A113

A113 and its variants are an inside joke and Easter egg in media developed by alumni of California Institute of the Arts, referring to the classroom used by graphic design and character animation students.^[1]

History

Students who have used the classroom include John Lasseter, Pete Docter, Chris Sanders, Tim Burton, Michael Peraza and Brad Bird. It has appeared in several Disney films and almost every Pixar movie.^[2]

Brad Bird first used it for a license plate number in the "Family Dog" episode of Amazing Stories: "I put it into every single one of my films, including my Simpsons episodes—it's sort of my version of caricaturist Al Hirschfeld's 'Nina'."^[3] It also appears in South Park, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Family Guy, American Dad!, Doctor Who and the SPA Studios animated film Klaus (2019).^[4] The first movie Bird used it in was The Brave Little Toaster (1987), in which he worked on as an animator.^[2]

^ "Disney has been hiding a secret message in its movies for years". Business Insider.
^ ^a ^b Shaffer, Joshua C (July 17, 2017). Discovering the Magic Kingdom: An Unofficial Disneyland Vacation Guide – Second Edition. Synergy Book Publishing. p. 164. ISBN 978-0-9991664-0-6.
^ Sragow, Michael (August 5, 1999). "Iron without irony". Salon Arts & Entertainment. Salon.com. Archived from the original on April 23, 2007. Retrieved April 27, 2007. A113 was our classroom number. On "Family Dog" I put it on the license plate of the thieves' car. And I put it into every single one of my films ...{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^ KLAUS | FUN FACTS, retrieved November 29, 2022