Turning Red follows all Pixar traditions and it includes an Easter egg teasing the following movie from the studio: Lightyear, and here’s where to find it. Although the world of animation now has different studios bringing a variety of stories for different audiences, Pixar continues to be a powerhouse thanks to its narrative formula, animation style, and its family-friendly approach, and it keeps on treating its audience to at least one movie per year. 2022 will see two Pixar movies, and the first one is Turning Red.
Directed by Domee Shi, Turning Red takes viewers to Canada to meet Meilin "Mei" Lee (Rosalie Chiang), a confident, dorky 13-year-old Chinese-Canadian student who one day discovers that whenever she gets too excited or stressed, she turns into a giant red panda, but she can turn back if she becomes calm. This “quirk” is linked to her ancestors, who have a shared history with the species as a family curse, but the curse can be contained by performing a special ritual on one specific night – however, that night coincides with a concert of Mei’s favorite boy band. In addition to this, Mei has to deal with everything else puberty throws her way, along with the relationship with her overbearing mother, Ming (Sandra Oh).
Turning Red is different from other Pixar movies, especially in terms of animation, which has made it stand out from the rest and earned it the praise of critics and viewers, but it also follows the most traditional Pixar elements. In addition to being a story about family and self-discovery, like many other Pixar movies, Turning Red follows one of the most entertaining Pixar traditions which is featuring an Easter egg teasing the next movie. In this case, the Easter egg is related to Lightyear, and as per usual, it can be tricky to find it, but you just have to pay attention to Miriam’s (Ava Morse) skateboard.
The Lightyear Easter egg in Turning Red appears in the first three minutes, and while it’s quite visible, it’s also very easy to miss given the pace of the scene and that all the attention is on Mei. As Mei and her friends walk out of school, Miriam is holding her skateboard and the stickers on it can be seen, and on the top of it is a sticker of Sox, the robot cat that accompanies Buzz Lightyear (voiced by Chris Evans) on his space mission, and below the wheels of the skateboard is a sticker of the symbol on Buzz’s suit. Contrary to what the title might suggest, Lightyear isn’t the backstory of the Buzz Lightyear toy but that of the man who inspired the toy within the universe of Toy Story. Lightyear follows young test pilot Buzz Lightyear and his journey to become the famous Space Ranger whose success led him to get his own (also famous) action figure. During his mission, Buzz will come across a variety of creatures in space and will also face the villainous Emperor Zurg.
Looking for the Easter egg teasing the next movie in every new Pixar project is a must-do for fans, along with looking for the famous Pizza Planet truck and references to past movies as well, and Turning Red checks all those boxes. In order to carry on with the tradition of a tease of the next movie, Pixar is expected to announce its next project before Lightyear comes out, so fans can be on the lookout for the Easter egg that links to it.