History Trivia / PixarShorts

* InkSuitActor: Of a fashion; the two volcanoes in ''Lava'' are heavily inspired by the late Israel "Bruddah Iz" Kamakawiwo'ole and his wife, and the style of music used in the short is heavily reminiscent of his cover of "Somewhere Over The Rainbow".

* ActorAllusion: In ''Hawaiian Vacation'', Chuckles the Clown's luau chant translates to "Bound and rebound", a reference to another Pixar short ''Boundin' '', which was narrated by Bud Luckey, the voice of Chuckles.

* WriteWhatYouKnow

** ''Sanjay's Super Team'' is based on director Sanjay Patel's childhood and his relationship with his father.

** Even after Pixar started making features, they continued to make these "experimental" shorts to make sure that all of the techniques used in their features would continue to get more and more fine-tunes.

* DoingItForTheArt: Steve Jobs lost money on every one of the initial Pixar shorts, but fully supported making them in spite of it because he knew that the prestige and acclaim the shorts got were the real reason Pixar was on the map. Its been estimated that he blew a whopping 50,000,000$ on the studio between 1986 and 1991. Even after Pixar started making features, they decided to keep making shorts for the hell of it anyway.

* DoingItForTheArt: Steve Jobs lost money on every one of the initial Pixar shorts, but fully supported making them in spite of it because he knew that the prestige and acclaim the shorts got were the real reason Pixar was on the map. Even after Pixar started making features, they decided to keep making shorts for the hell of it anyway.

* TheCameo: In "Lava" Uku sees two sea turtles nuzzling on his beach. The male appears to be [[Film/FindingNemo Crush]].

** ''Sanjay's Superhero Team'' is based on director Sanjay Patel's childhood and his relationship with his father.

** ''Small Fry'' came from director Angus MacLane's experiences working at a fast food restaurant's ball pit as a teen.

* WriteWhatYouKnow: ''Knick Knack'' came from John Lasseter and his wife's tradition of buying a snow globe every time they went on vacation.

* PermanentPlaceholder: In ''Knick Knack'', the "BlahBlahBlah" song during the credits was actually a result of vocalist Bobby [=McFerrin=] improvising. [=McFerrin=], a vocalist famous for his a cappella work, was hired by Pixar to compose and perform the soundtrack for the film. The work print he was given to compose over featured "blah blah blah" as a placeholder for the credits, and he ran with it. The folks at Pixar liked it so much that it made the final cut.

* HeyItsThatVoice: In ''George and AJ'', Russell is voiced by Peter Sohn, the animator on who he's based, as a result of the incomplete animatic nature of the short.
** Most of the theatrical shorts with voices will have a CreatorCameo from the director or one of the animators.
** The guy who does Carl's voice in ''George and AJ''? Steve Purcell who fans of Franchise/SamAndMax would know very well.
** Bobby [=McFerrin=], fresh off his success from "Don't Worry, Be Happy," does the music for ''Knick Knack.''

* WriteWhatYouKnow: ''Knick Knack'' came from John Lasseter and his wife's tradition of buying a snow globe every time they went on vacation.

* HeyItsThatGuy: In ''George and AJ'', Russell is voiced by Peter Sohn, the animator on who he's based, as a result of the incomplete animatic nature of the short.

* ActorAllusion: In ''Hawaiian Vacation'', Chuckles the Clown's luau chant translates to "Bound and rebound", a reference to the short ''Boundin' '', which was narrated by Bud Luckey, the voice of Chuckles.

** Parodied in ''Your Friend the Rat'', which ends with a prolonged legalistic crawl warning people that Pixar does not encourage people to have contact with rats. Remy and Emile bitch about the inclusion of this producer-imposed warning (which is ComicallyMissingThePoint of their presentation) and even push the crawling words aside as best they can.

* PermanentPlaceholder: In ''Knick Knack'', the "BlahBlahBlah" song during the credits was actually a result of vocalist Bobby [=McFerrin=] improvising. [=McFerrin=], a vocalist famous for his a cappella work, was hired by Pixar to compose and perform the soundtrack for the film. The work print he was given to compose over featured "blah blah blah" as a placeholder for the credits, and he ran with it. The folks at Pixar liked it so much that it made the final cut.

** The guy who does Carl's voice in ''George and AJ''? Steve Purcell who fans of Franchise/SamAndMax would know very well.

** Most of the theatrical shorts with voices will have a CreatorCameo from the director or one of the animators.

* HeyItsThatGuy: In ''George and AJ'', Russell is voiced by Peter Sohn, the animator on who he's based, as a result of the incomplete animatic nature of the short.