Cool and Unique Details You Never Saw

Sulley’s fur moves realistically throughout the movie.

Pixar has become known for its extraordinarily detailed animation style, and “Monsters Inc.” is no exception.

Sulley’s detailed fur was reportedly made up of over a million hairs, and the studio even came up with a new program, called Simulation, to get all those hairs to move. 

The first time the movement of Sulley’s fur is noticeable is in his opening scene when he breathes on his arm in his sleep.

Mike and Sulley’s furniture has some spooky features.

Mike and Sulley’s apartment has plenty of items that one would expect in a usual home, such as beds, chairs, a television set, and an alarm clock.

But much of their furniture has small monster-like touches, such as the fangs on the fireplace and radio.

Their chairs match their looks.

In their apartment, Mike and Sulley each have their own chair that seems to match their aesthetic.

Mike’s chair is small, green, and round, and Sulley’s chair is large and purple.

Sulley’s chair also has a hole in the back, seemingly for his tail.

Monsters, Inc. is made to feel like a real company throughout the movie.

Throughout the movie, viewers see how things run at Monsters, Incorporated. 

The first glimpse viewers get of the company happens during the commercial, when the Monsters, Inc. logo and slogan are revealed.

Both the logo, an “M” with an eye on it, and the slogan, “We scare because we care” are featured throughout the movie on TVs, billboards, and around the office.

The scream shortage is mentioned several times before Mike and Sulley get to work.

Part of why the monsters are so intensely watching the Scream Board on the Scare Floor is because there’s a looming scream shortage — which means there’s a chance of a power shortage in Monstropolis. 

Before Mike and Sulley even get to work, the shortage is mentioned on the commercial they watch and in a Monstropolis Horn article they see during their commute. 

Mike and Sulley pass a café with a recognizable name.

While walking to work, Mike and Sulley pass the Hidden City Cafe.

This was actually a real-life café that some Pixar employees used to frequent in California.

The fruit names at Tony’s Grossery have a monstrous twist.

On their walk to work, Mike and Sulley pass Tony’s Grossery — a pun in itself — which is advertising spooky produce items like blood oranges, mangle fruit, bilge berries, and spineapples.

The crosswalks look a bit different in Monstropolis.

Mike and Sulley’s walk to work lets viewers see how they interact with other monsters for the first time.

During their commute, they pass plenty of signs with monster puns and a crosswalk with a “Stalk/Don’t Stalk” sign. 

Despite the differences between Monstropolis and the real world, Mike and Sulley still greet neighbors as they walk, follow traffic laws by crossing at the crosswalk, and make small talk with strangers.

Celia takes a call for someone with a fitting name.

Celia, Mike’s girlfriend, is the receptionist at Monsters, Inc.

When Mike and Sulley first approach her, she’s taking a call for “Ms. Fearmonger.”

A fearmonger is someone who spreads fear, which is exactly what the scarers at the company are doing to harness scream energy. 

Mike’s locker has pictures of Celia and reminders that he’s ignoring.

Mike has personalized his work locker with photos of and notes from Celia alongside sticky notes to himself. 

One of the pictures of Celia has “to my googly bear” written on it, which is Celia’s nickname for Mike.

The sticky notes in his locker are all reminders to file his paperwork, which we later learn, from Roz, that he’s been ignoring.

Monster newspapers have some unique ads.

Roz is shown reading “The Daily Glob” newspaper, which seems to be a monstrous play on “The Daily Globe.”

It resembles a real newspaper, with headlines, ads, and even a barcode on the front cover.

However, the content is unique to Monstropolis, with headlines such as “Baby Born with Five Heads, Parents Thrilled” and ads for fur replacement and a way to gain 10,000 pounds in a week.

There are detailed scare reports shown throughout the movie.

The monsters keep scare reports on the children they collect screams from.

The reports show basic stats about the child, such as name and age, along with information on what scares them, when they’ve last been scared, and what they’ve previously reacted to.

The idea of keeping files on children’s worst fears is pretty twisted, but there’s an impressive amount of detail in each file from an animation standpoint. 

Monsters, Inc. has plenty of details that would be present in a real workplace.

The Monsters, Inc. building is filled with details that resemble real-world workplaces, such as an employee-of-the-month wall, water coolers, and file folders.

However, its version of employee of the month is called the “Scarer of the Month,” and the sign specifying how long the workplace has remained accident-free is used to mark how long the company has gone without being contaminated by children.

The code “2319” seems to stand for “white sock.”

When scarer George Sanderson exits the door onto the scare floor with a child’s sock stuck to his back, his scare assistant calls out “2319” to alert the Child Detection Agency.

“W” is the 23rd letter in the alphabet and “S” is the 19th letter, so the code seems like it’s literally meant to stand for “white sock.”

Mike purposefully makes himself smell bad for his date.

Before going on his date, Mike asks Sulley if he can borrow his “odorent.”

Because they’re monsters, they apparently want to smell gross, so Sulley lists several disgusting options for Mike.

After being offered Smelly Garbage and Old Dumpster scents, Mike opts for Wet Dog odorent.

Boo’s real name seems to be Mary.

When Mike and Sulley get stuck with a wandering child who sneaks into Monsters, Inc., they start calling her Boo.

But when she’s drawing in Sulley’s bed, she shuffles through pictures that she’s signed Mary, which seems to be her real name. 

This also coincides with the name of the actress who voiced Boo, Mary Gibbs.

There are a few Pixar Easter eggs in Boo’s room.

When Boo’s room is first shown, a yellow and blue ball with a red star can be spotted in front of her bed.

This is known as the Luxo Ball in Pixar films, and can also be seen in movies like “Toy Story,” “The Incredibles,” and “Brave.”

At the end of the movie, the Jessie doll from “Toy Story 2” can also be seen in her room. 

The work spaces in Monsters, Inc. are full of clever monster puns.

Sulley runs past an office labeled “Inhuman Resources,” which is presumably Monster, Inc.’s version of an HR department.

The Scare Floor filing system also puts a twist on a normal office concept by categorizing children’s documents as “To Be Scared” and “Scared.”

The hair on the monsters is carefully animated to move differently according to length, weight, and style.

There are plenty of different monsters shown throughout the movie, which allowed animators to show movement in unique ways based on the monster’s fur type.

Sulley’s design is extremely detailed, and his long fur moves differently when he’s walking or running.

But the shorter and denser fur on other monsters, like the Abominable Snowman, acts differently in motion. 

Boo’s file shows that she’s scared of snakes.

Toward the end of the movie, Mike and Sulley search for Boo’s file so they can find her door card and send her home.

The report mentions that she’s afraid of snakes, which probably explains why Randall, who appears to be scaly and snake-like, was assigned as her scarer. 

There are several Pixar references in the scene where Randall is banished.

After plenty of chaotic chase scenes, Randall is finally banished through a door.

He ends up in a trailer with a couple who — thinking the monster is actually an alligator — start attacking him.

The trailer may look familiar to Pixar fans, as it seems to be the same one shown in “A Bug’s Life.”

The Pizza Planet truck is also sitting outside of the trailer, which is a reference to “Toy Story.” The yellow-and-white truck appears in nearly every other Pixar movie as well. 

There’s a quick “Finding Nemo” reference.

Though “Monsters Inc.” was released two years before “Finding Nemo,” there’s a quick reference to the titular clown fish toward the end of the movie.

When Boo and Sulley are in her room, Boo hands the monster several toys, including a Nemo stuffed animal. 

There’s a Disney poster in a child’s room.

After Monsters, Inc. is overhauled, the monsters go into children’s bedrooms looking to harness laugh power. 

When Mike is doing his comedy routine for a kid, several posters can be seen hanging above his bed. 

One says Tomorrowland on it, which is a reference to part of the Disney theme parks. The concept started as Walt Disney’s idea for an actual prototype city, but those plans never came to fruition.

There was also a live-action Disney movie called “Tomorrowland” released in 2015.