The Big Picture

• Teenage focus group "Riley's Crew" provided crucial feedback for Inside Out 2, giving better notes than Pixar team.
• New emotions like Anxiety join Joy and others in Riley's mind as she navigates puberty and alters her sense of self.
• Inside Out 2 creators drew inspiration from their own teenage kids for the story, set for release in theaters June 14, 2024.

Inside Out 2 continues the story of Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), and the rest of Riley’s emotions as Riley (Kensington Tallman) becomes a teenager. Growing up can be a complicated mess of emotions, and that’s exactly what the sequel to Academy Award winner Inside Out, directed by Pete Docter, wants to explore through new emotions, such as Anxiety, voiced by Stranger Things star Maya Hawke.

During a press conference at Pixar Animation Studios where Collider was in attendance, Inside Out 2 director Kelsey Mann and producer Mark Nielson admitted that since they weren’t teenage girls, they needed to seek out teenage girls and get their feedback on Riley. This focus group of nine girls, aged ranging from 13 to 19, became known as “Riley’s Crew.” Here’s what Nielson said:

"Every four months we would show the movie to them, and we would meet with them and have a notes session and get their thoughts on like the characters, Riley’s relationship with her friend group, what’s going on with them emotionally, and does that resonate?"

According to Mann and Nielson, “Riley’s Crew” took their jobs very seriously. They treated each notes session like an assignment, practically sending their notes to the Pixar team like it was a book report. Mann and Nielson confessed that feedback from “Riley’s Crew” was often better than notes from other people at Pixar. Here’s how Mann explained why:

"You know, and, you know, we’re leaning on our crew, too, heavily, too. But a lot of them aren’t teenagers anymore. So, that group was incredibly helpful, and man, did they give great notes. They gave sometimes greater, better notes than the people who work here. They were fantastic with it. They treated it like an assignment. It was amazing. They would send us our notes, like we talked to them live, and then sometimes we’d say send us your notes; and they’d almost send like a cover letter, like as a book report. It was adorable. It was amazing. They really took it seriously. It was awesome."

In the sequel, Riley’s emotional world gets flipped upside down when Riley hits puberty, and with it, a new range of emotions join Joy and the others at headquarters. These new emotions include Anxiety, Envy (Ayo Edebiri), Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser), and Ennui (Adèle Exarchopoulos). Their arrival marks a shift in Riley, altering her sense of self as well as her friendships she’s made over the past couple of years since the original Inside Out.

“Riley’s Crew” Were Devastated to Find Out One of the New Lands Was Cut From Sequel

As mentioned, “Riley’s Crew” watched many versions of Inside Out 2 and gave their notes on how well it captured a teenage girl’s experience and emotions at that time. They also voiced their disappointment when one of their favorite jokes didn’t make the final cut. Apparently, one of the new lands in Riley’s mind Joy, Anger (Lewis Black), and the other emotions were supposed to explore was Procrastination Land, an area that was always under construction. Here’s what Mann said about Procrastination Land and why it was cut:

"They [Riley’s Crew] were like, “Where’s Procrastination Land? You got to bring it back,” and it’s such a funny idea. I will hold back one gag of it that I think is so funny ‘cause I’m like, “It’s going to come back. It’s going to come back.” You guys are going to see Procrastination Land at some point. I just couldn’t fit it in a natural way. It always felt forced, and it also felt… in these movies, you just need to make sure you’re having forward momentum and Procrastination Land is the opposite of forward– it makes you sit down."

As seen at the end of the first Inside Out movie, Riley has a lot more islands of personality that mature from the previous iterations that were there, plus new ones like Tragic Vampire Romance Island. After Anxiety and the other new emotions kick out Riley’s original emotions, they’ll have to traverse through some of the new places. As for Procrastination Land, it will make its debut one day, just not this time.

‘Inside Out 2’s Creators Drew From Their Own Experiences With Teenage Kids

“Riley’s Crew” weren’t the only sources of inspiration when creating and perfecting the story for Inside Out 2. It turns out that development for Inside Out 2 started as early as January 2020, right before the team went into quarantine. For Mann, right outside his office door at home were his teenage son and daughter, who provided research for the Inside Out 2 story. Here’s what Mann said:

"Cause when I started, my daughter was 13 and my son was 14. So, I’m like this is the exact age I want her to be in the movie. And so they’re immediately right there. You’re always pulling from your lives in every movie I’ve done here. We’re always talking about what it’s like to be alive and be a person, a father, a husband, you know, whatever it may be. So, you’re always kind of putting that into the movie."

Nielsen would go on to explain how both Inside Out and Inside Out 2 are essential parental stories. As much as the movie is about the emotions going on inside a girl, Joy has a parental view of Riley, and everything she tries to do is for the sake of Riley. Here’s what Nielson said:

"You know, this really is a parental story, and even though it takes place in Riley’s mind, she is kind of the set piece and there’s something incredibly universal about this story and these emotions that we all have. You know, even Joy, who’s the protagonist of this story, has a very parental view of Riley and all the emotions do, right? They’re there to serve her. They’re there to do their very best to do whatever they need to protect their girl and to kind of steer her in the right way. So even you know, the original film was based on Pete Docter’s observations of his daughter as she was growing up and going through change and becoming a young teen. And so, having the parental lens on this film has been incredibly helpful."

Inside Out 2 will be released in theaters June 14, 2024.