UPDATE 1/1/2021: Co-Director Kemp Powers Revealed John Ratzenberger’s cameo in the film is his likeness without using his voice. Click here to find out where he’s hidden.
It appears that Pixar has broken one of their longest standing traditions with Soul, premiering on Disney+ this Christmas. Actor John Ratzenburger has had at least a cameo role in every Pixar feature film up until now, considered by many to be the studio’s “Lucky Charm.” While some sources claim him to be in the film, he’s absent from all official cast listings.
Having seen the film, I can confirm that Ratzenburger is not listed in the voice cast on the credits, nore does his easy-to-identify voice stick out during the film. This leads us to believe that Soul is Pixar’s first film without Ratzenburger’s voice.
John Ratzenburger is also missing from the IMDB cast list, although Wikipedia lists him as being part of the cast, sourcing a Collider article that seems to presume his inclusion. Disney.Fandom goes a step further and lists a character name for Ratzenburger with no source listed, Berry Williams. We’re not sure where that name came from, but it’s worth noting that Angela Bassett's character has the same surname, Dorothea Williams. However, no character in the film is addressed as “Berry.”
Soul seems like an odd film to break the tradition seeing as John Ratzenberger was even included in Coco, which proudly had an all Latino voice cast, plus John Ratzenberger. In the film, he could’ve easily been included as one of the Jerry’s in the Great Before. Despite his apparent exclusion, however, Soul is a solid Pixar film and you can see it this December 25th, only on Disney+.