The Golden Age of Disney
Mickey Mouse was originally named Mortimer before Walt Disney’s wife suggested the friendlier name “Mickey.”
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) made history as the first full-length cel-animated feature film.
Bambi’s voice actor, Donnie Dunagan, later became a decorated U.S. Marine and never told colleagues about his role for decades.
The original Peter Pan from Disney’s 1953 film was voiced by Bobby Driscoll, who tragically passed away young.
Pinocchio’s design was altered to make him more childlike because early sketches looked too wooden and puppet-like.
Dumbo remains one of Disney’s shortest feature films at only 64 minutes.
Sleeping Beauty’s Princess Aurora has fewer than 20 lines of dialogue in the entire movie.
Lady and the Tramp’s spaghetti scene was almost cut because Walt Disney thought it would be too awkward.
The Jungle Book was the last Disney film overseen by Walt before his death in 1966.
The voice of Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother, Verna Felton, also voiced Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland.
Pixar Classics
Woody from Toy Story was almost a sarcastic ventriloquist dummy instead of a cowboy doll.
The Pizza Planet truck appears in nearly every Pixar film as an Easter egg.
A Bug’s Life was partly inspired by an Aesop fable called “The Ant and the Grasshopper.”
Monsters, Inc. originally had Sulley wearing glasses and a suit until his furry design was finalized.
Finding Nemo boosted clownfish sales in pet stores but also caused environmental concerns.
WALL-E’s name stands for Waste Allocation Load Lifter: Earth-Class.
Ratatouille’s food animations were guided by real French chefs for authenticity.
In Inside Out, the five emotions were inspired by psychological research, but more emotions were originally planned.
Cars (2006) has over 2,000 unique vehicle characters in crowd scenes.
Toy Story 3’s villain Lotso was designed to smell like strawberries, just like the toy sold in real life.
DreamWorks Favorites
Shrek was originally voiced by Chris Farley, who recorded most of the lines before Mike Myers took over.
Donkey in Shrek was inspired by a real miniature donkey named Pericles.
Madagascar’s lemur King Julien only had two lines until Sacha Baron Cohen improvised a bigger role.
Kung Fu Panda’s Po was inspired by Jack Black’s own playful personality.
How to Train Your Dragon’s Toothless was partly modeled after a black cat and a bat.
The Prince of Egypt used over 350 animators to create its sweeping biblical visuals.
Shrek won the very first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2002.
Trolls’ colorful design drew inspiration from ‘60s psychedelic art.
Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron combined hand-drawn animation with computer graphics for realistic horses.
Bee Movie’s script had over 6 drafts, with Jerry Seinfeld rewriting jokes until the last moment.
Anime Icons
Hayao Miyazaki originally didn’t want to make Spirited Away, thinking no one would watch it.
My Neighbor Totoro’s Catbus design came from mixing a cat and a classic Japanese bus.
The character Ponyo was inspired by Miyazaki’s childhood love for sea life.
Akira (1988) was one of the most expensive anime films ever at the time of release.
Kiki’s Delivery Service was the first Studio Ghibli movie released under Disney’s distribution deal.
Howl’s Moving Castle’s design was influenced by French steampunk architecture.
Grave of the Fireflies is based on a semi-autobiographical novel by Akiyuki Nosaka.
Princess Mononoke took three years to animate by hand due to its complex detail.
The “No-Face” character from Spirited Away symbolizes greed and emptiness in Japanese folklore.
Astro Boy (1963) is considered the first successful serialized anime character.
Modern Disney Renaissance
The Lion King was initially called “King of the Jungle” even though lions don’t live in jungles.
Timon and Pumbaa were the first Disney characters to fart onscreen.
Aladdin’s Genie was written specifically with Robin Williams in mind.
Beauty and the Beast was the first animated film ever nominated for a Best Picture Oscar.
The Little Mermaid’s Ariel was modeled after actress Alyssa Milano.
Mulan’s animation team studied ancient Chinese art and architecture for accuracy.
Pocahontas’ character was designed to look more realistic than earlier Disney princesses.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame featured Disney’s most complex crowd scenes at the time.
Tarzan’s vine-surfing movements were based on skateboard tricks.
Hercules was heavily inspired by ancient Greek pottery art styles.
Villains and Antagonists
Ursula from The Little Mermaid was modeled after drag queen Divine.
Scar’s green eyes and black mane symbolize jealousy and evil in The Lion King.
Jafar’s snake staff was inspired by Middle Eastern cobra mythology.
Syndrome from The Incredibles was originally just a minor character.
Hades in Hercules was meant to be serious until James Woods improvised comedy.
Cruella de Vil’s name literally means “cruel devil.”
Maleficent’s dragon transformation in Sleeping Beauty used some of the era’s most advanced effects.
Captain Hook’s hook hand was drawn differently depending on which side of the screen he appeared.
Lotso from Toy Story 3 was one of Pixar’s most psychologically complex villains.
Gaston’s death scene in Beauty and the Beast was toned down after darker early drafts.
Classic Cartoon Stars
Bugs Bunny’s catchphrase “What’s up, Doc?” was borrowed from Texas slang.
Daffy Duck was created as a counterbalance to Bugs’ calm demeanor.
Tom and Jerry won seven Academy Awards for Animated Short Film.
Popeye’s spinach boost was inspired by a mistaken belief that spinach had massive iron content.
Betty Boop was modeled after a jazz-age flapper girl named Helen Kane.
Scooby-Doo’s full name is Scoobert Doo.
The Flintstones was the first prime-time animated TV series.
Donald Duck has appeared in more films than Mickey Mouse.
Goofy was originally called Dippy Dawg.
Road Runner’s “meep meep” was inspired by a Warner Bros. sound effect artist.
Voice Actor Secrets
Mel Blanc, voice of Bugs Bunny, was allergic to carrots but still ate them for recording.
Tom Hanks recorded Woody’s Toy Story lines while in between filming live-action movies.
Eddie Murphy turned down voicing Mushu in Mulan 2, which fans noticed immediately.
James Earl Jones voiced Mufasa in both the 1994 and 2019 versions of The Lion King.
Ellen DeGeneres was cast as Dory after a casting director overheard her rambling on her talk show.
Mark Hamill became famous for his Joker voice in Batman: The Animated Series.
Antonio Banderas’ Puss in Boots accent was inspired by his own heritage.
Idina Menzel sang Elsa’s “Let It Go” in a single take.
Tim Allen and Tom Hanks recorded together for Toy Story to make dialogue feel natural.
Billy Crystal regrets turning down Buzz Lightyear, but later voiced Mike Wazowski.
Hidden Easter Eggs
A Hidden Mickey appears in nearly every Disney film.
Rapunzel and Flynn Rider show up in Frozen during Elsa’s coronation.
The carpet from Aladdin can be seen in Moana’s village.
Sulley from Monsters, Inc. appears carved into a piece of wood in Brave.
Nemo’s toy form is seen in Boo’s room in Monsters, Inc.
In Zootopia, some bootleg DVDs feature parody versions of Disney films.
A Pizza Planet truck cameo is in almost all Pixar films.
Mickey Mouse plushies appear in Lilo & Stitch’s bedroom.
In Frozen, Hans’ horse has a hidden Mickey pattern on its saddle.
Inside Out’s Riley has a toy dinosaur resembling Arlo from The Good Dinosaur.
Modern Hits and Surprises
Frozen’s Let It Go was almost cut for being too different from the original story.
Moana’s character design was carefully created to avoid stereotypes.
Encanto’s “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” became Disney’s biggest chart hit since 1995.
Coco was the first Pixar film to feature an entirely non-white cast.
Zootopia took over five years to animate due to fur technology.
Big Hero 6’s Baymax was inspired by real inflatable robot technology.
Tangled used over 1,800 individual lights in its floating lantern scene.
Raya and the Last Dragon used Zoom recordings to finish during the pandemic.
Frozen II became the highest-grossing animated movie of all time upon release.
Turning Red’s Mei was partly inspired by the director’s teenage diaries.
