#1 The Pixar Theory
This theory covers every Pixar production since Toy Story. That includes:
-A Bug's Life
-Toy Story 2
-Monsters Inc.
-Finding Nemo
-The Incredible's
-Cars
-Ratatouille
-Wall-E
-Up
-Toy Story 3
-Cars 2
-Brave
-Monsters University
The point of this theory is to have fun and exercise your imagination while simultaneously finding interesting connections between these fantastic movies. If you hate fun and/or imagination, you probably won't like this theory.
#2 Brave
Brave is the first and last movie in the timeline. Obviously, this movie about a Scottish kingdom during the Dark Ages is the earliest time period covered by the Pixar films, but it's also the only Pixar movie that actually explains why animals in the Pixar universe behave like humans sometimes.
In Brave, Merida discovers that there is "magic" that can solve her problems but inadvertently turns her mother into a bear. We find out that this magic comes from an odd witch seemingly connected to the mysterious will-of-the-wisps. Not only do we see animals behaving like humans, but we also see brooms (inanimate objects) behaving like people in the witch's shop.
#3 The Odd Witch
We also learn that this witch inexplicably disappears every time she passes through doors, leading us to believe that she may not even exist. Don't get ahead of me, but we'll come back to Brave. Let's just say, for now, the witch is someone we know from a different movie in the timeline.
Centuries later, the animals from Brave that have been experimented on by the witch have interbred, creating a large-scale population of animals slowly gaining personification and intelligence on their own.
There are two progressions: the progression of the animals and the progression of artificial intelligence. The events of the following movies set up a power struggle between humans, animals, and machines.
The stage for all-out war in regards to animals is set by Ratatouille, Finding Nemo, and Up, in that order. Notice I left out A Bug's Life, but I'll explain why later.
#4 Ratatouille
Remy wants to cook, something only humans explicitly do. He crafts a relationship with a small group of humans and finds success. Meanwhile, the villain of Ratatouille, Chef Skinner, disappears. What happened to him? What did he do with his new found knowledge that animals were capable of transcending their instincts and performing duties better than humans?
#5 Charles Muntz (Up)
It's possible that Charles Muntz, the antagonist of Up, learned of this startling rumor, giving him the idea to begin inventing devices that would harness the thoughts of animals, namely his dogs, through translator collars. Those collars indicated to Muntz that animals are smarter and more like humans than we think. He needed this technology to find the exotic bird he's obsessed over, and he even comments on how many dogs he's lost since he arrived in South America.
#6 Dug and Gang
But then Dug and the rest of his experiments are set free after Muntz's demise, and we don't know the full implications of that, but what we do know is that animosity between the animals and humans is growing steadily. Now that humans have discovered the potential of animals, they are beginning to cross the line. To develop this new technology, the humans begin an industrial revolution hinted at in Up.
#7 Post Card on Andy's Board
Some have pointed out that Muntz was working in South America before the events of Ratatouille. This is true, but it is not explicitly stated how and when he developed the collars. Also, we know Ratatouille takes place before Up for several reasons. In Toy Story 3, a postcard on Andy's wall has Carl and Ellie's name and address on it (including their last names to confirm). This confirms that in 2010, the time of Toy Story 3, Ellie is still alive or hasn't been dead long. This supports the idea that Up takes place years later.
#8 Buy-n-Large (BNL)
In the beginning of Up, Carl is forced to give up his house to a corporation because they are expanding the city. Think on that. What corporation is guilty for polluting the earth and wiping out life in the distant future because of technology overreach?
#9 Take a look at those batteries
Buy-n-Large (BNL), a corporation that runs just about everything by the time we get to Wall-E. In the"History of BNL" commercial from the movie, we're told that BNL has even taken over the world governments. Did you catch that this one corporation achieved global dominance?Interestingly, this is the same organization alluded to in Toy Story 3:
#10 Finding Nemo
In Finding Nemo, we have an entire population of sea creatures uniting to save a fish that was captured by humans. BNL shows up again in this universe via another news article that talks about a beautiful underwater world.
Lines are being crossed. Humans are beginning to antagonize the increasingly networked and intelligent animals.
Think about Dory from Finding Nemo for a second. She stands apart from most of the other fish. Why? She is not as intelligent. Her short-term memory loss is likely a result of her not being as advanced as the other sea creatures, which is a reasonable explanation for how rapidly these creatures are evolving.
#11 The Incredible's
And that is the furthest movie in the "animal" side of things. When it comes to A.I., we start with The Incredible's. Who is the main villain of this movie? You probably thought of Buddy, a.ka. Syndrome, who basically commits genocide on super-powered humans.
Or does he? Buddy didn't have any powers. He used technology to enact revenge on Mr. Incredible for not taking him seriously. Seems a little odd that the man went so far as to commit genocide.
#12 Killbot
And how does he kill all of the supers? He creates the omnidroid, an A.I. "killbot" that learns the moves of every super-human and adapts. When Mr. Incredible is first told about this machine, Mirage mentions that it is an advanced artificial intelligence that has gone rogue.
Mr. Incredible points out that it got smart enough to wonder why it had to take orders. The omnidroid eventually turns on Syndrome, and starts attacking humans in the city. Why would an A.I. want to just attack randomly? Do machines have an inherent hatred of humans?
But why would machines want to get rid of humans in the first place? We know that animals don't like humans because they are polluting the Earth and experimenting on them, but why would the machines have an issue?
Syndrome points to the answer. He tells Mr. Incredible that his lasers are powered by Zero Point Energy. This is the electromagnetic energy that exists in a vacuum. It's the unseen energy we find in wavelengths and a reasonable explanation for how toys and objects in the Pixar world draw power.
#13 Toy Story
Enter Toy Story. Here we see humans using and discarding "objects" that are clearly sentient. Yes, the toys love it Uncle Tom style, but over the course of the Toy Story sequels, we see toys becoming fed up. But wait, toys and inanimate objects aren't necessarily machines, so how do they have some kind of intelligence?
By the events of the Toy Story movies, we are in the 90s until 2010. It's been 40-50 years or so since the events of The Incredibles, giving A.I. plenty of time to develop BNL.
Meanwhile, Pixar is hinting at dissatisfaction among pockets of toy civilizations. The toys rise up against Sid in the first movie. Jesse resents her owner, Emily, for abandoning her. Lotso Huggin' Bear straight up hates humans by the third movie.
Toys are obviously not satisfied with the status quo, providing a reason for why machines and objects alike are ready to take over.
So, by the 2000s, the super-humans all but gone, and mankind is vulnerable. Animals, who want to rise up Planet of the Apes style, have the ability to take over, but we don't see this happen.
#14 Energy Source
Also, A.I. never takes over humans by force. Why do you think that is? It's reasonable to assume that machines did take over, just not as we expected. The machines used BNL, a faceless corporation (which are basically faceless in nature) to dominate the world, starting in the 1960s after the Omnidroid fails to defeat the Incredibles.
In each of the Toy Story movies, it's made painfully clear that sentient objects rely on humans for everything. For fulfillment and even energy. It's hinted at that the Toys lose all life when put away in "storage" unless they are in a museum that will get them seen by humans.
#15 Cars
So machines decide to control humans by using a corporation that suits their every need, leading to an industrial revolution that eventually leads topollution. When the animals rise up against the humans to stop them from polluting the earth, who will save them? The machines.
We know that the machines will win the war, too, because after this war, there are almost no animals left on Earth. Who's left?
