Disney Pixar Unveils Its Ultimate Easter Egg Before 'Finding Dory'

Disney Pixar is widely known for the Easter Eggs that appear in its feature films: the Luxo Ball, the Pizza Planet truck, Andy’s cloud wallpaper from Toy Story, and John Ratzenberger’s voice, the good luck charm featured in every Pixar film. There are plenty of other Easter Eggs that Pixar has carefully scattered throughout its films, including the brief cameo by Luigi from Cars in Finding Nemo or the mosaic of Crush, the surfing sea turtle from Finding Nemo, that appears in the end credits of Wall-E. The hidden gems urge audiences to engage with Pixar’s exciting world since its first full length feature Toy Story came out in 1995, but they’ve kept one a secret all these years. Until now, that is. Finding Dory filmmakers revealed that the film’s curmudgeonly octopus Hank has been their best-kept secret for 25 years.

Hank the octopus — who is technically a “septopus” because he’s missing a tentacle — has appeared in every one of Pixar’s films since 1995. Finding Dory director Andrew Stanton, who also directed 2003’s Finding Nemo, said, “Until now, Hank has been our most closely guarded secret. There are even people internally at Pixar who don’t know about this.” While Hank started out as an inside joke between Pixar’s founding members, finding a cameo for him in each of its feature films has become an integral part of the animated world. Hank the octopus, voiced by Ed O’Neill, will finally get his proper introduction in Finding Dory, which hits theaters nationwide on June 17, 2016.

The studio has released an official video of Stanton and O’Neill that presents several of Hank’s cameos in Pixar’s feature films since 1995 as well as a look into the official character who will appear in Finding Dory. Pixar fans, go crazy.