How 'Onward' Fits Into The Pixar Theory

Since 2013, fans all over the internet have been working together towards a common goal: grab every single Pixar movie and throw them into a shared universe.

When Jon Negroni created the Pixar Theory (a fan theory that states all Pixar movies take place in the same world), he started a movement. Every time Pixar has released a new film, we have been able to add that movie into this insane universe that Pixar has unintentionally created.

But when Onward released its first teaser trailer, it had us fans worried that we would be unable to fit it into the Pixar Theory (myself included). Now that the film has been released, we have been scrambling to give this movie a part in this humungous shared universe.

And luckily, we have. Let's discuss this.

Negroni, the creator of the theory, recently published a blog post stating that Onward takes place between A Bug's Life and Monsters University. He says that after humans repopulated the Earth at the end of Wall-E, they evolved into the creatures we see in the film, and eventually into the monsters in Monsters, Inc.

At first, this seems to make sense in the overall timeline, especially with how Negroni connects the themes of this movie to other films, but the problem is quite simple: Earth has one moon, but if you look at the world of Onward, there are two moons.

Therefore, if we're going to be stringing Onward into the Pixar Theory, we're going to need a theory that's...out of this world.

Jonathan Carlin of the smash-hit YouTube channel, SuperCarlinBrothers, recently came up with a theory that fits Onward into the Pixar universe. I'll link his video at the end of the article, and for now, let's get into the fascinating explanation for how Onward can fit into the world of Pixar.

Now, at the beginning of Onward, we have background exposition about their world: it used to be filled with magic and wonder, but over time, magic became obsolete and was soon replaced by technological innovations.

The rise of technology mirrors our world and how we developed and used technology more and more over the last few centuries. So are we to believe that Onward takes place in a parallel universe where magic used to be more prominent, and everyone is a fantasy creature?

Well, that would be cool, but it wouldn't tie into Pixar enough, so here's a question: why is the society depicted in Onward so much like ours? They have a very human-like community with highways, smartphones, schools, restaurants, and trucks.

Because their technology is so similar to ours, they may live in our world as well. But the problem is, once again, too many moons. So we're going to trace this all back to Buy-n-Large. BnL is the company that caused the mass pollution of Earth and eventually sent humans to space to help them escape what was left of their habitable planet.

In Wall-E, we see the Axiom, but the Axiom is just one of the many starliner spacecrafts used to evacuate humans. According to the Pixar Wiki, there were "thousands" of these space ships floating through space, and one of them may have crash-landed onto the planet we see in Onward.

When this spacecraft landed on this magical planet of elves and trolls, they must have been curious about its contents. They explored its interior, and as we saw in Wall-E, the Axiom could give information on anything that existed on Earth and how to create any of our technological advancements.

The BnL spacecraft crash-landing onto the planet of Onward is what caused the shift in reliance on magic to technology. We see in the film that Barley can't do magic, but Ian can; this is why their society would likely be open to adapting themselves into a community that doesn't require magic to function.

Over centuries, these mythical creatures used the spacecraft's computer to give themselves technology and innovations they would never have had without magic. They even started to create Triple-Dent gum, the gum with the catchiest jingle ever from Inside Out.

But I know what you're thinking. You're skeptical. You believe this theory is too reliant on the idea that a BnL spacecraft crashed onto this planet when there's no evidence to support that anything like that happened.

Now, if that's what you're thinking, then hold onto your butts, because the end of this theory is about to blow your mind. While there has not yet been a trace of the BnL logo in the world of Onward, there does happen to be one massive piece of evidence that proves the existence of the crashed spacecraft.

Ian and Barley spend the movie on a quest to reach a mountain called Raven's Point. We see this mountain on the promotional material, and if you look at it, the shape of the mountain very closely resembles the shape of a BnL spacecraft, but sideways. Why? Because it crashed.

The shape isn't exactly the same, of course, but this is because the ship had crashed thousands of years before the events of the film, and since then, parts have fallen off, and nature has grown over it, which is why people now see it as a mountain and not a wreck.

And that is how Onward fits into the Pixar Theory. It takes place on a different planet, but a spacecraft sent out before the events of Wall-E landed on their magical world and was eventually named Raven's Point by their society.

Wow. If you liked this theory, subscribe to the SuperCarlinBrothers; I'm not affiliated with them, but I do love their work, and I want more people to see their videos. Check out their video below, and thank you for reading!