Aside from the Pixar Universe Theory, there’s not much in common between Toy Story and Monsters Inc., but a fun detail in the latter has made way for a theory that connects the stories of both movies. Pixar continues its reign in the world of animation, and it all began in 1995 with Toy Story, the first entirely computer-animated feature film that changed the world of animation forever, and helped establish Pixar as the leading studio in it. Since then, Pixar has consistently brought high-quality animated movies with heartwarming stories and relatable characters, and through them, it has explored different places, worlds, and creatures.
In 2001, Pixar took viewers to a world where the monsters hiding in the closet are actually real, but they have their own world, rules, and society, and not all of them are mean and scary. Monsters Inc. followed monsters James P. “Sulley” Sullivan (voiced by John Goodman) and Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal), two best friends who worked together at the title energy-producing factory, which generated power by scaring human children. The monsters believed humans were toxic and were extremely careful not to bring anything from their world into theirs, and of course, they never let children cross over into their world. It all took a turn when a little human girl, who Sulley named Boo, sneaked into the factory, leading Sulley and Mike to find a way to send her back home before it was too late.
However, not all monsters in Sulley’s world were nice like him and Mike, as there was Randall (Steve Buscemi), a chameleon-like monster who could blend in with his surroundings and who was Sulley’s rival in the scream collection. Now, as mentioned above, Toy Story and Monsters Inc. don’t have much in common, but a theory connects these two worlds through Randall, who could have been Toy Story’s Andy’s assigned monster, as possibly hinted by one important detail.
How Monster Inc. Connects To Toy Story
It’s tradition for Pixar movies to add Easter eggs and references to other movies without these actually meaning something, like a connection between their stories and characters or being set in the same world – however, these details and other coincidences have made way for the Pixar Universe Theory, which tries to place all Pixar movies into one universe by connecting them through one elaborate and sometimes confusing storyline. In it, the government has tried to harness human “energy” in different ways, and after trying to do so through superpowered people (as seen in The Incredibles), these attempts made way for toys to become conduits of power that fed off the raw emotions of children, making them come to life as seen in Toy Story. The world continued evolving and looking for ways to harness energy, and Monsters Inc fits into the theory towards the end of the timeline, in a time when animals evolved past humans and became monsters who also needed human emotion as power. In order to harvest power, they traveled to the past through doors, as the monsters did in Monsters Inc, and the screams of children are that power they need so much.
Monster Inc. Theory: Randall Is Andy’s Assigned Monster
Whether you believe in the Pixar Universe Theory or not, the truth is that Monsters Inc. had portals through which the monsters traveled to the human world (whether that’s the past, the future, or just different worlds is up to each viewer), and as it’s a Pixar movie, it has Easter eggs related to past movies, including Toy Story. One of those is found in the scene where Randall is practicing his chameleonic talents by blending into different backgrounds, among those one of a bedroom wall with a wallpaper like the one in Andy’s room in Toy Story. This has been interpreted as Randall being Andy’s assigned monster, which makes more sense when linked to another theory about Toy Story and Monsters Inc. This one says that the blue monster who runs back in fear as he was in great danger of “dying” because the kid in his assigned room almost touched him actually came across Toy Story‘s Sid, this because a poster on the boy’s room can be briefly seen, and it’s the same seen in Sid’s room – however, the monster said the kid was a girl, so it’s possible he encountered Sid’s sister, Hannah, instead of her evil brother. These theories actually help the Pixar Universe Theory, and they add a fun connection between two of Pixar’s most beloved movies.