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Dec 25, 2023

25 Times the Pizza Planet Truck Was Snuck Into Pixar Movies

Toy Story's Pizza Planet delivery truck has been a mainstay throughout Pixar's discography. How many appearances did you know about?

No matter how you slice it, avid Pixar fans will always be on the lookout for a Pizza Planet truck in any Pixar movie. The Pizza Planet truck is a 1978 Gyoza Mark VII Lite Hauler pickup truck that is used to make deliveries for Pizza Planet in Toy Story. The truck has a yellow coat of paint overall, although it is usually quite faded and peeling.

As far as Easter Eggs go, the Pizza Planet truck has made its way into every Pixar movie except for one: The Incredibles. Although, it did make it into the Incredibles video game, if that counts.

The Pizza Planet restaurant and its infamous truck made its on-screen debut in 1995. It wasn't until years later that an actual restaurant came around. Locations did exist at Walt Disney World's Hollywood Studios Park in Florida and Disneyland Paris, until 2016, when they closed down. A similar restaurant named Redd Rockett's Pizza Port exists in the Tomorrowland section of Disneyland, California. It received a Pizza Planet overlay as part of 2018's Pixar Fest event. In 2019, it was permanently re-themed into Pizza Planet.

With new Pixar films like Elemental, Inside Out 2, and Elio coming out, we'll just have to wait and see if the Pizza Planet Truck makes an appearance. But, until then, we will dough our best to show you the rest!

Toy Story is where we see the Pizza Planet Truck for the first time. Andy is so excited to go to his favorite restaurant and bring some toys with him. After an argument in the car landed Woody and Buzz stranded at a Dinoco gas station, the Pizza Planet truck, in its first appearance, is there to luckily give them a ride to Pizza Planet.

Woody tells Buzz that the truck is actually a spaceship that will take Buzz back to his space station. The toys hop in the back of the truck and hitch a ride around town until they reach Pizza Planet and can continue their search for Andy.

The ant colony is in trouble, and it is up to Flik to find some heroes to help save his home from Hopper and his horde of evil grasshoppers. During the film, Flik sets off for the infamous "Bug City". Home to a group of circus bugs, the city is located in a trash heap under a trailer home. Next to that trailer, the Pizza Planet truck!

This scene will be used again in a few years, further pushing the theory that the Pixar movies are all in one universe.

Making its way back into the Toy Story world, the Pizza Planet truck is becoming the toys' favorite mode of transportation. However, this time, it's Buzz, Rex, Slinky, and Potato Head driving. The truck is seen parked outside Al's apartment building. Since the toys need to race to the airport to save Woody, they hop into the truck and manage to dangerously maneuver themselves through the streets in order to complete their rescue mission.

A lot of people speculate that all the Pixar movies are in the same universe or are somehow linked. Monsters. Inc. is a perfect example of that. As soon as Randall is kicked out of Monstropolis, he is seen walking out of a closet and into a trailer home. One that has the Pizza Planet truck sitting right outside of it. Maybe he might stop and see a certain ‘bug circus’ on his way out.

Nemo is stuck inside a fish tank at a dentist's office, and the other fish are helping him devise a way for them all to get back to the big old blue. Blink and you’ll miss it. While sitting at the dentist's office at 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney, you can see the truck whiz by. It's seen during Gill's grand es-ca-pe plan (Funny, it's spelled just like the word escape!)

Related: 20 Best Pixar Characters of All Time, Ranked

With a movie about cars, it is an absolute no-brainer to include the fan-favorite truck. Modeled to fit in to the world of Cars, the Pizza Planet truck can be seen at the Piston Cup, cheering on its favorite racer Chick Hicks. In another part of the movie, you'll see the truck again. This time, parked at a Dinoco gas station, during the montage sequence of Mack transporting McQueen to his next race. This is a perfect callback to its first appearance in Toy Story.

This one is a little difficult to see. The Pizza Planet truck can be seen driving around the streets of Paris, France. You can kind of make it out on the bridge during the scene where Chef Skinner is chasing Remy on his moped. If you look really closely, you can make out the bright yellow hue of the infamous Pizza Planet Truck.

Even in a post-apocalyptic world, the Pizza Planet truck will still make an appearance. This Pizza Planet delivery truck is seen as EVE is scanning Earth for any sign of plant life. Sadly, at this point, the truck has made its last delivery.

In Up, there is a possible three times the Pizza Planet truck can be seen. As Carl is flying his house across the city, you can see the truck parked on the curb. The shape of the truck is a bit different to fit the animation of the movie, however, the red and white rocket confirms it's our Pizza Planet truck.

Another time, when Russell is being lowered down to survey the city, you can see it pulling out of a parking lot. And finally, when Carl and Russell are eating ice cream at the end of the movie, you can see the truck parked in the parking lot.

Once again, we see the truck as some toy's ‘favorite’ mode of transportation. Sadly, this time isn't the happiest of rides. After being left by their owner Daisy, we see Lotso, Big Baby, and Chuckles hitching a ride on the back bumper of the Pizza Planet truck. After hitting a pothole, the three toys fly off the back of the truck and land right in front of Sunnyside Daycare.

Related: What Happened to Pixar Shorts

The Pizza Planet truck can be seen two different times in this movie. While relaxing at the Wheel Well Motor Court, we see the truck on the TV behind the bar.​​​​​ Towards the end of the movie, the truck is seated as a spectator during the Grand Prix at Radiator Springs. You'd think it'd be easy to spot a bright yellow truck with a rocket on it's top, but when it's an entire film dedicated to vehicles, it is much easier to hide in plain sight.

The Pizza Planet truck even managed to make it into a movie that didn't even have vehicles. If you look closely at the witch's table, in her workshop, you can see a wooden carving of the truck. It is missing its signature colors, but with its shape and the rocket on top, you can still tell it's the Pizza Planet Truck. (You might also be able to see a wooden carving of Sully too).

What's college without some pizza? Even monsters know that. College is college, no matter what species you are. And there's no better pizza place in the Pixar universe than Pizza Planet. We see the infamous truck parked outside the JΘΧ (Jaws Theta Chi) house party. Who knew the Pizza Planet truck could travel across universes?

Finding the Pizza Planet truck here is almost as hard as getting a certain "Triple Dent Gum" tune out of your head. But, there are actually two different times it shows up. Both are inside a memory orb. The first one shows up when Joy is chasing Bing Bong, and the second is when Joy, Sadness, and Bing Bong are sitting on the train of thought. However, when someone puts broccoli on a slice of pizza, we'd want to forget it too.

Once again, Pixar had to get mighty creative about placing a truck in a movie with no vehicles. What they did have were some rocks, and that's exactly where you can spot a sneaky, sort-of avant-garde pizza truck in the rock structure.

In Finding Dory, we find a certain truck at the bottom of the ocean. Dory, Nemo, and Marlin swim past it right before they encounter a giant squid. Dory and her friends are on the hunt for Dory's parents, who she has been having flashbacks remembering.

This truck can do it all. This time, we see the Pizza Planet truck competing in a demolition derby race with McQueen and Cruz. You can see the truck get hit by another car, sending the iconic red rocket into the audience.

Miguel has spent his whole life wanting to make music. Sadly, his family has banned music since before he was even born. As Miguel is daydreaming, you will see the truck drive by his house at the beginning of the movie. Sometimes even tamales can't make someone feel better. But a pizza might just do the trick.

When Elastigirl has her first encounter with the Screenslaver, their fight ends up in an empty alleyway. We learn that the Screenslaver was a decoy, a pizza deliveryman. A Pizza Planet Deliveryman to be exact! I guess even delivery drivers need a second job. After saving the town from a bad guy, some pizza would be the perfect reward for a job well done.

This is the first time that the toys are not actually driving or hitching a ride on the truck. Instead, the truck makes a rather sneaky appearance as a tattoo on Axel the Carnie's leg. That's gotta be some pretty good pizza to have its truck tattooed onto someone.

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