Like so many other people around the world, I dove straight into Hoppers and fell in love with the latest Pixar release as soon as it landed on the 2026 movie schedule. Easily one of the studio’s best movies in years, the darkly funny and incredibly heartfelt animated adventure about a college student transferring her consciousness into a robotic beaver to save a local ecosystem hit on so many levels.
While I would love to talk about those shockingly terrifying scenes, the absolutely wonderful voice cast, or why this animated adventure made me cry multiple times, there’s something bigger I want to discuss. So, what is it? Well, one Easter Egg near the end of the movie totally has me buying into one wild Pixar theory the internet has been debating for years. Let me explain…
Oh, major spoilers for Hoppers and some of the other 29 Pixar movies follow. You’ve been warned…
First, What Is The Pixar Shared Universe Theory?
There has never officially been a Pixar cinematic universe akin to what we have with the MCU or even Kevin Smith’s View Askewniverse. There has long been speculation from fans that the 30 movies released by the studio are connected in some way. Back in 2013, Jon Negroni started using the name “The Pixar Theory,” also known as “The Grand Unifying Theory of Pixar Movies,” which suggested that everything is connected.
Characters, locations, companies, themes, narrative devices, they’re all included in this overarching theory that Brave, Toy Story, Wall-E, and Monsters Inc. movies (and many others) all take place on the same timeline. CinemaBlend previously covered this theory in great detail more than a decade ago, when we said it should be treated as a fun exploration rather than gospel. Still, Hoppers has me thinking about it in a different light.
And Why Does Hoppers Have Me Buying Into This After All These Years?
There have been countless Pixar Easter Eggs hidden throughout the studio’s library over the years, but the nod in the final moments of Hoppers really has me going. After Mabel is transformed back into a human and the Hoppers program is shut down by the university (for obvious reasons), Dr. Sam reveals the team’s latest invention: a collar that translates animals’ thoughts into human speech. Where have we seen that before? Oh yeah, Up!
Though things get kind of messy when you think about the Pixar timeline and where Up and Hoppers take place on it, this is honestly one of the strongest connections I’ve seen between two movies yet. Sure, the technology is more advanced in the 2026 movie than in the 2009 tear-jerking classic, but could it be seen as Dr. Sam and her team modernizing the dog collar tech, or as having some connection to those responsible for its use all those years ago?
The diagram on the chalkboard was so detailed, so much so that I’m having a hard time thinking it’s just a little Easter Egg meant for longtime fans and instead a bridge between the two.
Is the Up reference in Hoppers a sign that the shared Pixar universe is a thing, or is this just a clever Easter Egg to one of the best movies of the 2000s? I’ve had my doubts before, but I’m totally leaning towards the former now.
