Summary

• Inside Out 2 expands on the original by introducing new, extreme emotions that challenge Riley's beliefs and identity.
• Footage screened at CinemaCon teases a war between old and new emotions, with Anxiety trying to fundamentally change Riley's personality and beliefs.
• The sequel delves deeper into the concept of emotions and how they shape adolescents, exploring the consequences of unregulated feelings.

CinemaCon shows 35 minutes of footage from Pixar's upcoming movie, Inside Out 2, which teases a war between new and old emotions in Riley's (Kensington Tallman) mind. The movie is a sequel to the critically acclaimed 2015 movie Inside Out. It will continue exploring Riley's journey, as well as that of the personified emotions in her head. In particular, the sequel will see Riley and the old emotions struggling to adapt to new emotions, like Anxiety (Maya Hawke), Envy (Ayo Edebiri), and Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser), which arrive with the onset of puberty.

At CinemaCon, where Screen Rant was in attendance, a 35-minute clip of Inside Out 2 was screened. Part of the footage covers plot points teased in Inside Out 2's official trailer, including Riley's puberty and the arrival of new emotions. However, it reveals what has changed in the girl's mind, including the addition of "beliefs" and the growth of her personality islands. Unfortunately, shortly after winning a hockey game, the emotions and Riley are overwhelmed with puberty, difficult life developments, and the arrival of new emotions. Check out a description of the footage below:

Joy gives us an overview of what’s been happening over the past few years. Riley’s personality islands are going pretty strong. Family island is still there, but much smaller. Friendship island has grown. She also has “beliefs” now, like homework is terrible; she’s also in love with a boy band...

Next morning, Joy wakes up to a beeping sound. Sadness wonders, “What the heck is that?” All of the main emotions sleepily walk down to the control panel where they see a big red “Puberty” button that suddenly goes off. Riley is overwhelmed with emotion because of puberty — she cries, snaps at her mom, and more...

Riley arrives at volleyball camp. She starts walking into camp and runs into Valentina Ortiz — the varsity captain. Riley starts geeking out and embarrassing herself. That’s when a new emotion joins the fray: Anxiety. She’s moving into Riley’s mind along with others: Envy, who falls in love with Valentina’s hair (she’s envious, of course). Riley then says maybe she can have hair like Valentina, which then introduces Embarrassment. Last one to be introduced is Boredom.

Joy calms down the original emotions because she believes all emotions are good for Riley. All of the emotions start disagreeing about what Riley should do: be with Riley’s best friends or follow Valentina to find new friends.

Anxiety and Joy disagree about how to handle Riley’s friends, and they fight over the friendship belief/thing in Riley’s mind, ultimately breaking Riley’s friendship with the other two girls. Anxiety and the new emotions try to turn Riley into a new person. Anxiety basically enacts a coup and Embarrassment takes all the original emotions away. “OK, let’s change everything about you,” Anxiety says about Riley.

Back in the belief system/pond, Anxiety puts a new belief in the water that erects a red strand of light. We later see the original emotions in a glass case being put into The Vault — where all of Riley’s secrets are stored. There are other secrets in the vault, including a video game character named Lance that Riley used to have a crush on. There’s also another secret — a “deep, dark secret” — that is big, dark, and scary. We don’t know what the secret is.

What Inside Out 2’s CinemaCon Footage Reveals About Its Plot

Inside Out 2 Will Expand On The Original's World And Themes

The CinemaCon footage of Inside Out 2 reveals new details about the plot, which illustrate how it will differentiate itself from the original and expand the story in a meaningful way. Based on the trailer, the story looked promising by exploring new emotions relatable to those entering their teenage years. However, it also created the possibility of echoing the original too closely. In the original, Joy (Amy Poehler) struggles to cope with the new emotion Sadness (Phyllis Smith) in 11-year-old Riley's mind. Their power struggle wreaks havoc in Riley's mind until Joy learns the importance of all emotions.

Hence, Inside Out 2 seemed to follow the original's premise of new emotions causing difficulties. The new footage, though, confirms the new emotions will be far more extreme than Sadness was. In the original, neither Joy nor Sadness tried to take complete control or define who Riley is. However, the footage shows that Anxiety genuinely wants to limit the girl's emotions and fundamentally change who she is, including her beliefs. Its teases of the development of "beliefs" and a "deep, dark secret" also demonstrate a far more complex landscape in Riley's mind and much higher stakes.

Based on the new footage, Inside Out 2 is shaping up to be a necessary sequel. While it continues the story and mimics the original plot, the sequel seems to delve deeper into the original's concepts by expanding its worldbuilding of Riley's mind with beliefs and secrets, and exploring the consequences of unregulated emotions and what happens when teens allow their emotions to shape who they are. Additional details on Inside Out 2's plot suggest it goes far beyond establishing the importance of emotions and delves into the even bigger feelings and changes that impact those in adolescence.

Inside Out 2 releases in theaters on June 14.