The story of Elemental has been a bizarre one. It was initially written off as the latest Pixar box office flop, but its sweet, romcom charms gradually brought in the dollars over the summer. The movie has since become a bona fide success story on Disney Plus, which is not surprising given its rewatch value.
Of course, part of the reason to revisit Elemental on Disney Plus is that, just like all of the new movies from Pixar, it’s packed to the brim with Easter eggs and references. This has been a hallmark of the best Pixar movies right from the start, with animators relishing the chance to fill the screen with in-jokes and nods.
One of the most famous Easter eggs present in almost all of the best movies from Pixar is the code A113. This refers to a classroom at California Institute of the Arts where students are taught graphic design and character animation. Pixar alumni including Brad Bird and John Lasseter have studied within its walls.
Given its importance to the studio, it’s no surprise that Pixar has chosen to pay loving homage to room A113 throughout its history. It has appeared on licence plates, court rooms, underwater cameras, and graffiti tags to name just a few occasions on which it has popped up.
But does it appear in Elemental? It does indeed, and it’s cunningly hidden. During one scene, a sign welcoming people to Element City can be seen, with the symbols A, H, and Al underneath it. Chemistry fans will know that 1 is the atomic number for hydrogen (H) and 13 is the atomic number for aluminum (Al). So yup, that’s A113.
TikTok creator Ivan Mars spotted the secret reference and dubbed it “the craziest Easter egg ever”. It’s certainly a smart hiding place from the guys at Pixar, but not one secret enough to fool eagle-eyed fans online.
Indeed, spotting Pixar’s hidden references has become a sport for fans of the studio’s best animated movies. Everybody wants to be the first to find the Pizza Planet truck or to work out where each film fits into the over-arching ‘Pixar Theory‘. We asked the Elemental director about this in our Peter Sohn interview and he said he loves the devotion.
Sohn said: “Some of these theories, I enjoy reading and I’m like: ‘I can see that connection. I don’t know if it was made that way, but that’s a cool connection’. And then others, I’m like ‘that’s impossible’, so I’ve been on both sides of the fence.”
Sohn’s producer, Denise Ream, even revealed that one of the most beloved Pixar characters – the lovable pooch Dug from Up – is concealed somewhere in Elemental, waiting to be found. That sounds like a challenge, so it’s time for the internet sleuths to get hunting.
That means joining Disney Plus, and we’ve got you covered on that front with the link below. So head over there, watch Elemental again, and experience everything else that’s new on Disney Plus.
For more on the latest Pixar triumph, check out our four-star Elemental review and read our interview with stars Leah Lewis and Mamoudou Athie. You can also find out more about how Elemental secretly became a success on Disney Plus.
We’ve also looked ahead to Disney’s most exciting upcoming movies in both live-action and animation, so learn more about The Marvels, the Inside Out 2 release date, and Avatar 3.