Toy Story 5 Director Confirms Hidden Bambi Easter Egg Disney Fans Will Love. One of the highlights of attending Disney and Pixar press events is hearing firsthand details from the filmmakers who bring these beloved stories to life. While I wasn’t at the recent Toy Story 5 early press event, the team at CBR was on hand and shared an interesting detail that longtime Disney fans are going to love. During interviews with Toy Story 5 director Andrew Stanton, they uncovered confirmation of a subtle Disney Easter egg that pays tribute to one of Walt Disney Animation’s most treasured classics. As a lifelong Disney fan, I thought this was too good not to share with our readers. The connection not only honors Disney’s rich animation history but also shows how Pixar continues to celebrate the studio’s storytelling legacy even as it creates new adventures for Woody, Buzz, Jessie, and the rest of the gang.
The very first Pixar Animation Studios film, Toy Story, turned 30 years old in 2025, meaning that the storytellers from San Francisco have been entertaining audiences of all ages for three decades.
But in the grand scheme of Disney animation, Pixar colleagues are still “youngsters.”
Walt Disney Animation has been around forever, launching its initial feature-length film – Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs – in 1937. Pinocchio followed a few years later in 1940, and the concept of the animated Disney feature was off and running. So many classics were born out of the Disney studio, and one gets referenced in a very tender sequence from the upcoming Toy Story 5. But you have to be listening carefully.
Toy Story 5 Pays Homage To Disney’s Animated Roots
CBR recently attended an Early Press Day on behalf of Toy Story 5, which opens in theaters on June 19. During the event, we screened footage from the anticipated sequel, toured the Pixar sections of Disneyland, learned how to draw Buzz Lightyear (it’s a lot harder than you think), and interviewed key creatives from the film.
That included Toy Story 5 director and overall Pixar legend Andrew Stanton, the man responsible for Finding Nemo and WALL-E, as well as his contributions to countless other Pixar films. As I wrote about on CBR, the standout from the footage that we watched was 50 Buzz Lightyear figures that are on a mysterious adventure, which eventually will tie into a larger story involving Jessie (Joan Cusack), Bonnie (Scarlett Spears) and the influx of technology into the life of a child.
In one of the scenes involving the 50 Buzz Lightyears, we follow the roving toys into a forest, where they interact with nature. First, a gentle doe wanders into the frame, surprising a few of the Buzzes. Right behind the doe is a rabbit, who is equally curious about these efficient toys.
And as I explained to Andrew Stanton and his co-director McKenna Harris, I can’t see a doe and a rabbit together (especially in animation) without immediately thinking of Bambi and Thumper from the 1942 Disney classic, Bambi. To which Stanton confirmed:
That song (in that scene) is from Bambi. Yeah, no, we pulled it (from Bambi), and so is the music right behind it. And then we looked at Bambi for the actual lighting and mood and art direction of that scene. So it’s directly… it’s not trying to hide. It’s going, ‘Welcome to Bambi.’
I love that a modern story like Toy Story 5, which spends so much of its time wrestling with challenge of screen addiction in children, still figures out a way to incorporate an emotional homage to Disney’s roots, dusting off the music from an all-time Disney masterpiece and still making it a logical part of the ongoing story. Let’s just hope that Bambi’s mom makes it out of Toy Story 5 alive!
We will be covering the road to Toy Story 5 as the Pixar sequel approaches. So far, we know that Woody (Tom Hanks), Buzz (Tim Allen), Jessie (Cusack) and the crew from Bonnie’s bedroom motivate against a new toy named Lilypad (Greta Lee), the tech option that’s taking over the neighborhood. Andrew Stanton and McKenna Harris co-direct from a screenplay they both concocted. It will be the 31st film in Pixar’s library.
It’s always exciting to discover hidden Disney references, but hearing Andrew Stanton openly confirm this homage makes it even more special. The fact that Toy Story 5 will include a direct nod to Bambi through its music, visual style, and overall atmosphere demonstrates the deep respect Pixar has for the films that helped build the Disney legacy. Moments like these reward longtime fans while introducing younger audiences to the classics that inspired generations of storytellers. As we continue counting down to Toy Story 5’s June 19 release, this charming connection between Pixar and Disney’s animated roots is just one more reason to be excited about the next chapter in the Toy Story saga.
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