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In one of our blog posts on the various Easter eggs in Toy Story, we mentioned about a scene which makes reference to the acclaimed classic horror movie, The Shining. The thing is, allusions to this horror movie are scattered throughout the film series.
Some of the noteworthy Easter Eggs of The Shining in the Toy Story flicks are the following:
The Carpet
In the first Toy Story movie, the carpet in Sid’s house looks the same as the carpet in The Shining’s Overlook Hotel. We mentioned this in our article, Easter Eggs in Toy Story 1.
The Intercom / Public Address System
Inside the security room of Sunnyside Daycare (Toy Story 3), the intercom / public address system looks so similar to the one in the office scene wherein Jack Torrance was interviewed.
In the same scene of Toy Story 3, you will notice that the tissue box on the right corner has the same design as that of the infamous Overlook Hotel carpet.
Number 237
The number 237 refers to the forbidden room in Overlook Hotel where strange and creepy things were said to happen.
This Easter egg is not unique to the Toy Story films. In fact, you can spot it in other Pixar and Disney movies such as Finding Nemo and Coco – both are directed by Lee Unkrich.
Who Is Lee Unkrich and Why Is "The Shining" in Toy Story?
If you think about it, it is quite weird for a children’s movie to show Easter eggs that refer to a horror film. We can think of 2 plausible reasons:
1. Shared Universe
The first theory we propose is that the world of Toy Story resides in the same universe as that of The Shining.
The makers of the Toy Story flicks did a great job in making the characters of the movie series (and that includes the villains) all lovable and kid-friendly. Come to think of it, however, knowing that toys come alive when not seen by humans is actually kind of creepy. Given the “supernatural” archetype of The Shining’s plot, this theory is quite plausible.
2. A Fan within the Crew
There may be someone from the Toy Story production crew who highly appreciates The Shining movie. Now, for this theory to be likely, that someone has to be at the top giving the orders to make some references to The Shining.
And it seems that it is so…
Lee Unkrich was a longtime member of the creative team at Pixar before he retired in February of 2019. He was an animator, screenwriter, film editor, and director of several blockbuster Pixar films. He co-directed Monsters Inc, Finding Nemo, Toy Story 2, and eventually made his directorial debut with Toy Story 3 in 2010. He also directed the Disney animated movie Coco released in 2017, which won various film awards for Best Animated Film. Now here is the thing, this guy Lee Unkrich happens to be a huge fan of The Shining, a film directed by Stanley Kubrick. In fact, there is a blog site dedicated to all things about The Shining; it is called TheOverlookHotel.com and Unkrich is its “self-proclaimed caretaker.”
Unkrich credits his love of filmmaking to Stanley Kubrick and his horror flick, The Shining.
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| Lee Unkrich | Photo c/o Independent.co.uk |
However, Unkrich does not take the credit for the carpet Easter egg in (the first) Toy Story. He says it was the idea of the film’s production designer, Ralph Eggleston, who happens to be another fan of The Shining.
