Pixar has one of the most consistently high quality line ups of animated feature films of any modern movie studio.
They’ve also distinguished themselves with plenty of original concepts and original characters. Pixar has made us cheer and weep for toys, bugs, fish, rats, monsters, robots, and even personified representations of joy and sadness.
Another thing that sets Pixar apart is that despite producing family friendly movies, their stories don’t always center on young characters, unlike many other family movies.
Characters like Andy, Boo, Russel, Dash, Violet, and Jack-Jack are central to the premise and hook of their film’s stories, but they are not the main protagonists.
The main protagonists are often the adults who learn something from forming a bond with these characters.
That doesn’t mean that the young characters of Pixar movies don’t get plenty of fan love in the form of fan art– particularly fan art that imagines them as grownups.
What would Miguel Rivera be like as an adult? Or Riley Anderson, or Sid Phillips? Fan art lets us project our hopes and thoughts about characters we love into a coherent image.
They’re a testament to the success of the movies that inspire us and engage us.
Here are the 17 Crazy Pixar Characters All Grown Up!
17. MIGUEL RIVERA MARIACHI (COCO)
Miguel Rivera is drawn to music. He’s forced to pursue his passion mostly in secret because of the rest of his family’s attitude. Music split their family apart in the past. Miguel’s Grandmother in particular wants to make sure he’s never even exposed to music.
However, Miguel keeps following his heart. Eventually he finds himself in the land of the dead and meets his ancestors. It turns out music can help keep the Riveras together after all.
At the end of the movie, Miguel dons a little Mariachi outfit and plays for his family openly and proudly.
Tumblr user minekyri45 has a wonderfully colorful rendering of Miguel as an older Mariachi. He still looks thrilled to be playing and he still has his true great-great grandfather’s guitar.
16. BOO AND SULLEY (MONSTERS, INC.)
The monsters of Monsters, Inc. were all convinced that human children were lethally toxic creatures.
Thus, scarring, or extracting the raw energy their society needed, was dangerous work for James P. Sullivan. Then Sulley met “Boo,” a human little girl who got lost in the monster world.
It quickly became clear to Sulley that Boo at least wasn’t toxic or dangerous. He grew to care for Boo and wanted to send her back to her room where she belonged.
By the end of the movie, it was a tearful goodbye for both of them. Thankfully Sulley’s partner Mike Wazowski reconstructed Boo’s closet door which let Sulley visit Boo again.
DeviantArt user Itzel Nahomy has a delightful illustration of a slightly more grown-up Boo and Sulley.
You can still see her signature white closet door in the background. Not to mention the affection shining on both Boo and Sulley’s faces.
15. VIOLET, DASH, AND JACK-JACK (THE INCREDIBLES)
Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl started a family when there were forced to retire from superhero work. They had three children, Violet, Dash, and Jack-Jack.
They manifested superpowers like their parents but they were forbidden from using them publically because of the backlash.
Of course by the end of The Incredibles, all five of the Incredibles family members are doing super heroics openly again.
DeviantArt user MabyMin has an evocative incarnation of the Incredibles children as grown up superheroes. The Inspiration drawn from DC comics and Teen Titans is apparent. Dash is particularly reminiscent of Flash or Kid Flash, befitting his speed superpower.
Violet looks like a combination of Scarlet Witch and Invisible Woman. Jack-Jack looks just as cute and distinctive as ever with the tail and horns incorporated into his suit.
14. RUSSEL (UP)
Carl Fredricksen has dreamt of exploring all his life. He and his wife Ellie had hoped to sail around the world with the power of balloons, but unfortunately that dream never came true for them.
Late in life, Carl decided he was going to follow his dream anyway by rigging his house with thousands of balloons.
However, he didn’t expect Russel, a junior wilderness explorer, to accidentally stowaway on board. Despite Carl’s curmudgeonly attitude, he becomes a father figure to Russel over the course of their adventures.
Kristal Babich’s imagined moment of a grown up Russel is almost as much of a tear jerker as Pixar’s Up itself.
Russel still has Carl’s improvised pin on his suit as he releases a single purple balloon into the sky. In the clouds, the spirits of Carl, Ellie and Doug watch the balloon rise higher and higher.
13. TEENAGE RILEY (INSIDE OUT)
Riley is the human host of the emotions who make up the main characters of Inside Out. We see Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust all influence Riley’s behavior throughout her young life.
Riley and her emotions are thrown for a serious loop when her family moves to San Francisco, taking her away from pretty everything she knows and loves.
Inside Out gave a brilliant illustration of how our emotions make us run amok during our adolescence. Fortunately for Riley, Joy and Sadness were able to balance their influence and reconnect Riley with her family.
DeviantArt user andrewk shows us Riley just a few years older than we see her in the movie. She seems just as invested in hockey as ever, with a bandage on her cheek and her equipment pack hanging off her shoulders.
12. ARLO AND SPOT (THE GOOD DINOSAUR)
In The Good Dinosaur, Arlo, the young Apatosaurus, doesn’t fit in with the rest of his family. While on a bonding hunt with his father Henry, Arlo, and Henry are separated by a flashflood and Henry doesn’t survive.
When Arlo awakens he finds the Neanderthal boy whom he was hunting, waiting by his side. For both of them to get back to their families where they belong, they have to journey together. Arlo names the Neanderthal boy Spot.
In DeviantArt user Lillidan86’s image, Arlo and Spot are all grown up. They are both fully grown and Arlo looks much more confident than he did in the movie.
Spot looks like he’s having a blast, riding atop Arlo’s back with his Neanderthal hair blowing and his club held aloft.
11. ANDY AND SID (TOY STORY)
Andy was the imaginative, hyperactive owner of Woody, Buzz Lightyear and the gang of Toy Story toys.
He took good care of his toys, treating them like his best friends. Sid was Andy’s next door neighbor. As Woody and Buzz found out, Sid was a diabolical sadist when it came to his toys.
When Sid tried to blow up Buzz by attaching him to a rocket, they only escaped by revealing their ability to come to life. Sid was seriously freaked out.
It’s pretty much an open secret that both Andy and Sid appeared as young men in Toy Story 3. In Tumblr user moorhsu’s interpretation, Sid is roughing up Andy’s hair with his garbage gloves still on. Moorhsu at least loves these characters together.
10. WALL-E, EVE, AUTO, AND M-O AS HUMANS (WALL-E)
In WALL-E, humans have left the spoiled Earth behind to an army of automated trash compactors including the titular WALL-E.
During his work, WALL-E finds a single growing, green plant. This plant becomes the linchpin of a nearly forgotten quest to bring humanity back to its rightful home.
DeviantArt user SchifferCake has given use anthropomorphized renditions of several characters from WALL-E. All are in a recognizable anime style.
WALL-E looks appropriately anxious in his construction-yellow work jacket. EVE looks serious and aloof and just as ready to blast away any threat to her directive.
Auto looks even more like an administrative terror in a lapelled jacket and with the eyepatch. And M-O looks like a literal white collar version of WALL-E with his rolling cleaner pin.
9. DARKER AND EDGIER DASH, VIOLET, AND JACK-JACK (THE INCREDIBLES)
Superheroes have gone through many different tones and interpretations. In their early days they were mostly idealistic in aesthetics and message.
They were morally upstanding and almost always saved the day. Most modern superheroes are a bit more morally ambiguous.
They are visually and thematically darker and edgier. Because every superhero gets this treatment these days, some fans have imagined the retro, pulpy Incredibles in this fashion.
This darker and edgier version of the Incredibles kids comes to us from DeviantArt user myTduck. Dash, Violet and Jack-Jack are all more ripped in this image than even their father was in his prime. They are each displaying their trademark powers.
However, Jack-Jack is most distinctive with one arm of riveted metal and another arm with a flaming fist. Not to mention a modest Mohawk and goatee.
8. MIGUEL AND RILEY (COCO AND INSIDE OUT)
Everybody loves Crossovers. Disney and Pixar pans in particular love seeing their favorite characters from different movies meet.
Nightowl374 on Instagram has given us this adorable scene with a teenage Miguel Rivera from Coco serenading a teenage Riley Anderson from InsideOut.
This could easily be a fade away scene from the Mariachi plaza in Santa Cecilia where Riley is visiting and Miguel is in his element playing for passersby.
Miguel still has his great-grandfather’s guitar and you can make out the dimple on the left side of his face– and of course some homemade shoes from his family. Riley is also instantly recognizable with her frame of blonde hair and big blue eyes.
Nightowl374 has also kept some of the color of Inside Out by giving Riley a striped yellow and blue shirt, referencing the emotions Joy and Sadness.
7. MERIDA (BRAVE)
In Brave, Princess Merida defies the traditions of her family and her people by refusing to be married off. Merida wants nothing to do with the sons of the other clans. S
he would rather let her hair flow in the wind as she rides through the glen, firing arrows into the sunset.
DeviantArt user ojadano’s vision of Merida is pretty close to this dream in spirit if not in specifics. Forget the wedding dress.
This Merida is rocking leather pauldrons and a corset over a chainmail hauberk. At least her long skirt will still let her move more easily through the woods.
She’s also got asymmetrical leather vambraces for handling her bow and arrows. Also as nod to the spiritual side of Merida’s story, there are will-o’-wisps surrounding her in the dark forest.
6. THE EMOTIONS AS HUMANS (INSIDE OUT)
In Inside Out the “non-human” characters of the Emotions, are the main characters of the movie. Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust all have their primary modes of expression as they pertain to their human host Riley, but they are each fully formed characters in their own right.
So naturally, fans come up with more proper human imaginings of the Emotions.
DeviantArt user BlueHana87 has a human but still very cartoonish visualization of the Emotions. Each one has a distinct style from the other and carries identifying details from their movie inspirations.
The ages of the characters seem to vary with Joy and Sadness looking the most childlike and Anger looking perhaps college age. Fear and Disgust’s attitudes are spot on, as well as their clothing.
5. JESSIE AS HUMAN (TOY STORY 2)
Jessie the cowgirl doll first appeared in Toy Story 2 and immediately became a fan favorite. She’s every bit as brave as Woody from the same line of toys and has no reservations about sticking up for herself and her friends.
Jessie also got the saddest backstory of any of the characters in the franchise, complete with the tearjerker “When She Loved Me” by Sarah McLachlan.
In this portrait by Tumblrite anunderwaterkiss, Jessie appears human but no less vibrant than her original toy counterpart.
The detail on every part of her outfit is very impressive, not to mention the detail on each of the Woody and Buzz Lightyear dolls that Jessie is holding.
The portrait even seems to have a warm tinge to it as though it’s an old candid Polaroid photograph. That would fit right in with the nostalgia of Jessie’s story and Toy Story overall.
4. MERIDA AND HER FAMILY (BRAVE)
King Fergus and his family are supposed to be Scottish royalty after all. So one could hardly blame DeviantArt user TFfan234 for this wide portrait of Clan Dunbroch’s royal family.
The style is very reminiscent of Renaissance era art perspective of using foreground to background placement to imply distance and scale of a scene.
According to TFfan234, the piece was made partially using a Game of Thrones and Dress Up Doll Scene maker toolset. That could be why Merida is strongly reminding us of Sansa with her hair and face shape. H
opefully she still gets to ride and practice archery despite taking on a more traditional role in this picture. Harris, Hamish, and Hubert are all looking like strapping young lads. King Fergus and Queen Elinor look a bit more realistically proportioned and much more regal.
3. VIOLET (THE INCREDIBLES)
Of all of the Incredibles children Violet arguably grows up the most over the course of the film. When we first meet her she is very shy and awkward to the point of subconsciously using her powers to hide herself when Tony is looking in her direction.
By the end of the movie she is confident enough to approach Tony and coax him to ask her out. She also has the most adult understanding of what’s going on with her mom and dad.
All of that confidence and growth is apparent in DeviantArt user J-Spence’s illustration of a grown up Violet.
She looks like a combination of Sue Storm and Diana Prince with her hair and expression. She’s also projecting a stunning array of force fields and invisibility.
2. LIGHTNING MCQUEEN AND MATER (CARS)
In Cars, the young hotshot Lightning McQueen gets stuck in Radiator Springs while on his way to a big race. While there he gets to know some of the small town’s less shiny denizens.
Despite their different backgrounds, McQueen forms a fast friendship with a rootin’ tootin’ tow truck named Mater.
The automotive characters of Cars already have very human behaviors and personalities. So it’s not a big step to imagine them as actual human characters.
DeviantArt user Green-Kco has a particularly flashy incarnation of McQueen and Mater. McQueen is wearing a sponsor-bedecked jumpsuit and Mater has got ripped and greasy pants, boots and gloves.
McQueen even has a stylized lightning bolt in his hair while Mater is dull and unkempt. However, they are both arm-in-arm in front of a checkered racing flag.
1. BOO (MONSTERS INC.)
It’s difficult to imagine very young characters as adults because you have to imagine how you’ll expect them to turn out.
This version of grown up Boo by Instagram user Tati Moons, has all the recognizable elements of the character, and all of the nuance of a grown up with much more life experiences.
Her hair is still in twin ponytails, she still has soft tones of pink and purple in her outfit and her face shape is recognizable. However, she has many other details that make you wonder.
What was that scar on her right arm from? How old is she supposed to be actually, despite this child-like attire? What is significance of her “Boo” and “Kitty” tattoos under each of her eyes?
Tati Moons may not be pleased with it in retrospect but we are thoroughly taken with this grown up Boo.
How do you like these grown up interpretations of Pixar characters? Are they how you imagined? Let us know in the comments!
