Trivia / Monsters University

• Defictionalization:
  • To promote the film, an M.U. website was created that greatly resembled that of a real college.
  • Disney Press produced a Monsters University Yearbook (meant to be Mike's and signed by numerous characters) as a tie-in done in an illustrated style resembling concept art and the opening titles.
• Deleted Role: Waternoose (recast as Kelsey Grammer) almost made an appearance, but Grammer's cameo was cut from the film. Waternoose appears only in a photograph.
• Development Gag: In Professor Knight’s class, The second bust to the right of Hardscrabble’s bust is actually her original design, back when she was going to be an older male monster.
• Enforced Method Acting: During the scene where Mike and Sulley talked after getting hit with the toxic balls, Billy Crystal and John Goodman had bread in their mouths.
• Fake American: The American-accented Professor Knight is voiced by English actor Alfred Molina.
• Kids' Meal Toy: Subway released a set of six duffle bags.
• The Other Darrin:
  • Had Waternoose's role not been cut from the movie outright, he would have been voiced by Kelsey Grammer, as his previous voice actor (James Coburn) passed away after the first movie.
  • The Italian dub did not use any of the Monsters Inc. voices except for the Yeti's and Roz’s partially due to the fact that both Tonino Accolla (Mike) and Daniele Formica (Randall) died before the film got dubbed.
  • European French: Sulley and Randall were recast because neither Jacques Frantz (Sulley) or Dominique Collignon (Randall) could convincingly voice a younger character. They were respectively recast with Xavier Fagnon and Jeremy Prevost.
  • Swedish dub: While Sulley, Randall and Roz have the same voice actors as in Monsters, Inc., Mike and the Yeti were replaced. Interestingly, Mike had his original voice in the trailer.
  • Brazilian Portuguese dub: In the first movie, Roz was voiced by Brazilian singer Gottsha (who also voiced Mother Gothel in the Brazilian dub of Tangled). For her small cameo in Monsters University, her voice was provided by Manolo Rey (who's known for doing the voice of Tobey Maguire in the Brazilian dub of Sam Raimi's Spider-Man Trilogy)
  • The Arabic dub got it up to eleven due to the fact that thanks to the then-current Disney's internal politics instead of being dubbed in Egyptian Arabic (like the previous movie), Monsters University (as well as all new Pixar films and redubs of older ones into MSA for JeemTV airings since early 2013) was dubbed in Lebanon in MSA instead.
  • Barbara Ratthey, the original German voice of Roz, had died a few years prior so instead she was voiced by Luise Lunow. Martin Semmelrogge, who voiced Randall in the original film, could not voice the younger Randall, so Tim Sander replaced him.
• Playing Against Type: Nathan Fillion, who's best known for playing Lovable Rogues, as the pompous frat boy Johnny Worthington.
• Reality Subtext: Dean Hardscrabble's line about making "great students greater, not making mediocre students less mediocre" is a phrase commonly used in art schools.
• Refitted for Sequel: Or prequel in this case, but an early version of Monsters, Inc. opened with Mike and Sulley (then Johnson) studying in order to get into Monsters Inc, this film makes an entire story based on that.
• Role Reprise: Monsters University brought back Billy Crystal as Mike, John Goodman as Sulley and Steve Buscemi as Randall. Bob Peterson and John Ratzenberger also come back as Roz and the Abominable Snowman, respectively.
• Shrug of God: According to one of the commentary tracks for the movie, this was almost their entire feeling for Art as a character. There is no explanation for what he is or what he adds other than that he exists. They have no answers for any question about him.
• Throw It In!: According to the DVD commentary, Terry and Terri's introduction was adlibbed by Dave Foley and Sean Hayes.
  • John Goodman improvised the line "Mom!" for the scene where Mike and Sulley accidentally wake each other up.
• Voices in One Room: Sean Hayes and Dave Foley recorded their lines together since they were collectively playing the two-headed character Terri and Terry.
• What Could Have Been: It has a page.
• You Sound Familiar: Bonnie Hunt voices Mike's schoolteacher Mrs. Graves; she previously voiced Ms. Flint in the original Monsters, Inc. and did so again in Monsters at Work.