A couple of weeks ago I wrote about where you can visit the real life “Up” house, one that was built to replicate Carl and Ellie’s home, and another that has a similar story to Carl. I really enjoyed researching it and wanted to find out if there were any other travel opportunities related to Pixar films. Here are a couple of the real life locations from Pixar films.

Toy Story - San Francisco Bay Area

Although there are no direct ties to any real-life landmarks in Toy Story, we can assume that the films are based out of San Francisco. One clue is that in the Toy Story universe, Andy and his family live in the “Tri-County Area” as noted on many signs around town. The Bay Area of San Francisco is sometimes referred to as the “Tri-Valley Area”. Another reason why it could be narrowed down to California, are the multiple American flags featured in the film, such as when Buzz stands in front of the flag in one scene, and the US flag at Bonnie’s school.

There are Easter eggs in the film that refer to California, including the map for Al’s Toy Barn in Toy Story 2, it says “1001 West Cutting Boulevard”. This is an area in Richmond, California, just across the San Francisco Bay. However this could just be a fun Easter egg, as this was also where the original Pixar Studios was located.

The map to Al’s Toy Barn. Image from: https://disney-hiddensecrets.tumblr.com/post/1667873580/when-the-toys-are-planning-the-rescue-of-woody

Finding Nemo - The Great Barrier Reef

Finding Nemo is based in the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Queensland, Australia. A big giveaway that this film is set in Australia is that Marlin asks Crush to take him to the EAC, and Crush explains he’s already on the EAC (East Australian Current).

This is one of the most obvious ones, especially because Dory repeatedly says the address to the dentist’s office throughout the movie. The land scenes in the movie are based in Sydney, Australia as the dentist office where Nemo gets trapped is at P. Sherman 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney. There was a rumour going around that this was a real dentist’s office in Australia, but a Buzzfeed article from 2015 debunked this theory. Lara Parker, the writer of the article, followed the address exactly, even stopping by some of the landmarks that were featured in the film too. The closest she could get was a dentist office across from the harbour, but the address and name were not close to anything from Finding Nemo.

The Great Barrier Reef. Image from: https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/09/some-relief-great-barrier-reef

If you type in 42 Wallaby Way into Google Maps, the closest you’ll get is 42 Rock Wallaby Way in Blaxland, Australia. If you want to visit a Finding Nemo location, I suggest going to the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and you’ll see the Sydney Opera House just as Marlin and Dory saw it in the movie.

Ratatouille - Paris, France

You can’t miss this one, as Pixar has made it very clear that Ratatouille is indeed based in Paris, France. One initial clue is that the title Ratatouille is a play on words - the film is about a rat who cooks, and the dish ratatouille is a French dish. You can also tell the location by the accents of some of the characters, especially Colette and Chef Skinner.

If you want to visit a Ratatouille location, your best bet is going to see the Eiffel Tower in Paris. There is a scene where Remy finds out he’s been living underneath Paris the whole time, and there is a shot of the whole city from above. It would be cool to get the exact picture of the view Remy sees in the film!

Remy in Paris. Image from: https://travelweekly.co.uk/articles/49084/disneyland-paris-bonjour-remy

Finding Dory - Morro Bay

The Marine Life Institute shown in Finding Dory is not an exact location, but is rather based on the Monterey Bay Aquarium in Northern California. Pixar took several trips to this aquarium to take photos to reference back to when animated their film, as well as the Vancouver Aquarium. The Bay itself is based on the real life location of Morro Bay, in San Luis Obispo County, California.

Coco - Santa Fe de la Laguna

Coco is a story based in Mexico, though the town Miguel and his family live in is imaginary. Pixar teams travelled to Mexico and took inspiration from many different locations. The main town in Mexico that has the most essence of Coco is Santa Fe de la Laguna. Many of the buildings and architecture are featured in the movie.

Some other locations in Mexico that are featured in the film are San Andres Mixquic, Patzcuaro, and Arocutin for the cemetery scenes during the Day of the Dead, San Juan Parangaricutiro and Tzintzuntzan for the church, and Paracho for the inspiration behind the guitar. There is a white guitar statue created by Purepechan artists in Paracho, that looks very similar to the one Miguel carries in Coco.

The guitar in Paracho. Image from: https://craftsmanship.net/mexicos-master-guitar-makers/

It is also said that Ernesto De La Cruz is based on two famous Mexican singers, Pedro Infante and Jorge Negrete. Negrete has a statue in his memory in Plaza del Ropero in the city of Guanajuato, and Ernesto’s statue in the film looks strikingly similar.

The statue of Jorge Negrete. Image from: http://en.travelbymexico.com/guanajuato/places-to-visit/?nom=eguanguitarrista

Soul - New York City

Soul is based in New York City, and if you don’t believe me, just watch out for the pizza rat. At first I figured it was just a good location for the filmmakers to choose when fulfilling Joe Gardner’s jazz dreams, but I soon realized that Joe is based on a real teacher living in New York, Dr. Peter Archer.

Pete Docter and the Pixar team brought Archer in to the film making process to learn more about his time as a teacher and his aspirations of being a musician. They even used his classroom as the guide to Gardner’s classroom in the movie. Archer taught at Nathaniel Hawthorne Middle School 74, but has since retired.

Dr. Peter Archer. Image from: https://queenseagle.com/all/queens-teacher-who-inspired-soul-embodies-the-rhythm-and-beauty-of-the-borough

Soul’s directors and animators have said that they wanted it to be obvious that it was based in New York without it being an exact replica of the streets. They wanted to make it slightly more whimsical but still real - add jagged lines instead of straight lines, playing with color and lighting, but staying true to the history of the New York streets.

Let me know if you’d like to see the locations of other Pixar and Disney movies!

References:

https://www.quora.com/Where-does-Toy-Story-take-place

https://www.businessinsider.com.au/12-places-in-pixar-movies-that-actually-exist-in-real-life-2014-4#fentons-creamery-in-up-is-located-in-oakland-calif-1

https://disney.fandom.com/wiki/Crush

https://www.buzzfeed.com/laraparker/i-found-out-once-and-for-all-if-p-sherman-42-wallaby-way-act

https://www.slashfilm.com/finding-dory-real-life-inspiration/

https://culturacolectiva.com/travel/real-life-towns-behind-disney-pixar-coco

https://theculturetrip.com/north-america/mexico/articles/11-locations-in-coco-that-you-can-actually-visit-in-mexico/

https://abc7ny.com/peter-archer-real-life-soul-teacher-from-disney-and-pixar/9589572/

https://www.indiewire.com/2021/01/soul-pixar-design-new-york-great-before-1234610371/

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