BACKGROUND
“Do you ever look at someone and wonder: what is going on inside their head?”
These are the opening words of Pixar’s Inside Out, the 15th movie to come from the studio, twenty years after their first movie, Toy Story, was released in 1995, becoming the first-ever computer-animated feature film.
Whereas Disney Animation is known primarily for animating fantasy and adventure stories, usually with some sort of children’s story or novel as inspiration, Pixar tend to base their movies simply in the relatability of human experience.
Although this is usually done with a fantastical twist, like the existence of monsters, or rats that can cook, or a little fish going missing in the ocean, there is still something about the plight of these non-human characters that us as people can connect with.
In the case of Inside Out, Pixar chose to actually look inside humans, basing their whole movie on how we think and feel. What would that look like? What is going on in our heads when we face conflicting emotions?
As well as chronicling the trials and tribulations of an 11-year-old girl during a particularly difficult move away from her hometown of Minnesota to the city life of San Francisco, Pixar took us inside the mind, personifying emotions, giving them responsibilities, and showing how memories are created.
When I first watched Inside Out, I remember thinking it was a very clever movie from Pixar. They showed us how memories might be stored, how thoughts are categorised, and what our imagination looks like in a way that was fun, colourful, and meaningful.
It was also very poignant, as it proved how useful sadness can be, trying to move us away from thinking that happiness is the only emotion people should feel, and that if they don’t, there must be something wrong with them. We now have a word for that: toxic positivity, a very unhealthy attitude to have.
Pixar rarely get a foot wrong when it comes to their films, though they have not always been perfect. However, Inside Out felt like a turning point for Pixar, as they’d made something not only entertaining, but significant. But it is worth noting that Inside Out might’ve been highly praised simply because it was released after the disappointing sequel Cars 2 (2011) and the prequel Monsters University (2013), with more sequels coming afterwards.
PLOT
Inside Out begins with the birth of its main human character, Riley. We see Riley as a baby and then go inside her mind to see Joy appear. Here, Joy can see through Riley’s eyes, watching her delighted parents. This moment creates Riley’s first memory, which Joy sees roll into Riley’s mind like a glass ball, and stack itself on nearby shelves. Joy is excited to help keep Riley happy throughout her life, expecting it to be just the two of them now.
But just a few seconds later, Sadness shows up as Riley cries for the first time. Over the coming days, other emotions join Joy and Sadness inside Riley’s mind. First, Fear, who keeps Riley safe from tripping over a cable whilst playing in the house; then Disgust, who saves Riley from being poisoned by broccoli; and Anger, who shows up to get Riley to voice her displeasure at being refused dessert if she doesn’t eat that broccoli!
As the years go on, Joy is pleased to find that the majority of Riley’s memories are all golden and happy, since memories match the colour of the primary emotion in that memory. At the end of each day, these memories are taken down to Long-Term Memory to be stored. Riley’s Core Memories are also golden and these power Riley’s personality, forming personality “islands” inside her mind, like Family Island, Friendship Island, Hockey Island, Honesty Island, and Goofball Island. As Riley has grown up though, Joy has been at odds with Sadness, not knowing what she is actually in “HQ”, as in Riley’s mind, for.
Joy knows that Riley is 11 now so doesn’t expect much to happen in her life. And yet Riley’s parents have packed up all their belongings and moving from Minnesota to San Francisco. The journey is long, so the emotions review some of Riley’s favourite daydreams about what their new house will be like. Riley is excited to see it, but when they arrive, she finds it is nothing special and is in fact very rundown and kind of dirty… Riley is horrified, but Joy tries to keep her spirits up. However, the more Riley sees of the house, the more her other emotions push Joy aside, creating bad memories of the place. To make it worse, Riley’s mother then tells her the moving van won’t be coming for days, and when Riley tries to lighten the mood by playing hockey in the house with a balled-up piece of paper, her dad is called out to work. Riley and her mother go out for pizza but discover that San Franciscans apparently have a love for broccoli on pizza. That is so wrong.
Riley’s emotions are struggling with what is going on, but none more so than Sadness, who keeps feeling the urge to touch happy memories, which turns them blue. Joy tells Sadness not to touch any more memories, but Sadness goes to touch a Core Memory and it falls out. Sadness cries she thinks she’s having a breakdown. Joy pushes the Core Memory back in to place, because without these, Riley’s personality “islands” will stop working and she’ll become a shell of her former self. Sadness is sent to read manuals and stay away from the main console of HQ. Joy is also concerned that many of Riley’s memories for that day are a mixture of Fear, Anger, and Disgust. That’s new.
That evening, Riley is sleeping on the floor of her new room in a sleeping bag, much to Disgust’s…disgust. Her mother comes upstairs to tell her that her dad is very busy with work and that the moving van is going to be even later, but she appreciates Riley taking it all in her stride and still making an effort to be happy. Despite Riley’s fear and upset at being forced to move here, she continues to put on a happy face. Now it’s time for sleep and Joy is on “dream duty”, excited to see what Dream Productions is putting on for the night. Joy is unhappy with their choice so puts on a memory of Riley ice skating with her parents instead.
The next day, Joy wakes up with even more enthusiasm than usual, waking the other emotions playing the accordion. It’s Riley’s first day of a new school and Joy wants it to be perfect. She orders Fear to write a list of all possible worst-case scenarios for the day; tells Disgust to choose a great outfit for Riley; and Anger is tasked with unloading daydreams from the Train of Thought in case Riley’s lessons are boring. Sadness, on the other hand, is confined to a circle which Joy drew on the floor, telling her not to step outside of it.
At school, Riley is immediately asked to introduce herself to the class by her teacher, something that Fear calculated was the worst-case scenario. Joy isn’t concerned though and Riley starts to talk a bit about Minnesota and how great it was living there… The emotions then see that Riley has started crying in front of everyone. Horrified, they turn around to find Sadness has stepped out of her circle and touched a memory, making it sad. They then notice that a Core Memory has been created – and it’s entirely blue. This is Riley’s first-ever sad Core Memory. Joy and Sadness fight over it, with Joy wanting to dispose of it, but as they fight, all of Riley’s Core Memories are knocked out of position, Joy picks them up but her, the memories, and Sadness are sucked into one of the tubes that transports Riley’s memories around the mind. They are thrown out of Headquarters, and dumped in Long-Term Memory. Joy and Sadness discover that none of Riley’s personality islands are working without the Core Memories, so they know they have to hurry back to HQ.
Joy and Sadness’s departure has left only Fear, Anger, and Disgust in HQ. It’s already apparent that Riley’s personality has changed as she sits slouched eating dinner with her parents. Her mother tries to ask about school but thanks to Disgust, Riley’s answer comes out sarcastic. This leads Riley’s mother to become worried and try to get Riley’s father involved. As we can see inside both of their minds now too, we know Riley’s father wasn’t paying attention, exasperating Riley’s mother. Riley’s father tries to contribute to the conversation but makes everything worse, inflaming the situation instead of calming it. This makes Riley angry and she is sent to her room. Riley’s father is pleased with how he put his foot down, but Riley’s mother knows it was a disaster… Riley’s dad tries to cheer Riley up later by acting silly but Riley is having none of it.
This brings us back to Joy and Sadness who are trying to navigate their way to HQ by walking along a thin bridge between Goofball Island and Headquarters. As Riley refuses to act silly with her dad, Goofball Island breaks away and Joy and Sadness run back to Long-Term Memory. Riley then falls asleep so Joy wants to be back in HQ by morning, but this means a long walk round to Friendship Island. Sadness doesn’t feel like moving but knows Joy will get lost in the maze that is Long-Term Memory. Sadness then shows she knows the route through so Joy drags her along with her. The next morning, they are still walking and Joy is annoyed to find that Sadness has touched all the bottom row of the Memory Shelves turning them blue. Joy sees some Memory Workers getting rid of old, faded memories, sending them to the Memory Dump to be forgotten forever. One of these that will never fade is the Triple Dent Gum jingle, which the workers like to send to HQ just for fun! Joy asks them for directions to Friendship Island but they walk away, ignoring her.
Back with Riley, she video calls a friend from Minnesota who tells her about this new girl on their hockey team and how amazing she is. Naturally, this upsets Riley who bluntly ends the call. This event causes Friendship Island to collapse just like Goofball Island, so Joy and Sadness cannot take that route now. They are back to walking again… Joy notices something pink seemingly taking some of Riley’s memories. Joy goes to confront him but he runs away, scared. It turns out Joy knows exactly who this. It’s Bing Bong, Riley’s imaginary friend. Bing Bong says he’ll help them get back to HQ, with Joy promising she’ll get Riley to remember him, as he is being forgotten, once they’re back.
Bing Bong tells them the best way to get back is to catch the Train of Thought which has a station in Imagination Land. Bing Bong takes them through a “shortcut” which is actually Abstract Thought. Some workers turn the area on as Joy, Sadness, and Bing Bong are walking through and they start to transform. First, they become fragmented, then deconstructed, then 2D, then simple shapes. They manage to jump out of Abstract Thought alive but have missed the train as they wait to regain their actual forms. There is another station through Imagination Land, so they keep walking, through French Fry Forest, Cloud Town, the House of Cards, where Bing Bong’s magical rocket/wagon has been left, and the Imaginary Boyfriend machine. At Pre-School World, Bing Bong’s rocket is taken by workers who are demolishing the whole area. Bing Bong is devastated to find that Riley is moving on from him. Joy tries to boost his mood, but it doesn’t work. Sadness then sympathises with him and they talk about Bing Bong’s sadness at things changing and him being forgotten. Joy is amazed to find that Bing Bong’s talk with Sadness has actually made him happier…
At HQ, Fear, Anger, and Disgust see Riley breaking down further. At hockey try-outs, without her Core Memory and Personality Island, Riley plays terribly and storms off upset, causing Hockey Island to collapse. Anger thinks he has a way of fixing this whole situation: by running back to Minnesota and creating new Core Memories. Disgust and Fear aren’t so sure, so they put a pin in that idea.
Back with Bing Bong, Joy, and Sadness, they have boarded the Train of Thought, but it stops soon after as Riley falls asleep. Luckily, they stopped right by Dream Productions. They decide to infiltrate the dreams to wake Riley up. On set, Sadness says they should scare her awake, but Joy doesn’t want to do that. Instead, they dress up like a dog and run onto the Dream Productions set. Joy and Sadness’s costume breaks apart though, so it looks like the dog has been cut in half. Bing Bong rushes on to set too to try and talk to Riley, and Dream Productions Security carry him out. This whole dream was being watched by Fear who was on Dream Duty too. He was unimpressed to say the least.
Joy and Sadness then go to the Subconscious where Bing Bong has been put in a cell. As the two try to enter the area, two guards see them and throw them inside. They follow a trail of candy wrappers to find Bing Bong in a cell made of balloons, sitting on top of a clown. This clown is Jangles and he is terrifying, which is why he is in the Subconscious; this is where all of Riley’s darkest fears live. Joy releases Bing Bong and then decides Sadness was right about scaring Riley awake, so they wake up Jangles and lead him to Dream Productions. Riley does wake up and they jump on the train. But at HQ, Anger decides they must take action and puts the running away thought in Riley’s head, by placing a literal light bulb in the console. Riley decides to do it, buying a bus ticket home, and stealing her mother’s credit card to pay for it, which breaks down Honesty Island.
On the train, Bing Bong picks up a memory of Riley playing hockey. Joy remembers that it was a day of celebration with her hockey team, but Sadness remembers that Riley actually was very sad that day after missing the winning goal in a big game. Honesty Island’s collapse causes the Train of Thought to derail and the three are pulled to safety by Memory Workers. They tell Joy Riley is running away. Sadness and Joy rush over to Family Island, the last personality island standing and go to a Recall Tube to get back to HQ. But as Sadness enters the tube, Riley’s Core Memories start to turn blue. Joy tells Sadness Riley needs to be happy and goes off without her. But the tube breaks, and as Bing Bong tries to help, he too falls, both of them heading right to the Memory Dump.
As Bing Bong loses hope that they’ll get out of there, Joy starts to cry and picks up the memory that they were just talking about. As she wipes a tear off it, she sees that this memory started off sad and then became happy. This shows to Joy that memories can have mixed emotions and that Sadness alerted others to how Riley was feeling so that they could come and comfort her to make her happy again. Joy knows she can’t just stay here, and finds Bing Bong’s rocket, powered by song power. The two get in the wagon and start to sing. They rise higher and higher…but it’s not enough. They keep trying but just can’t seem to get out of there. Bing Bong then realises he might be too heavy so at the last moment, he jumps out, causing Joy to make it back to Long-Term Memory. Looking down, she sees Bing Bong waving and then he fades away forever…
Back in San Francisco, Riley’s parents have discovered Riley is missing and so Family Island starts to fall. Joy quickly finds Sadness, who is floating on a cloud of tears, believing Riley is better off without her. Inside HQ, the emotions have discovered that Riley’s console is turning grey, and they cannot do anything to reverse Riley’s decision to run away. Joy then goes to the Imaginary Boyfriend machine and prints copies of the boys. She pushes Sadness towards Family Island. Using these boys, Joy basically makes a tower to stand on. She then tells them to fall forward, and she jumps onto the trampoline of Family Island before it falls, catching Sadness on the way. The two slam into one of the windows of HQ. Anger, Disgust, and Fear rush towards them, with Disgust winding up Anger so she can use his fire to break the window open. The three tell Joy to fix Riley, but she passes that responsibility over to Sadness. Sadness takes a deep breath and takes out the light bulb from the console, removing the thought from Riley’s head. She immediately gets off the bus.
At home, Riley’s parents are relieved to see she’s back unharmed. Sadness returns Riley’s Core Memories, turning them blue, which allows Riley to tell her parents that she misses home. It turns out her parents miss home too. The three comfort each other with a big hug. This creates the first mixed emotion memory for Riley. Family Island is restored.
One year later, Riley is twelve, and has begun to accept her new life in San Francisco, making friends, and joining the hockey team, with new Personality Islands forming too, like Boyband Island and Tragic Vampire Romance Island. Joy has also begun to accept Sadness in Riley’s mind, and more mixed emotion memories have been created. They soon find that the Memory Workers have expanded their console, with a new red button marked “Puberty” on it. Joy tells them not to worry about it; it can’t be that important.
In a mid-credits scene, we get to see inside the minds of others, including Riley’s teacher, who is counting down the days until she can go on vacation, seemingly to meet up with the same helicopter pilot that Riley’s mother once knew; a cool girl from Riley’s school who is finding it exhausting keeping up this façade that she’s too cool to care; and even a cat’s mind, where its Fear emotion plays about with the console, making the cat randomly go crazy in the real world. Oh, so that’s why cats do that!
CHARACTERS & CAST
Joy believes herself to be the leading figure of the five emotions that reside in Riley’s mind. She was the first one to be there to support Riley and she has vowed to keep Riley happy for the rest of her life. Happiness is the key emotion that many people strive for, however, that does not mean that you have to spend every day and every minute of your life feeling happy. That’s unrealistic and not even sustainable. So, on this journey through Riley’s mind, Joy has to accept that she cannot be the driver of Riley’s life all the time, and that even though she perhaps views the other four emotions, particularly Sadness, with scepticism over how much they improve Riley’s life, Joy has to accept that Riley can’t always be happy and that sometimes Sadness is necessary to help Joy do her job. Because Joy is enthusiastic and positive, she was designed to be a constant glowing spark, her light shining on to those around her, with a big sunny smile to match. Joy’s shape was based on a star.
Joy was voiced by Amy Poehler. Poehler was a cast member on the sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live (1975-present) from 2001 until 2008. After that, Poehler was cast as Leslie Knope in the popular sitcom Parks and Recreation (2009-15), for which she was nominated for numerous Primetime Emmy and SAG awards, winning a Golden Globe in 2013 for her role. She is also known for her collaborations with former SNL writer and performer Tina Fey, being cast as Regina George’s mother in Mean Girls (2004), written by Fey, and appearing alongside her in other movies like Baby Mama (2008) and Wine Country (2019), with the latter being directed by Poehler. Poehler won a Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Award, a Women Film Critics Circle Award, and an MTV Movie Award for her voice role here.
Sadness is the least confident of the emotions, being quite insecure and unsure of her purpose in Riley’s mind, probably because Joy has spent eleven years trying to keep Sadness away from Riley’s memories and the HQ console so she doesn’t mess anything up. After helping Joy journey through Riley’s mind, Sadness is “rewarded” with Joy ignoring all of her ideas, like scaring Riley awake which turns out to work, and is then left behind by Joy as she tells Sadness Riley needs Joy more than her, causing Sadness to fly around on a cloud, crying her eyes out, believing she is useless and harmful to Riley. Joy has to convince Sadness that she was wrong all along and that Riley needs to feel sad at times to improve her mood. In the end, Sadness is the hero who makes Riley feel again. Sadness was initially going to be a male character named Bud who looked like a big blue blob. Sadness was then redesigned by artist Albert Lozano, who drew Sadness to look more like his mother. Sadness is shaped like an upside-down teardrop[1].
Phyllis Smith was the voice of Sadness. She is perhaps best known for her role as Phyllis Vance in sitcom The Office (2005-13), as well as her appearances in comedy films such as Bad Teacher (2011), alongside Cameron Diaz. Smith won the Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement for Voice Acting in a Feature Production for her role as Sadness.
The next emotion to mention is Fear, the one who alerts Riley to real-life physical threats, like tripping over things or getting hurt, as well as the emotionally-charged dangers, like being laughed at on her first day of school. Fear is incredibly neurotic, getting worked up at the smallest thing, and catastrophising everything, but hey, I guess that’s his job. Fear was shaped to look like a nerve.
Bill Hader was cast as the voice of Fear. Hader was a cast member on Saturday Night Live (1975-present) from 2005 until 2013, also appearing in comedy films such as Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008) as Brian Bretter and Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009) as George Custer during this time. He had also voiced roles in animated movies prior to Inside Out. These roles include the main role of Flint Lockwood in Sony Pictures’ Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and its 2013 sequel; and Guy Gagné in DreamWorks’ Turbo (2013). Hader has voiced characters in other Disney and Pixar movies too, including J.P. Spamley in Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018) and Featheringhamstan in Lightyear (2022). Hader also co-created, partially directed, and starred in the dark comedy series Barry (2018-23), for which he won two Critics’ Choice Awards and two Primetime Emmy Awards for his acting role, and three Directors Guild of America and three Writers Guild of America Awards for his creation of the show.
Another emotion we meet is Disgust, who was initially designed to be disgusting herself, before the animators decided that wasn’t an appealing character design. Instead, she ended up being shaped like a piece of broccoli, which she ironically despises, albeit a well-dressed piece of broccoli! Disgust is first introduced to tell Riley not to eat the broccoli she is about to be fed, but her disgust spans more than just food, moving into fashion choices and even Joy’s suggestions about just going up to cool girls and talking to them!
Disgust was voiced by Mindy Kaling. Kaling was also cast in The Office (2005-13) in the role of Kelly Kapoor, before creating her own show, The Mindy Project (2012-17), where she starred as Dr. Mindy Lahiri. She has also appeared in comedy films, such as Ocean’s 8 (2018) where she was cast as Amita, and Late Night (2019), playing the part of Molly Patel. Kaling recently co-created a new show for Netflix, Running Point (2025-present), which stars Kate Hudson in the main role. Kaling is no stranger to voice acting either, having voiced the characters of Taffyta Muttonfudge in Wreck-It Ralph (2012) and Val Little in Monsters at Work (2021-present) for Disney; and the title role of Velma in the animated Scooby-Doo spin-off series Velma (2023-24).
The final emotion to mention is Anger, who is obviously the one who gets angry at everything, wanting things to be fair for Riley and not wanting to feel disrespected by anyone. Anger is the primary driver behind the idea to get Riley to run away and go back to Minnesota, something that he felt was a good idea after being annoyed at their lack of progress in creating Core Memories without Joy. He was basically at the end of his tether, but even Anger accepts that this was not the way to fix Riley in the end. Anger is rigid and immovable, so his character design was shaped to be like a brick[2].
Anger was voiced by Lewis Black. Black began his career in stand-up comedy, later appearing on The Daily Show (1996-present) to host a segment called Back in Black with Lewis Black, humorously commenting on news stories, which he still does today. Black also had his own series on Comedy Central titled Lewis Black’s Root of All Evil (2008).
The other main character in Riley’s mind is Bing Bong, Riley’s imaginary friend, a creature that is part cat, part elephant, part dolphin, made of cotton candy and cries candy! Bing Bong has found himself living out the rest of his days in Riley’s Long-Term Memory but fears he will be forgotten soon as Riley is growing up and no longer needs an imaginary friend. He hopes that by helping Joy and Sadness get back to HQ that they’ll be able to get Riley remember him, but that never happens. Instead, Bing Bong sacrifices himself to the Memory Dump to allow Joy to return to HQ and make Riley happy again. It’s a heart-breaking moment, seeing Bing Bong fade away in that place…
Bing Bong is the most lovable and likeable of all the characters in Inside Out and I think that has a lot to do with his voice actor, Richard Kind. On stage, Kind has appeared in a variety of plays and musicals, including as Max Bialystock in The Producers Broadway production from 2004 to 2005, and at the Hollywood Bowl in 2012; as Andre Thibault in a 2005 Broadway production of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels; and as Marcus Hoff in The Big Knife, for which he was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor, and won the 2013 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play. On screen, Kind was recently seen in Season 4 of Only Murders in the Building (2021-present), playing the part of Vince Fish, and as Caroll Mintz in the Hulu series Mid-Century Modern (2025). He also appeared in Tick, Tick…Boom! (2021) as Walter Bloom, and portrayed Rudy Giuliani in Bombshell (2019). Kind had also previously worked with Pixar prior to Inside Out, having voiced Molt, Hopper’s brother, in A Bug’s Life (1998) and Bookworm in Toy Story 3 (2010).
For the human characters, we have Riley and her parents. Riley is initially a very happy child, having a keen interest in hockey, getting on well with her parents, and having lots of friends. Even when they move to San Francisco and things aren’t looking so great, Riley tries her best to make the most of the situation, although it is difficult. It’s not until Joy and Sadness depart HQ that Riley really struggles, losing parts of her personality and slowly becoming emotionless, to the point that she feels like running away is the best option. Thanks to her acceptance of how she feels about the move, and Joy and Sadness returning to HQ, she is able to go to her parents and tell them how she feels. Her parents are non-judgemental, caring figures so they listen to Riley’s thoughts, and tell her that they feel the same way, missing home and feeling a little bit scared too.
Riley was voiced by Kaitlyn Dias, who apparently pictured her cat dying in order to cry on cue for the recording of Riley’s most emotional moments. Talk about commitment to the role[3]! For Dias, this was one of her first roles, winning a Young Artist Award in 2016 for the category Best Performance in a Voice-Over Role – Young Actress. Diane Lane voiced Riley’s mother, having roles in a variety of movies including as Cleo Trumbo in the 2015 biopic Trumbo (2015); and as Martha Kent in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), reprising the role for Justice League (2017). Kyle MacLachlan voiced Riley’s father, who had roles in many television series, including as Special Agent Dale Cooper in Twin Peaks (1990-1991; 2017); and as Trey MacDougal in Sex and the City (1998-2004).
Those are all the main characters, although there are some other fun voice cameos. Two of these are Frank Oz and Dave Goelz who voiced the guards who guard the Subconscious. Oz and Goelz are well-known for their puppetry work and collaborations with Jim Henson on the Muppets; Fraggle Rock (1983-87); and Sesame Street (1969-present). Oz has also directed movies such as The Dark Crystal (1982), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1998), and Little Shop of Horrors (1986). Goelz voiced Figment in the 2002 version of the Epcot attraction Journey Into Imagination with Figment.
Then there is Rashida Jones, known for her roles as Karen Filippelli in The Office (2005-13) and Ann Perkins in Parks and Recreation (2009-15), amongst many others, who voices the Cool Girl’s emotions, and of course, John Ratzenberger appears as Fritz, the Mind Worker who installs the updated console in HQ at the end of the movie. Ratzenberger had voiced a character in every Pixar movie up until Onward (2020) but would not return as a voice cameo for the studio until the release of Inside Out 2 (2024).
PRODUCTION
The basic premise of Inside Out came from the personal experience of Inside Out director Pete Docter and his daughter, Elie. Elie was the inspiration for 11-year-old Riley, with Elie Docter having previously been the model and voice actor for Young Ellie in Up (2009).
It is not unusual for parents to notice a change in their children, especially as they enter adolescence, and this was the case for Docter, who said his daughter had been outgoing, energetic, and goofy, but she all of a sudden became quiet, self-conscious, and moody, getting panicked about school sometimes. Docter wanted to understand what might be going on inside Elie’s head, so he made a movie about it!
Docter was interested in that weird place between childhood and adulthood, where the mood can switch between wanting to be a kid and play around and wanting to be treated like an adult, seemingly at random. Though Elie Docter adjusted to becoming a teenager, being sixteen at the time Inside Out was released, Docter wanted to show what it might be like inside the mind of the child when the parents see the light go out in their child’s eyes, and they become emotionless and difficult to reach.
Docter also used some of his own experience growing up in Minnesota, like Riley. He had found middle school particularly stressful, being labelled as a “geek” for not being good at sports, with this causing some social anxiety. Docter even had his own imaginary friend like Riley. Docter’s imaginary friend was a small elephant called Norma who drove a car[4]!
Docter, screenwriter Meg LeFauve, who also wrote the screenplay for Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur (2015) around this same time, and Josh Cooley, who had worked as a story artist on Ratatouille (2007) and Up prior to Inside Out, began writing the story for Inside Out around 2010. However, as is the case with the majority of movies, although the basic idea of Inside Out was there, it took some time to properly decide on the overall plot of the film, with ideas being thrown in and tossed out over the coming months and years of development.
Joy was the most challenging character in Inside Out, because she represents the simplicity of childhood, but how does that relate to a girl who is quickly growing up? Initially, it was thought that perhaps Joy just wanted Riley to be happy so the whole story revolved around making Riley enjoy every day of her life, but that quickly became monotonous and superficial. So, the filmmakers thought: what if Joy is so passionate about keeping Riley in the safety and joy of childhood that she becomes nasty? Some of the Inside Out deleted scenes shed light on what this might have looked like. For example, there were moments when Joy was being self-centred and blind to the world, like not understanding why Riley would have to do chores and do homework at her age, and why she shouldn’t still be playing with her food or messing about during concerts. There was another scene of Riley at school where Joy was trying to get Riley to forget about making friends, something that the other emotions were actively wanting for Riley, and to go play on the monkey bars instead, and even said she wanted Riley to spit in these girls’ faces. Riley refused to listen to these “voices in her head” and made friends anyway, much to Joy’s surprise.
This idea didn’t work because it made Joy a difficult character to like. It was then decided that Joy should be paired up with another emotion through Riley’s mind, because then she’d have someone to bounce off and learn things from. Initially Joy was paired with Bud, an early design for Sadness, but the characters didn’t work together. Joy was later paired with Fear, with some of this storyline present in the deleted scene “Imagination Park”. Here, Joy was trying to get back to HQ, but Fear thought Joy was heading back to take it over, presumably to make Riley stay a child forever. Joy managed to outrun Fear who was chasing her with a Mind Worker, and get into Imagination Park. Joy continues to run through the area, still being pursued by Fear until she leads him into a room where a monster tries to get him. Fear sucked the monster up into a memory tube, but accidentally sucked himself into it too. Joy picked up the gun with Fear inside, with Fear apologising for his actions.
Joy paired up with Fear didn’t work either, so she was eventually paired up with Bing Bong, who was made to be Joy’s tour guide through Riley’s mind, but was also a type of radical non-conformist, dead set against the demolition of Imagination Park and expansion of the area to include areas about boys, sarcasm, and swearing. Bing Bong took Joy into this area and encouraged her to throw bricks at the workers. They ran out of the area to catch the train, despite the fact Joy was aware they were not even being chased.
There were other story ideas that just didn’t work. One deleted scene showed Joy looking for a Core Memory she had dropped in some water, and swimming to a beach where she found the memory broken. On the beach was a big house. Joy went inside and saw a young Riley dancing in a room. Young Riley wanted Joy to dance with her forever, but Joy finally accepted that she had to let go of Young Riley and allow her to grow up. Another early draft saw multiple emotions residing inside Riley’s mind, each with their own name that wasn’t just their emotion. For example, Fear was once called Freddie and Anger was called Ira. Preston, the Pride emotion, was a core member of the group initially, later replaced by Disgust, and other emotions such as Ennui and Schadenfreude made cameo appearances[5].
It’s evident that many different ideas were bounced around during early development on Inside Out, but a couple of years into the making of the movie, Docter found himself overwhelmed by this struggling story and uncertain of whether this was the movie he should be making. Joy was unlikeable, trying to resist Riley growing up, and there was no concept of Riley adjusting to a move from Minnesota to San Francisco. Docter knew something wasn’t right with his story, and went for a walk to try and figure out how to fix it.
Through this walk, Docter contemplated the relationships in his life and the fact that they were the most important thing to him. Docter recalled all the happy moments he’d had with family and friends, but he also knew that he had been through many sad, troubling times with these same people. It appeared to be a real light-bulb moment, where it became clear that this movie had to be about Sadness and Joy, with Sadness teaching Joy the lesson that happy moments can sit alongside sad moments[6].
With this new plan in mind, Docter knew the whole movie would have to be re-storyboarded and would mean going through the producers, Pixar president Ed Catmull, and Chief Creative Officer at Pixar John Lasseter, to approve as this would affect the movie’s production schedule. Despite Docter’s worries, they were very understanding and allowed the film to go through some major re-writes[7].
There was also additional help from scientist and psychologists, who explained the nature of emotions and the science of memory to help the Pixar filmmakers with their story. According to psychologist Paul Ekman, there are six key emotions: Anger, Fear, Disgust, Joy, Sadness, and Surprise. Obviously, Pixar made their core team around five of these emotions, with Surprise being considered too similar to Fear and being dropped. It was also decided that different emotions would drive characters’ minds in Inside Out, so Riley is driven primarily by Joy in childhood, however, during the dinner scene where Riley gets in an argument with her father, you can see that Riley’s mother’s mind is headed up by Sadness, whilst Riley’s father’s mind is driven by Anger. This wasn’t meant to be a stereotyping of male and female adults, but instead, was meant to show that Joy likely will not be leading Riley’s console into adulthood, but another emotion will.
Emotions are heavily linked to memories, both in Inside Out and in the real world, so discussions about memories were also necessary for research. Pixar talked to the Mind Brain Behavior Institute in Columbia, who said that the most emotionally charged memories are the ones that are most likely to be remembered. They also stated that when we recall a memory, we are actually making a copy of that memory, not remembering it as though it has just happened. This creates some reliability even in eye witness accounts as not only can emotions alter facts, but memories change and can be altered based on conversations with others and outside influences, meaning they aren’t all that reliable[8].
This idea of memories not being overly reliable isn’t particularly relevant to Inside Out, since Riley isn’t a witness in a court case or anything, however, the memories being emotionally charged is relevant to the movie, as we see when Sadness and Joy are discussing the same memory about Riley and her hockey team, but are remembering it differently, with Joy remembering the happy celebratory mood of Riley’s teammates and parents, and Sadness remembering the guilt and upset at not scoring a winning goal.
Other mind-related topics were explored and researched too. Dacher Keltner, psychology professor at the University of California, Berkeley, discussed what makes people happy with true deep happiness not being about material things, like wealth and expensive things. Dreams are another factor of the mind present in Inside Out. The use and meaning of dreams are debated heavily in science, with some saying they are the brain’s way of working out issues, whilst others reckon they are just random firing of neurons and mean nothing much at all[9]. For Inside Out, to avoid this debate, the filmmakers chose to make dreams a form of entertainment, being created and filmed like a movie, with Dream Productions being reminiscent of a working movie studio.
In terms of animation, we get to see a representation of the real world, complete with landmarks of San Francisco, like the Golden Gate Bridge. Alongside that, we see a colourful, cartoony version of the human mind. If Pixar had chosen to visually represent the brain, it would’ve been fairly simple, as we have access to scans of the human brain, what it looks like and how it works. But this is the mind, not the brain, which is much less easy to understand and even more difficult to represent.
Pixar made the mind a bright, colourful place, with clever ways of representing turns of phrase or metaphors we use when discussing the inner workings of our minds, such as the Train of Thought being an actual train, and Abstract Thought getting its own space, where Sadness, Joy, and Bing Bong are broken down from their 3D forms down into basic shapes, like they are being “de-animated”. We also see that memories are created in what seem to be glass balls, with these being stored in shelves in HQ before being unloaded into Long-Term Memory, where memories are stored again on shelves, with faded or useless memories being disposed of in the Memory Dump, where the mind then forgets them. Pixar even thought about how we get random songs pop into our heads, like the Triple Dent Gum jingle. In Inside Out, the Mind Workers like to send the memory up into HQ where it then plays. There are so many other clever ideas in Inside Out that you can sometimes get caught up in the cleverness of the film and forget about the emotional core of the story.
Every Pixar movie has to have a list of Easter eggs and Inside Out is full of them. For instance, when Riley is video chatting her friend, there are a list of Riley’s contacts on the left-hand side of her screen. These include DocPete, Ronnify, and Domeeeee. These names relate to Pixar employees who worked on Inside Out. DocPete is obviously Pete Docter, the director; Ronnify is likely Ronnie del Carmen, who was co-director and co-creator of the story, having been a story artist on other Pixar movies such as Ratatouille (2007) and WALL-E (2008) previously; and Domeeeee is Domee Shi, a storyboard artist on Inside Out, going on to direct the feature films Turning Red (2022) and the upcoming Elio (2025).
There are also references to other Pixar movies. The Chinese takeaway boxes that Riley and her parents are eating from resemble those of Harryhausen’s in Monsters, Inc. (2001); the memory of Riley sliding down a slide looks just like the one in Sunnyside Daycare from Toy Story 3 (2010); and that memory of Riley and her parents taking pictures by dinosaur statues on their drive to San Francisco are a reference to the movie release that came after: The Good Dinosaur (2015), with those dinos matching Arlo, the main character, and the eccentric Styracosaurus Forrest Woodbush.
For the necessary Pixar Easter eggs that appear in every Pixar film, A113, the number that represents the room that many of the original Pixar animators studied in at CalArts, is the number of Riley’s classroom door, and can also be seen in graffiti on the streets of San Francisco. The iconic Pizza Planet truck is pictured in two memory balls, one during the scene of Joy chasing Bing Bong through Long-Term Memory and the other whilst they are on the Train of Thought.
In 2013, at the D23 Expo, the logo of Inside Out was revealed as were the five emotions that the movie would focus on, although the logo did become something very different in the end. The original logo seemed to be the outline of a human head with “Inside Out” written inside it. About a year before Inside Out’s release, Pixar screened the movie to children, concerned it was too confusing and complex. They were delighted to find that kids did in fact understand it, and used information from the film to help them open up to their parents about how they were feeling[10].
Disney Parks fans might have noticed after viewing the movie that Inside Out is quite similar to a now-closed Disney theme park attraction. This attraction was Cranium Command which opened in the Wonders of Life pavilion in Epcot at the Walt Disney World Resort on 19th October 1989. It consisted of a short-animated pre-show, followed by a theatre experience. In this pre-show, guests saw General Knowledge talking to a group of recruits about their important job of piloting human brains. A small, young recruit named Buzzy is late to this meeting, annoying General Knowledge, who then forgets to assign him to a brain to pilot, meaning Buzzy is left with the most difficult brain: the brain of a 12-year-old boy! Guests were then led to a theatre, where they saw a stage of control panels and screens and were reunited with Buzzy, now in full Audio-Animatronic form. With this animatronic and screens, we saw Buzzy interact with different parts of the body, like the Stomach and the Bladder, to get Bobby, the boy whose brain is being piloted, through a day at school where he gets in trouble for fighting and meets new girl Annie. Cranium Command ran until 1st January 2007, when the Wonders of Life closed permanently as a pavilion, becoming used as an Epcot Festival space for a few years. I loved Cranium Command and remember watching it a lot when I was younger during my trips to Walt Disney World. My mum and I would go and see that whilst my dad and older sister went on the simulator ride Body Wars which was too gross and intense for me!
Strangely enough, the closing of Cranium Command was not the end of Buzzy’s story because around 2018, when “urban exploring” was all the rage – especially for those with YouTube channels – many liked to break into the Wonders of Life pavilion, since it was no longer being used. The Buzzy animatronic was stolen around this time, with only the animatronics’ clothing being tracked down, to NBA player Robin Lopez and his friend who had bought the clothing, unaware that the items had been stolen. The Buzzy animatronic has never been found…
Cranium Command was not stated as a specific source of inspiration for Inside Out, however, the similarities are clear if you know of this attraction. Pete Docter had interned as an animator at Disney early in his career and was sent to work on the animated sequence for Cranium Command. Docter did not initially notice these similarities between the attraction and his film until they were pointed out to him, though he did admit it must’ve been in his subconscious somewhere[11]!
MUSIC
The soundtrack for Inside Out had to evoke feelings of imagination and wonder, alongside big emotional moments.
The iconic theme for Inside Out can be heard in the opening track “Bundle of Joy”. This piece of music sums up the whole style of the movie. This theme is repeated in different places throughout the movie, usually in scenes of HQ and more familiar parts of Riley’s mind, like Long-Term Memory.
However, there are other parts of Riley’s mind that are very unfamiliar to Joy and Sadness, such as Abstract Thought. It initially looks like Bing Bong, Joy, and Sadness are just going to walk through an empty building but when it is turned on, Abstract Thought becomes a strange place. The piece “Abstract Thought” mimics the terror and confusion that these three characters feel as they begin to deconstruct and try desperately to get out. Another area with its own piece of music is “Imagination Land”. This sounds just like the music you’d hear in an amusement park; it’s bouncy and cheerful.
The track “The Subconscious Basement” had to feel scary and like something bad could happen at any moment, to match the dark corners of Riley’s mind where her greatest fears are held. At this point, Joy and Sadness have had to go into the Subconscious to rescue Bing Bong who was dragged there by security. Whilst there, they encounter a huge, creepy clown called Jangles. “We Can Still Stop Her” is another scary moment, but this time it takes place in the real world, as Riley goes to catch a bus back to Minnesota on her own. Again, it feels like something bad could happen to Riley, and is almost more terrifying because it’s a scene from the world we know, so we are aware of what could’ve happened.
In amongst those moments, Giacchino’s score also had to match weighty emotional moments, however, instead of turning to big orchestral sounds, he went small on these pieces, knowing that when someone needs help with their feelings, it’s better to be quiet and supportive, just taking in what they’re saying. This is evident in “Joy Turns to Sadness/A Growing Personality”, which can be heard when Riley returns home to her parents and tells them she’s miserable being away from Minnesota. The main theme returns here too, as the end of this piece becomes happy, and we learn that Riley is slowly adjusting to her new life.
There are also two other “songs” that appear in the film. One is the catchy Triple Dent Gum jingle, which is meant to resemble those annoying, little tunes that you can hear on television adverts that then get stuck in your head for days, and Bing Bong’s song about his magical rocket that is powered by song power. This is a silly, rhyming song, but naturally, it had to be, as a very young Riley would have written it herself.
The music for Inside Out was composed by Michael Giacchino, who was no stranger to Pixar, having already composed the music for The Incredibles (2004); Ratatouille (2007); Up (2009), for which he won the Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe, and Critics’ Choice Award for Best Score; and Cars 2 (2011) by the time of Inside Out. Giacchino continued to collaborate with Pixar after Inside Out, composing the scores for Coco (2017); The Incredibles 2 (2018); and Lightyear (2022). Outside of Pixar, he has composed music for the most recent Spider-Man films and for the series of Disney television Christmas specials, Prep & Landing (2009-11). Giacchino was also nominated for Primetime Emmy awards for his work on the series Lost (2004-10), winning one for his underscore of its pilot episode. He even composed the music for Disney Animation’s Zootopia (2016).
Giacchino was contracted to writing the music for two other movies, alongside Inside Out, with all three set to be released in 2015. These very different films were Disney’s science-fiction live-action movie Tomorrowland, which starred George Clooney, and the action film Jurassic World, the first movie in a three-part reboot of the Jurassic Park trilogy[12]. Another movie he worked on which was also released in 2015 was Jupiter Ascending.
Inside Out’s soundtrack ended up winning the Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement for Music in a Feature Production. It also won Best Original Score for an Animated Film at the International Film Music Critics Association. Giacchino himself won the Film Composer of the Year award at the World Soundtrack Awards. The movie’s soundtrack was also nominated for Best Original Score in an Animated Film at both the Satellite Awards and the Hollywood Music in Media Awards.
RECEPTION
Inside Out debuted at the 68th Cannes Film Festival on 18th May 2015, before having its official premiere at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles on 8th June 2015.
Inside Out then debuted in theatres in the US on 19th June 2015, reaching theatres across the world in the days and weeks that followed. It was released alongside the Pixar short Lava (2014), an all-singing short about two volcanoes who fall in love. This is one of my favourite Pixar short films. The musical track that accompanies the whole story was written by James Ford Murphy, also the director of the short film, and performed by Kuana Torres Kahele and Napua Makua.
Because of Inside Out being a specific expression in the English language, in non-English-speaking countries, the title was changed for its release in those countries. For example, in Portuguese, the film became known as Fun Mind; in Italian, as Intense Mind; in French as Vice-Versa; and in Cantonese as Fun with Brain Friends[13].
Inside Out was highly praised on its release by critics and audiences alike. Many said this was Pixar at their best after the disappointment they felt at Cars 2 (2011) and Monsters University (2013), with this being a new story from Pixar, not just another sequel or prequel to add to an ever-growing franchise. Yeah, more on that later… Inside Out was both heartfelt and inventive with a good message and plenty of laughs. Some even claimed it was already a Pixar classic.
However, there were a few less-than-positive comments. Some said it was a bit too fast-paced, not allowing enough time to enjoy the areas of the mind, and that it was simply not entertaining enough for small children. It was also felt that Riley was not developed properly as a character of her own and that the number of obstacles that Joy and Sadness kept facing to get back to HQ became annoying and endless. I can agree with both of these to some point. At the beginning, Joy and Sadness’ journey is quite interesting, but then it does become a bit stale and boring. At these moments, I found myself wanting to get back to Riley and the other emotions, but there weren’t too many scenes of that. There are also those who think Inside Out is just overrated.
Inside Out ended up making just under $860 million at the box-office, putting it in the No. 7 spot of the highest worldwide grossing films of 2015, behind movies like Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens; Jurassic World; and Furious 7. These were the top three spots, with each of them being reboots of beloved franchises or continuations of current ones. Inside Out was the second highest grossing animated movie of 2015 though, with Disney Animation not releasing a movie that year. Minions topped the list though, with $1.1 billion as its worldwide gross, but again, this was a spin-off of a popular animated franchise.
But that was not all because there were of course awards that Inside Out won. Inside Out won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature, and was nominated for Best Original Screenplay at this ceremony too. This was also the case at the BAFTAs and the Critics’ Choice Awards. At the Annie Awards, it once again won Best Animated Feature, along with a list of others awards, including Outstanding Achievement for Directing; for Production Design; and for Writing just to name a few. Inside Out also won Best Animated Feature Film at the Golden Globe Awards, the Satellite Awards, and the Saturn Awards, amongst many others. It was named as the Best Animated Feature by the National Board of Review too.
LEGACY
The first screen spin-off to come from Inside Out was the short film Riley’s First Date? (2015). It was first released as part of the Inside Out digital release, before also being featured on its Blu-Ray release in November 2015. It was written and directed by Josh Cooley, with the voice cast from the movie returning to reprise their roles.
In this short, which follows the events of Inside Out, Riley’s father answers the door to find the teenage boy from the end of the film stood there. This boy is named Jordan and has shown up to go skating with Riley. Riley’s dad instantly doesn’t like this, nor does Riley’s mother, believing she’s much too young to have a date. Riley’s mother decides to try and figure out if this is a date by trying to be “cool”. Riley and her emotions are confused by what her mother is trying to do, but reiterate it is not a date; they are going skating with friends. Meanwhile, Riley’s father’s mind wants to try and intimidate Jordan by staring him down but Jordan isn’t even paying attention as we see from his mind, where his emotions are skateboarding around his mind. In the end, Riley’s dad and Jordan bond over guitars and rock bands, since Jordan is in one and Riley’s dad used to be in one. Riley goes downstairs, horrified to learn that Jordan was left alone with her dad, and sees the two air guitaring. Riley and Jordan quickly leave the house. Riley’s mother and father’s minds then decide whether one or the other is going to lean in for a kiss. They do kiss – and then go back to their day!
After that, there were comparisons between the concept of Inside Out and that of the 2020 Pixar release Soul, with many elements of the Great Before seemingly at least partially inspired by the ideas of the mind in Inside Out.
Then, in September 2022, at the D23 Expo – because where else do Disney and Pixar announce things? – it was confirmed that Inside Out 2 was coming, despite the fact Pete Docter had said shortly after Inside Out’s release that Pixar were committed to making more original films…Hmm, yeah, that worked out! Inside Out 2’s release was set for Summer 2024. Meg LeFauve was back as the screenwriter, with Kelsey Mann replacing Docter as director of the sequel. It was revealed that Inside Out 2 would take place inside Riley’s now-teenage head with new emotions coming[14].
Also on screen, but this time on Disney+, the series Dream Productions premiered on the platform on 11th December 2024, having first been announced in 2023, with further details being released in 2024. It consists of four episodes, at roughly half an hour each, and is set between Inside Out and Inside Out 2. It sees the Dream Productions dream director trying to create amazing dreams for Riley in amongst studio politics.
At the Disney Parks, Disneyland has the most references to Inside Out, most notably at the Pixar Pier location in Disney California Adventure Park. Here, you can find the spinner ride Inside Out Emotional Whirlwind, where guests spin around in colourful mini-hot air balloons, designed after Inside Out characters. This ride opened in 2019, and is a repurposing of a different ride that once appeared at Disney California Adventure: Flik’s Flyers from A Bug’s Land, which closed in 2018 to make way for Avengers Campus. Also at Pixar Pier, there is the Angry Dogs food stand, with Anger being featured on the stand’s signage. This stand obviously serves hot dogs. Then there is a sweet shop named Bing Bong’s Sweet Stuff, which has a statue of Bing Bong inside. The Pixar Pal-A-Round Ferris wheel, redesigned to match the new area of Pixar Pier, includes gondolas with different characters painted on them. Joy and Sadness are two of these. Joy and Sadness have been available to meet in Pixar Pier for a while, and Anger was spotted recently too.
Prior to Inside Out’s release in June 2015, there was also an Inside Out pre-parade at Disney California Adventure during Summer 2015 in order to promote the film. It involved one float with all five emotions on it. These emotions were mechanical figures but they did move their mouths to speak random lines, such as having conflicting opinions on babies and Sadness talking about kids dropping their ice cream cones! There were also dancers ahead of the float dancing with memory balls.
Pixar Fest was a big event for Disney California Adventure, running from 26th April all the way until 4th August 2024. This event helped to promote Inside Out 2, meaning that the main emotions from Inside Out were visible during Pixar Fest. For example, Joy and Sadness were two characters to get involved in the Pixar Pals Playtime Party stage show that ran a few times a day. These two, along with a statue of Bing Bong, were also featured on a float of Bing Bong’s rocket during the Better Together: A Pixar Pals Celebration Parade. Scenes and music from Inside Out were also included in the Together Forever – A Pixar Nighttime Spectacular fireworks show.
Finally, the Pixar Place Hotel, which opened at the Disneyland Resort on 30th January 2024 contains references to Inside Out. There are small references to the movie “hidden” in murals and paintings throughout the hotel and in rooms. You also might be lucky enough to meet Bing Bong at Pixar Place Hotel, as he has been meeting guests in the area since the hotel opened.
This time at Walt Disney World, the first Inside Out reference seems to have been the Inside Out Emotion Garden which was a small exhibit of plants linked to the five emotions of the film. This was installed as part of Epcot’s Flower and Garden Festival which began in March in 2015, so a few months prior to the release of the film. There was also an exhibit in the now-closed Magic of Disney Animation building in Disney’s Hollywood Studios showing development sketches and maquettes of the five emotions, which was apparently also available to guests around March 2015. In terms of meet-and-greets, Joy and Sadness used to have a meet-and-greet location at the Epcot Character Spot back in 2016, in a recreation of their home inside Riley’s head, however, this area was closed when Epcot was redeveloping around 2019 and 2020. Joy could then be seen at the ImageWorks, the exit of the Journey into Imagination attraction in Epcot in the early 2020s, in front of an Imagination Land background, but in 2024, when Figment became a meet-and-greet character, it seems Joy was moved to having a scheduled meet-and-greet at Pixar Plaza, the area next to Toy Story Land, in Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
Outside of the US Parks, at Disneyland Paris, in the Worlds of Pixar area of Walt Disney Studios Park, Joy was meeting guests in the summer of 2024, as was Anger, seemingly as promotion for Inside Out 2, but Joy was still there in December of that year. It is unclear if she is still there. In shows, Joy appeared as part of the A Million Splashes of Colour parade which ran from February 2024 until the end of September that year. Music from Inside Out and scenes from the movie are currently part of the Disney Tales of Magic nighttime show at Disneyland Paris.
At Tokyo Disneyland, Joy and Sadness have been spotted by guests as recently as 2021. At Hong Kong Disneyland, Joy and Sadness were first meeting guests only at this park in an area set up to look like the inside of Riley’s mind, complete with the console, around July 2015, shortly after the movie was released. It wasn’t until a few months later that they were seen at other Disney Parks. In recent years, characters from the movie, like Joy, Sadness, and Anger, were included in the Pixar Water Play Street Party for Summer 2024. It is possible they will return if this parade returns in 2025. The Inside Out theme and clips from the film were also used as part of the Momentous Nighttime Spectacular show at this park. Lastly, at Shanghai Disneyland, Joy and Sadness are a part of the Disney ColorFest Street Party, as well as Mickey’s Storybook Express Parade. Moments from Inside Out can also be seen in the projections of ILLUMINATE! A Nighttime Celebration.
On the Disney Cruise Ships, specifically on the Disney Wish, is a sweet shop named Inside Out: Joyful Sweets. The characters may also be seen as part of Pixar stage shows and parties that take place on other Disney Cruise Ships. The five emotions of Inside Out were also a part of the Disney on Ice show from 2015.
Plenty of merchandise has been released featuring the characters of Inside Out, including plush toys, book, clothing, mugs, and playsets. These have only increased with the release of Inside Out 2.
There is even an interactive exhibit called Emotions at Play with Pixar’s Inside Out, which was developed by the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, focusing on the five core emotions of Anger, Joy, Sadness, Disgust, and Fear. It has been touring since 2023, with dates going as far out as 2028 to come to other US museums.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Pixar really impressed the public with the creativity and inventiveness of Inside Out. The filmmakers had managed to represent the mind in a fun, educational, and smart way.
Although the message of Inside Out is only too clear – that there is a need to feel a whole range of emotions including sadness – there continue to be those who don’t believe in this idea. They want to only show a positive, happy view of their life to the outside world. I’ve known people like that and it can make you feel like there’s something wrong with you if you don’t feel or act in the same way.
I’m not about to tell anyone how to feel, but I will say that it is much healthier to embrace your sadness, fear, anger, whatever in order to work through feelings and moments of difficulties. It’s much better to do that rather than bottle things up and try to deal with them internally with no-one to support you. I’m sure that many children and teenagers got a lot out of Inside Out and found ways to voice their feelings to their friends and parents to get through that transition from childhood to adulthood.
We see Riley struggling to be 11-years-old, adjusting to a whole new life away from friends and in an unfamiliar city. Little did she or her emotions know what was still to come, because being a teenager comes with even more inner turmoil!
REFERENCES
[1] Credit: D23, ‘The Ins and Outs of Inside Out’, D23.com, date unknown.
[2] Credit: Pixar, “Mixed Emotions”, from Inside Out (2015) Blu-Ray (2015).
[3] Credit: Ben Sherlock, ‘Meet The Little Voices Inside Your Head: 10 Behind-The-Scenes Facts About Inside Out’, ScreenRant.com, 9th June 2020.
[4] Credit: Lisa Miller, ‘How Inside Out Director Pete Docter Went Inside the 11-Year-Old Mind’, Vulture.com, 16th June 2015.
[5] Credit: Pixar, “Deleted Scenes”, from Inside Out (2015) Disney+.
[6] Credit: Pixar, ‘Story of the Story I Inside Out I Disney•Pixar’, Pixar YouTube Channel, 17th October 2016.
[7] Credit: Carolyn Giardina, ‘Making of ‘Inside Out’: Which Emotions Didn’t Make the Cut’, HollywoodReporter.com, 21st December 2015.
[8] Credit: Tasha Robinson, ‘Pete Docter on the goals and milestones of Inside Out’, TheDissolve.com, 23rd June 2015.
[9] Credit: Alex Godfrey, ‘Pixar’s Pete Docter on the story (and science) of ‘Inside Out’’, Wired.com, 20th July 2015.
[10] Credit: Lisa Miller, ‘How Inside Out Director Pete Docter Went Inside the 11-Year-Old Mind’, Vulture.com, 16th June 2015.
[11] Credit: Logan Kelly, ‘‘Inside Out’ Was Inspired by a Disney World Attraction – Even If the Director Didn’t Realize It’, Collider.com, 27th July 2024.
[12] Credit: Kara Warner, ‘Michael Giacchino on Making the Music of ‘Inside Out’ & ‘Jurassic World’’, ScreenRant.com, 17th June 2015.
[13] Credit: Ben Sherlock, ‘Meet The Little Voices Inside Your Head: 10 Behind-The-Scenes Facts About Inside Out’, ScreenRant.com, 9th June 2020.
[14] Credit: Matt Grobar, ‘Inside Out Sequel Plans Confirmed By Pixar At D23’, Deadline.com, 9th September 2022.
The Disney Purist 