The Pixar Ball (also known as the Luxo Ball) is a yellow ball with a blue stripe and red star that first appeared in the Luxo Jr. short as a prop for Luxo Jr. Since its debut, it has made numerous cameos in other Pixar films, most notably in the Toy Story films.
Appearances[]
- In Red's Dream, the design and color scheme of the ball appears on the floor of the circus ring.
- In Toy Story, the ball rolls down the hallway of Andy's house as Sarge helps a "wounded" soldier to an indoor plant. A little later, one of Andy's friends bounce that ball up the stairs to Andy's room. Later, when Buzz proves to the toys that he can "fly", he bounces off that ball when he jumps off from Andy's bed.
- In Toy Story 2, one ball appears in a TV commercial for Al's Toy Barn. Later, after the toys enter the toy store, one ball can be seen on the floor to the left, and a whole container of those balls can be seen to the left of the door when exiting.
- A scene from Luxo Jr. featuring the ball was also among the scenes that were flipped through by Hamm to find a commercial for Al's Toy Barn.
- An illustration of the ball appears next to John Lasseter's "Directed by" credit in the original (pre-outtakes) end credits of Toy Story 2.
- In Boo's room in Monsters, Inc..
- One of Violet's toys in the alternate opening to The Incredibles.
- One of Jack-Jack's toys in the short film, Jack-Jack Attack.
- Falling out of Presto's sleeve (at 2:34) and under Alec Azam's ear in Presto (at 2:59).
- In the background of the artwork for the Criterion Collection 4K/Blu-ray release of WALL•E.
- On the floor of a neighborhood child's room and as one of Russell's merit badges in Up.
- The design appears on a tile on the side of Sunnyside Daycare in Toy Story 3. It was seen for real, when Woody goes to talk to Chatter Telephone. The ball was also used as a volleyball by Chunk and the Jack-in-the-Box in the sandbox in the end credits.
- Part of the cargo of a luggage cart Siddeley crashes through in Cars 2. A Russian race car on a postcard in the credits also has a paint job based on the ball.
- As a carving in the Witch's cottage in Brave.
- Among the pictures of "human kid toys" on the Scare Games walls in Monsters University.
- Its pattern is stamped under the sink where Combat Carl and Jessie hide in Toy Story OF TERROR!.
- Its pattern and name appear as a brand logo on the Battlesaurs boxes in Toy Story That Time Forgot.
- During a flashback of young Riley playing tag with Bing Bong in Inside Out.
- Floating past during the scene where Arlo and Spot get intoxicated from eating fermented fruit in The Good Dinosaur.
- Steering wheel of the quarantined truck in Finding Dory.
- On the hood of one of the demolition derby cars in Cars 3.
- In the scene where Dante has a scuffle with a spirit guide monkey at the rehearsal in Coco.
- On Jack-Jack's crib design in Incredibles 2.
- As stickers on the X-99 rocket toys in the Star Adventurer carnival game booth in Toy Story 4. It also appears in the Second Chance Antiques store when Woody, Buzz, Bo Peep, Ducky and Bunny prepare to enter through the roof.
- On one of the shields on the Manticore's Tavern area in Onward.
- Inside 22's box right near the entrance to the astral plane in Soul.
- As part of the logo for Pixar Popcorn as the first "o" in the word "Popcorn".
- On a rooftop in Luca.
- In Tyler's pool during his birthday party in Turning Red.
- On Wade's popcorn bucket in Elemental.
- At the Parade of Future Careers in Inside Out 2.
Advertising[]
- As one of the marbles in the 1994 Levi's commercial, "Woman Getting What She Wants" (0:10). This shot is also used briefly in Toy Story 2 as Hamm skips through the TV channels.
- In the double feature trailer for Toy Story and Toy Story 2 in Disney Digital 3-D.
- Toy Story 3 posters and teasers (one teaser showed Bullseye rolling around on the ball and Slinky holding it as the "O" in "Toy").
- In the 2011 State Farm commercial (at 0:14) on some of the "pet" trains.
- Shorter Sky Broadband UK commercials promoting Toy Story That Time Forgot.
- A giant version of the ball appeared in several promotional commercials for Toy Story Land. The latest show reveals it being pushed around by an equally large Slinky.
Video Games[]
- Hidden in images in the membership page on The World of Cars Online website.
- In Finding Nemo: The Video Game, Luxo Balls appear in several Bonus Levels, as well as the story levels Training with Gill and The Plan. Bouncing the ball through all the Luxo Ball Hoops in a level will award the player a Starfish (or, in the case of Training with Gill, progress to the next area). If the player collects every Starfish in the game, they can access a secret area where they can play with multiple Luxo Balls of various sizes.
- As a projectile, the loading screen, and various other uses in Toy Story 3: The Video Game.
- As a bonus in the Toy Story 3 mini games "Woody's Wild Adventure" and "Daycare Dash".
- As collectible in-game currencies required to unlock prizes in the DS version of Toy Story 3.
- In the video game Kinect Rush: A Disney/Pixar Adventure.
- As a badge in "Merit Badge Mayhem".
- In Ratatouille: The Video Game.
- As one of the three collectibles the player must obtain in Monsters, Inc. Run to gain points to earn stars.
- As projectiles used by Buzz in Toy Story: Smash It!, which the player must throw to knock down the Aliens as well as score points. The number of unused balls in the results screen upon completing each level depends on how many there are left during the game; used to garner points to earn three stars for each level.
- In the video game Disney Infinity as one of the two-starter abilities for Woody, Buzz, and Jessie. It acts exactly like the one in the Toy Story 3 video game.
- In the video game Disney Infinity: 3.0 as an obstacle in the Inside Out playset.
- As a building in the Toy Story world of Disney Crossy Road.
- On all the Pixar Family Build areas and packs in LEGO The Incredibles. A giant LEGO brick version of it is part of Luxo, Jr.'s (called Junior) Pixar Family Build (which is unlocked after completing the other Pixar Family Builds; completing this one will unlock Junior himself), and the ball can be summoned by Junior as an attack item and during his idle animation.
- As a power-up that can be formed by matching five pieces in an L or T-shape and used to remove all surrounding pieces in Toy Story Drop!; also in the background and part of the logo as the "o" in the word "Drop".
Trivia[]
- There are a few Pixar films that didn't have this ball:
- A Bug's Life (1998)
- Finding Nemo (2003)
- The Incredibles (2004)
- Cars (2006)
- Ratatouille (2007)
- WALL•E (2008)
- Lightyear (2022)
- Aside from the Pizza Planet Truck and A113, the ball is perhaps the most well-known object in the Pixar universe.
- However, the two of them make more appearances than it does.
- The ball also appears in the Toy Story Treats episode "Alien Encounter", as well as a web short for Inside Out where Bing Bong plays with it.
- The ball looks similar to the ball from Dr. Seuss' 1957 children's book The Cat in the Hat, except the ball is red and white, and the stripe is in the middle with the star, while the Pixar ball's stripe is circled around the star.
- The ball seen in Nick Jr.'s Blue's Clues looks exactly the same, except the colors of the star and stripe are swapped.
- The ball seen in Nickelodeon's Rugrats, another show by Nick, looks exactly the same, except the ball is green with an orange star and blue stripe. The stripe is sometimes purple.
- However, the ball appears with its correct colors in the Rugrats section of the former Universal ride Jimmy Neutron's Nicktoon Blast.
- The ball seen in Nickelodeon's Rugrats, another show by Nick, looks exactly the same, except the ball is green with an orange star and blue stripe. The stripe is sometimes purple.
- The ball seen in the Australian ABC Kids' show Bluey looks exactly the same, and it appears with its correct colors.
- The ball seen in Aardman's Creature Comforts looks exactly the same, except the star is green.
- The show's director Richard Goleszowski once admitted to paying tribute to Pixar in adding the ball after thinking that a dog wearing an Elizabethan collar looked a bit like a lamp.
- The ball has the same color palette as the official logo of the Toy Story franchise, which coincidentally enough, is also Pixar's most successful one since its inception in 1995 with the first film.