FILM · 2013 · USA
Monsters University
27 archived facts 5 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (27)
- #001
Although Dame Helen Mirren was offered the role of Dean Hardscrabble directly, she still asked to audition for it to make sure the filmmakers were happy with her performance.
- #002
As the students enter the School of Scaring building, they all touch the front paw of the statue in front of it. This references a tradition at Harvard University, where students touch the left foot of the John Harvard statue for good luck. As a result, the foot of the Harvard statue is bright and polished, and the animators included this detail on the statue in the film.
- #003
When James P. "Sulley" Sullivan (John Goodman) brings Fear Tech's pig into Mike Wazowski's (Billy Crystal) and Randall's (Steve Buscemi) room, a motivational poster reading "Winds of Change: Shh… Can you hear them?" can be seen above Randall's bed. During Monsters, Inc. (2001), Randall says the same line to Mike in the locker room.
- #004
Mike's parents were initially planned to be part of the story; they were going to drop Mike off at Monsters University for his first day. Director Dan Scanlon decided to cut them from the finished film to make Mike seem much more vulnerable.
- #005
STUDIO TRADEMARK: The Pizza Planet truck, first shown in Toy Story (1995) and slightly revised to fit the monster world, can be seen parked to the left of the JOX fraternity house during the party while Mike rides the Scare Pig, Archie.
- #006
While Sulley and Mike are at the humans' summer camp, the child who comes out of the bathroom before Mike roars at him. The roar is a sound recording used for the character Boo in Monsters, Inc. (2001).
- #007
The first prequel to a Pixar film, it takes place ten years before Monsters, Inc. (2001).
- #008
John Ratzenberger makes the traditional Pixar film appearance by reprising his role as the Yeti (also known as the Abominable Snowman) from Monsters, Inc. (2001). The Yeti's job in the Monsters, Inc. mailroom is a nod to John's famous role as mailman Cliff Clavin in Cheers (1982). In Monsters, Inc. (2001), the Yeti comically warns Mike and Sulley, as a harbinger of his own exile, that tampering with the mail can be punished with banishment to the human world.
- #009
At the end, you see Mike and Sulley's careers, which began in the mailroom and went on to scaring, in Mike's locker. For a moment, a photo of his mother and father appears.
- #010
In the first version of the story, Mike and Sulley got stuck in the human world much earlier, but this was set aside to focus more on the monster world, so that the human world was used for the climax, raising the stakes and allowing Mike and Sulley to solidify their friendship.
- #011
The furry monster teacher who lectures on Scream Can Design and nearly puts Mike to sleep is a parody of Ben Stein's portrayal of the boring lecturer in "Voodoo Economics" in Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986).
- #012
Monsters Inc. has two major rivals in the scaring industry: Fear Co. and Scream Ind.
- #013
In the early drafts, Sulley and Mike were together in elementary school (to honor the "fourth grade" line in Monsters, Inc. (2001)), and appearances were included for the characters Celia, Fungus and Henry J. Waternoose (recast as Kelsey Grammer, replacing the late James Coburn, who died a year after the premiere of Monsters, Inc. (2001)). Grammer never made it into the final film, and Waternoose only appeared in a photograph.
- #014
STUDIO TRADEMARK: Professor Knight's lecture hall is room A113, where animation classes are taught at CalArts.
- #015
Celia Mae and Mr. Waternoose actually "appear" in this film. In the closing section, there is a note in Mike's locker from Celia asking him to call her. There is also a photo showing Mr. Waternoose a few seconds later.
- #016
The scare cards were a special feature of the original 2-Disc Monsters, Inc. (2001) DVD.
- #017
In the final exam before Mike and Sulley are expelled from the Scaring Program, Dean Hardscrabble tells Sulley that the roar of someone who is afraid of snakes will not make them scream, but will make them run away crying to their parents. This is proven in Monsters Inc. (2001), where the same thing happens to Boo when Sulley roars at the Scare Simulator while unknowingly watching her nearby.
- #018
The area code on Don Carlton's (Joel Murray) business card is 510, the same as Emeryville, California, where Pixar Animation Studios is located.
- #019
While moving, Mike places his one-eyed bear "little Mikey" from the first film on his shelf.
- #020
During the final Scare Games event, a tall monster enters the scare simulator. When he comes out after being beaten by one of the Oozma Kappa team members, he is shorter (a pun on a shrinking defeat).
- #021
Writer and director Dan Scanlon voiced the Blue Fuzzy Improv Club Monster that Mike passes at the start of the film when he first arrives on campus.
- #022
During the final match of the Scare Games, Arlo from The Good Dinosaur (2015) makes a cameo as a toy on the ground along with several other dinosaurs. At the time this film was being made and released, The Good Dinosaur (2015) was set to be Pixar's next film, but after an eighteen-month delay that film became Inside Out (2015).
- #023
WILHELM Scream: Mike runs over a student with a floor polisher.
- #024
STUDIO TRADEMARK: Pixar's Luxo, Jr. (1986) ball appears as a drawing on a stone wall at the start of the first Scare Games task.
- #025
In addition to the phone number on Don's (Joel Murray's) business card having an Emeryville/Oakland, California area code, the street address is "1200 Dark Ave." with no city given. Pixar Animation Studios is located at 1200 Park Ave., Emeryville, California.
- #026
Bonnie Hunt, one of the voice actors from Monsters, Inc. (2001), returns but has a different role in this film. In the first film she voiced Flint, Bile's fearsome instructor, but in this film she voiced Mike's school teacher, Ms. Karen Graves. Both of these roles were small parts seen only at the start of the film.
- #027
While this film was in development, writer and director Dan Scanlon described each of the misfit characters to sketch artists Jason Deamer and Chris Sasaki, but for Art he said only: "think mysterious." They went for variation upon variation and became really frustrated. Finally Chris Sasaki drew an "A" in his own style and put two eyes on it. The character gradually developed from there.
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