BEAR-y Fun to Look For! May contain commissioned links. #TurningRed

20+ Easter Eggs in Turning Red That Are BEAR-y Fun to Look For

Has the wait been un-BEAR-able for you too?

Disney•Pixar’s newest animated film and most adorable red panda, Turning Red, is finally here. And for Pixar fans, that means one thing – time to hunt for Easter Eggs in Turning Red! Young or old, casual or hardcore, people everywhere will now spend years searching for those subtle nods to the past, present and future of Pixar. But what Pixar Easter Eggs in Turning Red should we be looking for? After sitting down with the cast and filmmakers on March 1, 2022, we dish on all things Disney Easter Eggs from Canadian pride to 90s love and of course, the Pixar movies.

Ready to hunt down the best Pixar Easter Eggs? Warning – spoilers ahead.

[Read my full Turning Red Movie Review | Safe for Kids? for spoiler free parent thoughts, plus PG breakdown for violence, adult content and language.]

Toronto Easter Eggs

That Canadian pride, yo. It’s real, especially in the upcoming Pixar film, Turning Red. According to Director Domee Shi, “Yeah, it definitely became…a love letter to Toronto. [Turning Red] felt like we just embraced the city. And it was in every decision about presenting the characters and the family. Like, just making their world as vivid as we could.”

Backed by a proud Canadian director and a predominantly Canadian cast including Rosalie Chiang (“Mei”), Sandra Oh (“Ming”), Maitreyi Ramakrishnan (“Priya”), and Hyein Park (“Abby”), Turning Red has no shame in showing off it’s love for everything Toronto and all of the Canadian glory that us non-Canadian folks may have absolutely NO clue about.

Domee Shi, Oscar winner for Pixar short Bao, says that many of these Toronto and Canada specific Easter eggs come from her own memories growing up in the city. From the Canadian castings to the cultural consultants (many of them from Toronto Chinatown), the Pixar team really had fun planting Turning Red Canadian Easter Eggs for the audience to find. So what should the audience look for?

“…The good old Skydome instead of the Rogers Centre,” said Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, who voices Priya, one of Meilin’s besties. “That’s a throwback.”

Ramakrishnan enjoys even the more subtle references too, like the odes to their sports teams. “One point in the movie, we see a blue jay. And I’m like ‘Oh! Yeah, I see what you did there. Pixar, Toronto Blue Jays, I get it.’ Or even the young boys wearing a purple basketball jersey. It’s like ‘Oh, okay, I see what you’re doing. It’s the purple Raptors!’ Subtle nods.

Golden Globe Award Winner Sandra Oh, who voices Meilin’s “hypervigilant and loving mother” Ming, excitedly chimed in. “I saw [Meilin’s] opening montage and I was like, ‘that is the corner of Spadina and Dundas!’” The Raya and the Last Dragon star grew up in Nepean, Ontario, a city just outside of Ottawa.

“The first thing I noticed was the CN Tower,” Hyein Park adds, voice of “Abby” AND also a Pixar story artist for films like Soul, Toy Story 4, and Bao (talk about an Asian woman of many talents!) Park, who immigrated to Toronto as a teenager, admired the Toronto skyline in Turing Red.

Besides the amazing Toronto skyline, you can also catch other Toronto landmarks and nods including: the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) streetcars, passing through the colorful storefronts of Kensington Market, Daisy Mart convenience stores, and a famous Tim Hortons Timbits donut box. 

Director Domee Shi admitted that she had fun stumping her fellow filmmakers with a little extra Canadian trivia and lingo too, like adding Loonies and Toonies (Canadian coins) into the script or toque (the Canadian word for a small beanie hat) to describe the hat Meilin wears.

The 90s Easter Eggs

Hashtag trending. So what other Pixar Easter Eggs in Turning Red should fans look for? Everything 90’s, baby. Boy bands, friendship bracelets and Tamagotchi – oh my! You know what they say, those trends come back around.

From flip phones (or Nokia for me) to chokers and all of the plaid shirts to makeup, parents will appreciate pointing out those oh-so-familiar nods from their childhoods. And tweens and teens will enjoy seeing some of those popular trends they enjoy now on the screen. And yes, that new 4*Town Song “Nobody Like U” will definitely be the new “We Don’t Talk About Bruno.”

Enjoy hunting down the 1990s – 2000s trends in Turning Red and give a big sigh to the “good ole days.”

Pixar Easter Eggs

One plus of a straight to streaming Turning Red release, that pause button. Hunting for Pixar Easter Eggs since the very beginning with Toy Story in 1995, young and old love searching for little nods to past movies, future movies and little Pixar Animation Studios exclusives (like the famous “A113” – a nod to the animation classroom number at alma mater California Institute of the Arts).

Besides the usual Pixar Easter Eggs that the audience is always on the hunt for (the Luxo ball in the pool, A113, and the Pizza Planet truck on the streets of Chinatown) – also known as the “OG’s,” the filmmakers hinted at a few more Easter Eggs in Turning Red that are worth a look.

Look for a “Bao restaurant” sign as the camera pans down into Toronto Chinatown, a nod to Domee Shi’s first director role for award winning short, Bao. (How has it been over 4 years since this pic I got with Domee back at Pixar?)

There are also a few SparkShorts nods, including Purl on Mei’s desk in her room and a Burrow Bunny sticker on a notebook on the floor of her room.

Did you catch the Mulan breakfast porridge nod? How about the kid in the hallway wearing a Monsters. Inc. shirt? There’s also a Finding Nemo sticker in the bathroom, and a Kevin-like skeleton in the classroom.

As far as the Pixar Easter Egg for the next upcoming Pixar film release, producer Lindsey Collins hinted “that’s always something we have a good time figuring out what’s the right placement. So obviously ours is a nod to Lightyear, which is coming up. And if you look carefully, you can actually see that one on Miriam’s skateboard.”

Follow Disney’s Turning Red movie on social:

Turning Red streams on Disney+ on Friday March 11, 2022. Don’t forget to check out my Turning Red Movie Review for Parents to see if the film is safe for kids to watch before the release! Be sure to follow Turning Red on social for the latest trailer releases, sneak peeks and more.

• Website: https://movies.disney.com/turning-red
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/PixarTurningRed/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/PixarTurningRed
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/pixarturningred/
• #TurningRed

And per usual, I expect many, many more exciting hidden Pixar Easter Eggs in Turning Red to be found over the coming days and even years. Have a good one? Share below!

I was invited to take part of this Disney Pixar press event in exchange for this Turning Red Interview. All photos courtesy of Disney. Be sure to follow Raising Whasians for more movie updates, celebrity interviews, entertainment and behind-the-scenes info!