Jessie to Ego: The Influence of Mother's in Toy Story and Ratatouille

From playrooms to kitchens, mothers always have a huge place in our hearts. We have seen all different types of mothers in the Disneyverse: from Dumbo and Bambi's mothers who sought to protect their children by any means necessary, to Kala who adopted a human child even after the loss of her own, to Eudora who nurtured and supported Taina's dreams of having her own restaurant while also teaching her the importance of hard work. Mothers have always played an important role, not just in our lives but in Disney as well. Today we are going to be talking about two different mothers: Andy’s mother from Toy Story, and Anton Ego’s from Ratatouille.

Who is ready to dive into some maternal fan theories with me? Let’s go!

“Emily” is Andy’s Mother

In Toy Story 2, we hear about Jessie’s tragic story as to how she came to be with the Toy Collector. About how she, too, once had a child that played with and loved her. She mentions that her child’s name was “Emily”. While we do not actually HAVE a name for Andy’s mother, there are a lot of clues that support this fan theory that his mother is, indeed, Jessie’s “Emily”.

Let’s start with her age. While this may not be solid proof, it leads us down towards the lane of proof. The reason for this is because based on the obvious age of Jessie, Bullseye, the Prospector, and Woody. While Woody is with the three of them, it becomes known that Woody is clearly not a “new age fad” like Buzz Lightyear; these four are quite a bit older. When they show him who he is, they tell him he is a “collector item”. As collector items are generally at least 20 years old themselves, that puts Woody in at least one generation older than Andy’s; aka his mother’s generation.

From what we can gather, Jessie’s “Emily” was at least 13 when she left her and that incident itself seemed to have been quite some time before Woody met them. This means that we can probably safely put Emily’s age at somewhere in her late 20’s or 30’s at minimum. Even if Andy’s mother had him at a young age, the timeline still would put both women (should they not be the same person) in their late 20’s/early 30’s. Consider, also, that Emily’s room held a lot of 60’s “Flower Power” and with Toy Story being made in the early 90’s, that also lines up with Emily being in her 30’s, although more towards mid to late rather than early; BUT, it still fits.

Now, the clue that really cinches closer to her being Emily is the hat that Andy wears in the very first scene of the entire franchise. Although we don’t actually meet Jessie until the Toy Story 2, you cannot deny that her hat is very RED compared to Woody’s muddy brown. This is a vast difference in colour. Now, in the first scene in Toy Story, as Andy is welcoming friends to his birthday parity, he is seen wearing a cowboy hat. However, the cowboy hat is red and not brown; but he has WOODY and not JESSIE. This makes it more likely that the hat he was wearing was inherited and not bought. Taking that into consideration, it is highly likely his mother is Emily especially when you take into account that there was a red cowboy hat on the wall of Emily’s room, and Andy’s definitely does’t look brand new.

It’s sort of mind-blowing to see the connection and the possibility the Andy’s mother is Emily; which that also gives us a name for her instead of just “Andy’s mother”, but it also makes you wonder exactly what went through her head when suddenly Andy has a Jessie toy. Did she recognize her? Did she wonder (if she IS Emily) if it was somehow HER Jessie toy? This theory may leave a bunch of questions, but it’s also a very viable theory with plenty of proof that it could be true!

Anton’s Mother Taught Remy to Cook

This theory is an interesting one, but has some valid points. At the beginning of Ratatouille, we see Remy in a house in the beginning where it seems that he learns to cook from a combination of the old lady living there, and Gusteau. He runs around this woman's house and somehow picks up how to combine flavours. At the end of the movie, when Remy decides to cook Ratatouille for Ego, he seems very certain of it. As Ego takes a bite, he is thrown back into a memory of when his mother cooked it for him, and even states that it tastes exactly like his mother's. To be able to cook something so well it tastes exactly like someone else's, you can only have learned it from the person themself. Therefore, the old woman in the house had to have been Ego's mother, and she helped teach Remy how to cook.

This is a theory that has been around for a while. In going through reddit, it seems that there is a bit of a disagreement between users on if this theory is valid or not. A lot of the reasons it's not valid seem to be a lot of minor nitpicking (though some make it seem as though it's just basic observation) and nothing really super solid. A few users pointed out things such as the door opened the opposite way in the opening scenes versus the flashback, there was a pipe in the flashback that wasn't in the opening scenes, and something also about how the ages wouldn't match up.

Honestly, the door thing could just be an issue of the perspective issue, as the door swings outward both in the memory and when Remy runs out it. I don't know if they mean which side of the door opens. This negative for the theory has some kinks to iron out on its own. As for the pipe in the background: houses go through repairs and changes all the time so it is likely the pipe could have been removed. This also can apply to the issue with the door as well. I saw another user say the house wasn't decorated the same; people change how they decorate over time, especially when it goes from a child living in the home to just one person.

As for the last part, about ages not matching up; this was addressed due to the show on the tv and about how he wouldn't critic something that had been open for a long time. Honestly, critics go in and do reviews all the time on places, especially ones who have a chef with that many stars and are open for long periods. Reviews aren't just for when places open, they are fairly constant to show if the quality has risen or fallen. It was even stated when Remy found out that Gusteau had passed that the show he was watching was old which means any age discrepancies would add up properly.

Obviously, I believe in everyone having their own opinions when it comes to fan theories. But the fun in having those differences is being able to discuss the holes in each other's theories, and the holes in those replies as well. Personally, I fully agree that there is more pros than cons for the old woman being Ego's mother.

Disney mother's quite obviously have a special spot in our hearts; these two are no different. I hope childhoods weren't ruined too much today but given more or a homey feeling. Tune in tomorrow as we do some pruning. *Wink, wink.*