Pixar’s Inside Out was an opportunity for the animation studio to explore uncharted territory. The human mind. It was a playful yet informative character study on emotions like Joy, Sadness, Disgust, Anger and Fear. The critical and commercially successful film helped audiences embrace their emotions while also normalizing discarded ones. Nine years later, Inside Out 2, revisits the inside of Riley’s mind and sees Joy and the gang making room for four new emotions: Anxiety, Envy, Embarrassment, and Ennui.

Now all nine emotions will have to learn how to coexist with each other as Riley figures out who she is as she enters a new phase of her life. So, after watching the first 30 minutes of Inside Out 2, we’ll give you a brief description of what we saw and then provide our thoughts on the footage.

Though all the emotions have Riley’s best interests at heart, Anxiety, Envy, Embarrassment, and Ennui take over headquarters and oust Joy and the gang by bottling them up and sending them away. With the original five emotions out of the way, Anxiety can set her plans to prepare for Riley’s future in motion. So it’s a race against time as Joy and the gang must hurry back to headquarters before Anxiety can to irrepuable damage to Riley.

The Nerds of Color joined selected journalists at Emeryville, CA, where the Pixar campus is located, to look at the first 30 minutes of Inside Out 2. We also had the chance to chat with several artisans about their contributions to making the sequel. Based on what they said, making a sequel isn’t easy.

Directed by Kelsey Mann — who uses a script written by Meg LeFauve, who also wrote the first Inside Out — Inside Out 2 takes a different approach to examining puberty and all the weird changes that come with it. It continues Riley’s story and redefines all the emotions that make her (and us) unique. Spoilers after the image.

Inside Out 2 begins with a hockey pre-game intro where Joy (Amy Poehler) puts on her headphones and announces her fellow emotions who help her assist Riley in her day-to-day activities. We see Sadness (Phyllis Smith) cleaning her glasses, Disgust (Liza Lapira) filing her nails, and Anger (Lewis Black) and Fear (Tony Hale) adjusting their ties. With Joy at the center of the control console at Headquarters, we quickly get caught up with who the emotions are and their respective jobs. Anger is there for Riley to play aggressively, Fear is there to protect Riley from bodily harm, and Disgust protects Riley from wearing the wrong mouthguard. Sadness is there to act appropriately whenever Riley gets penalized.

Joy then catches us up with everything that has happened in Riley’s life since we last saw her. The newly-minted teenager is exceptional, at the top of her class in school, and really kind, which shows when she feeds stray cats.

Riley’s personality islands are still going strong. These islands, which are based on core memories, define her character based on personal experiences. Boy Band Island may be breaking up, but Goofball Island is still monkeying around. A giant Friendship Island is starting to overshadow a tiny Family Island. But memories aren’t just responsible for creating these personality islands.

Way down at the root level, underneath Headquarters, these memories also create beliefs. It’s more than the belief that “homework should be illegal” or that her favorite boy band is the best boy band in the world; it’s more about that belief in yourself.

For example, if Riley believes she is a good person, the film demonstrates that with a flashback. When a classmate named Grace gives a presentation on loose change and drops a jar of coins, everyone laughs at the mishap. During that time, Riley’s emotions debate what they should do. Disgust wants to protect Riley’s social reputation by not helping. However, just before making a decision, Fear sees a crystal ornament come out of the core memory console. As this ornament shines, we see Riley help Grace (Grace Lu). Soon, another classmate named Bree (Sumayyah Nuriddin-Green) joins as well. And the three become fast friends. When all of these beliefs are pieced together, they form a person’s sense of self. This collection of beliefs is what helps Riley make good choices. And 13 years later, Joy believes they’ve created a masterpiece.

The film quickly switches back to real-time and takes us back to the game where Riley has to make a game-time decision, or else her team will lose. As the emotions debate whether Riley should take a slap shot, pass the puck, or charge the goalie, Joy knows Riley will make the correct decision. Riley then calls out a play, with Grace and Brie getting into their respective positions. Together, the three score a winning goal. And their teamwork catches Coach Roberts’ (Yvette Nicole Brown) attention. She invites the trio to attend her hockey camp. Riley’s emotions are just as excited as the three are. Riley’s parents are just as excited, too.

However, the moment of jubilation is cut short when Riley criticizes herself for how her penalty nearly cost her team the championship. She worries how her actions might reflect on her during hockey camp. Her parents tell her not to be so hard on herself and that everything will be okay. Luckily, Joy has built a flimsy pneumatic tube to help Riley put that horrible memory in the back of her mind. Quite literally. The other emotions aren’t as impressed by what they see as the tube is on the verge of falling apart. But it works. “We keep the best and toss out the rest,” Joy says.

Today’s newest memory is essential as it will help reinforce Riley’s belief system, so Joy takes it below and brings a reluctant Sadness, who has yet to see it, with her. They take an elevator that goes down to the belief system, though it’s different from Headquarters. Instead, it’s more like a giant sea cave where floating memories help create her belief system. Beams of light reach up to headquarters. Plucking one is much like plucking a guitar string. Not only does it make music, but it also replays a specific memory that makes the “sense of self”. It seems like Joy knows each one of them when she says, “an oldie but a goodie” after plucking one. Sadness also touches one and says, “That’s nice.”

The scene then takes us to Riley and her emotions sleeping. All five sleep in pods that match their shape language, color, and personality. They are unaware of what is going to happens next. Slow pulsing light and soft beep coming from the console awakens Joy. None of the emotions know what’s going on. As they investigate, they find out the lights and sound are coming from an inactive portion of the console marked “puberty.” Of course, since puberty hits like a ton of bricks, those slow pulsing lights and soft beeps become a blaring alarm. This sends everyone into a mass panic. Joy dislodges the alarm and quickly puts it into the pneumatic tube to launch it into the back of Riley’s mind.

Joy believes her problems are solved. That is until the mind workers show up. First, they take a wrecking ball to Headquarters so that they can remodel it. One says: “It’s demo day.” And the rest of the mind workers demolish the emotions’ home. It’s a very noisy and messy process – kind of like puberty itself. It can only be described as pure chaos. A construction foreman shouts into the bullhorn, one jackhammers, while another one takes a chainsaw to the couch. Joy demands to know who is in charge so that she can tell them to stop destroying HQ. The foreman says they can’t stop because permits came through and then hands over a stack of papers to Joy. He says he’s simply making HQ bigger for the others.

Joy is confused. “What others,” she asks. The mind worker grumbles about the new emotions’ tardiness, but that isn’t his department. Another mind worker updates the new console, which the emotions have yet to test. To make matters worse, it’s the morning of hockey camp, and Riley still needs to pack.

When Riley’s mother questions why she isn’t ready, Anger presses a button, hoping to give an appropriate response. Unfortunately, Riley overreacts. “I barely touched it,” Anger says, not knowing Riley would react that way. So Sadness hopes to improve the situation by pressing a button as well. However, she doesn’t help much either, as it makes Riley cry. Disgust blames the entire console when she presses a button that makes Riley say she stinks.

During this exchange, we get a preview of what’s going on in Riley’s mom’s mind. Her Anger knew this day was coming, and her Joy reminds them to stick to a prepared script. As Riley’s mom tries to speak to her daughter, Riley’s emotions try not press the wrong button. But that plan doesn’t go over well. And the Anger in Riley’s mom’s head says this is a preview of the next ten years.

The scene cuts away to Riley jumping in the back seat of a car where Bree and Grace are excitedly waiting for her. Meanwhile, Joy tells everyone not to touch the console unless necessary. Riley is excited because hockey camp is an opportunity to impress the high school coach and join the varsity team as a freshman. However, Disgust notices Bree and Grace giving a look. Using her keen sense of social cues, Riley’s Disgust knows the two are hiding something and does a compare and contrast of images. Joy believes Disgust is paranoid.

Meanwhile, Bree and Grace’s emotions see that Riley also gave a look. They do an overlay and compare and deduce that Riley knows they are hiding something. Eventually, Grace blurts out that she and Bree got assigned to different high schools, which means they won’t be on the same team as Riley. While Riley’s emotions start to panic that she will be separated from her friends, Bree and Grace assure her they will be friends no matter what and should make the best of their time.

Joy wants all the emotions to keep everything together until they leave the car. After Riley’s parents drop her off, Joy presses the button that lets Riley have one good cry. She knows what her girl needs. After shedding a few tears, Riley looks for her friends and accidentally bumps into Val Ortiz (Lilimar Hernandez). Riley doesn’t know what to do and starts to get nervous. She tries to act cool by naming Val’s accolades and favorite colors. As this goes on, Disgust, Sadness, and Fear try to figure out how to handle the situation by saying the right thing, trying to be cool, and figuring out when to let go of Val’s hand.

Val says Coach Roberts told her a lot about her potential teammate but incorrectly says Riley is from Michigan. The problem is that Riley doesn’t correct her because Disgust believes letting it go would mean Riley gets to be one of the cool kids. But before Disgust can make a move, the control console turns orange. Joy questions who made the control console orange. That’s when Anxiety pops out from out of nowhere and introduces herself to the crew. She says she is a big fan of theirs.

Anxiety (Maya Hawke) is a bundle of energy and eager to be part of the team. This orange-colored emotion wears an orange and white striped shirt and brown pants. Anxiety’s enthusiasm is as wide as her big smile, and her frazzled energy matches her hairstyle. She riffs off her many talents that she believes will be an asset to the emotions. The five confused emotions don’t know what to make of the new arrival. Then Anxiety introduces Envy (Ayo Edebiri), Ennui (Adèle Exarchopoulos), and Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser).

Envy is a tiny, cute turquoise emotion who wears a pink hair clip and a polka-dot dress. Don’t let Envy’s height fool you, though, as she is determined to reach high places. Although Envy’s actions can be perceived as problematic, she is a motivator. She helps Riley set goals for herself based on what she wants. So if Envy sees Val’s fantastic hair with a red streak, Envy will want Riley to want hair like that. Of course, this leads to awkward interactions between Riley and Val. It’s an interaction that introduces Embarrassment. This shy pink fella hides in his sweatshirt whenever he does something absolutely he perceives as mortifying. He’s also not big on eye contact or conversation. His right rosy color gives new meaning to “pink with embarrassment.” And like embarrassment, the emotion is a large figure that wants to hide but can’t.

When Val invites her to meet the rest of her team, Riley responds flatly to act cool. The original emotions are unsure how that could have happened since they didn’t see anyone touch the controls. That is when we are introduced to Ennui. This purple emotion who speaks with a French accent is taps on console app to press the buttons from afar. Joy tries to devise some fun nicknames for the emotion who sighs a lot and has no interest in what’s happening, but Ennui doesn’t care for them.

Though these new emotions just abruptly appear and disturb the headquarter’s dynamics, Joy asks everyone to get along because she knows every emotion is good for Riley.

As the old emotions and new emotions get acquainted, Riley is trying to decide if she should go with Bree or Grace, or if she should go with Val. Anxiety believes that the next three days could determine the four years of Riley’s life. Joy thinks Anxiety is overstating things. Ennui says Joy is so old school. We see how much of a planner Anxiety is as she takes control of the control console. The orange-colored emotion presses buttons, turns dials, and winds cranks to reveal a hidden console. The scene helps contextualize Anxiety’s place within headquarters and how her preparation for the unforeseen future can benefit Riley. It also shows us how little Joy knows about the control console she’s been using for the past 13 years.

Joy assures Anxiety that none of those scenarios will happen, to which the orange emotion quickly backs off and says Joy is the boss. That’s when Nostalgia, a new emotion, appears. She reminisces about how they all joined Headquarters 30 seconds ago. Anxiety then asks Nostalgia to return when the time is right.

Soon, the scene takes us to a rowdy locker room. Val is with her team, while Riley has yet to find Brie and Grace. Anxiety believes that Joy’s decision to have Riley choose Brie and Grace over Val will be costly. As the camera pans around the room, The Linda Lindas’ “Growing Up” starts to play in the background. An appropriate song considering the film’s themes.

When Coach Roberts comes in asking players to settle down and turn in their cell phones, Riley and friends are goofing off. As such, Coach Roberts has the entire team skating laps.

As the players takes a breather, Riley overhears Val and her friends talking about her. Anxiety worries. Riley starts to tear up. Embarrassment wants to press a button but can’t. So Sadness helps out. After letting out another good cry, Anxiety steps in to get Riley to apologize to Val. And she lays it on thick. But it works, and all the emotions applauded Anxiety for getting Val to sympathize with Riley’s struggles to fit in and be a part a team she’s unfamiliar with.

The conflict between the original emotions and the more complex ones arises when Riley has to choose to be on Bree and Grace’s team or on Val’s team. Ultimately, Anxiety chooses Val, which upsets Joy as she wants to give Riley lasting memories of her friends before they go to different schools. The conflict forces Riley’s belief system to pop up. Anxiety snatches it and puts it in the pneumatic tube, which launches it to the back of Riley’s mind.

All Anxiety wants to do is make a better Riley with a new sense of self. Envy adds Anxiety’s plans guarantee Riley won’t be alone in high school next year. The original emotions are upset with what’s happening, leaving Anxiety with no choice but to get Embarrassment to bottle Joy, Sadness, Disgust, Anger, and Fear in a glass jar. Anxiety promises it won’t be forever, though she doesn’t know when she will release Joy and the gang as she plans to change everything about Riley. So she sends the suppressed emotions away for an indefinite amount of time in a vault where Riley keeps her deepest and darkest secrets.

Envy isn’t entirely sure how this can work, especially since the original emotions had a 13-year head start. Anxiety explains that they can take all of their work and start planting the foundation for a new Riley using the core memories they have forged.

The next scene sees a pair of mind workers are hauling the bottled emotions to a secret vault. The suppressed emotions scream and shout about their innocence, but the mind workers pay no attention. Soon, Joy and friends discover that they are vaultmates with Bloopey (Ron Funches) is a fourth-wall-breaking cartoon dog who wears a fanny pack; Lance, a roguish video game character whose power moves don’t quite match his personality or physique; and the embodiment of a dark secret.

From there, the five emotions and three secrets hatch an escape plan, with Bloopey teaching the emotions and the audience the definition of Quid Pro Quo.

Thoughts

At the end of Inside Out, Joy asked, “After all, Riley’s 12. What could happen?” It’s a simple question, but one that serves as the precedent for Inside Out 2 as it informs us that Riley still has a lot of growing up to do. So, it makes sense that the next chapter follows Riley experiencing puberty and making decisions that could change her belief system. Sure, there are going to be a few specificities, but growing up is a non-discriminatory concept that resonates with audiences. And learning how to process these new emotions and manage them as we face new experiences can be as joyous or uncomfortable for parents and kids.

The footage revealed how the original emotions have matured since we last left them. While the first Inside Out reminded us that it’s perfectly okay to feel emotions like Sadness, Inside Out 2 wants us to rethink what we know about emotions like Anxiety. It normalizes discarded emotions that are stereotypically seen as unhealthy or perceived uncomfortable when they are responding to certain situations. And rather than villainize the new emotions, Mann portrays them as ones that want to protective and motivate Riley, even if they don’t know they are overdoing it.

Like the first film, research played a huge role figuring out the right emotions to include in the sequel. So the filmmakers narrowed down the emotions to Anxiety, Envy, Embarrassment and Ennui because they believed the selected emotions are most present in teenagers and the ones that come on strong at Riley’s age. At some point in time, we’ve experienced a form anxiety when meeting new people, grew envious of someone who had cool hair, got embarrassed when we said something awkward, or had ennui kick in when trying to play it cool or get out of a chore. By normalizing emotions like anxiety, Inside Out 2 lets the audience know that experiencing them is a part of being human. And what better way to talk about that then with a sequel that brings back our favorite characters (even if some of them have new voices) and a couple of new ones as well.

If Inside Out was a letter to kids, then Inside Out 2 is a letter for teenagers. And the themes of growing up and friendship resonate with everyone. Though it isn’t easy to talk about something as processing complex emotions, the sequel makes it accessible by providing a narrative that normalizes open talks about managing emotions like joy, sadness, disgust, anger, fear, anxiety, envy, embarrassment, and ennui between with kids who are going through a tough time.

While we only saw 30 minutes of footage, the sequel recognizes that “growing up isn’t something we can make happen when we want it to.” It’s also not a lonely experience. As such, the younger audiences can see themselves in the characters that are on screen and connect with their struggles. And with that reflection they’ll have the freedom to “sing to the people and show what it means to be young and growing up.”

Inside Out 2 opens in theaters on June 14, 2024.