The Deeper Meaning Behind Pixar's Inside Out 2, Explained (2024)

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Bigger Emotions in Inside Out 2

Growing Up Means Feeling Less Joy

Capturing the Feeling of Childhood

Anxiety Is an Overwhelming Emotion

Inside Out 2 Teaches Audiences to Live With Their Emotions

Summary

Inside Out 2 is a box office hit, resonating with audiences thanks to its relatable exploration of complex emotions.
New characters like Anxiety add depth to the film, showcasing the overwhelming nature of growing up and conflicting feelings.
The movie teaches valuable lessons about living with emotions, finding balance, and embracing the complexities of life.

Inside Out 2 is a box office hit. Not only did it mark the first $100+ opening weekend of the year and helped turn around the doom and gloom of the summer box office, but it has also been a hit with critics and audiences as it has a 91% on Rotten Tomatoes and scored an A CinemaScore. With $155 million, it is the second highest-grossing film for an animated movie, behind only Incredibles 2, and opening above sequels to juggernaut hits like Frozen 2, Finding Dory, and Toy Story 4. With good word of mouth and a light summer in terms of competition, this might be not only one of the biggest films of the season but the whole year, as word of mouth will likely support it.

Like the first film, Inside Out 2 looks at the complex emotions that drive humans and makes it easily accessible to both a young audience encountering these thoughts for the first time and adults who might have lived with this for years but never quite knew how to explain it. The core five emotions of Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Anger (Lewis Black), Fear (Tony Hale), and Disgust (Liza Lapira) from the first film are joined by Envy (Ayo Edebiri), Ennui (Adèle Exarchopoulos), Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser), a brief role for Nostalgia (June Squibb), and the main newcomer, Anxiety (Maya Hawke). Inside Out 2 delivers an important message about the complex, conflicting emotions we feel growing up and how our emotions do not define who we are but guide us.

Bigger Emotions in Inside Out 2

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This also sets the stage for new emotions to take control. In the film, Anxiety tells the core five that Riley's life requires more sophisticated emotions, and in many ways, the new emotions are more complex feelings of four of them. Anxiety herself compares herself to Fear, where Fear keeps her worried about what she can see; Anxiety keeps her concerned about what she can't see and is looking to the future.

She later weaponizes Riley's imagination to create stressful scenarios in her mind, in what she thinks is preparing her but instead is keeping her up at night. Envy is the inverse of Disgust, while embarrassment is another form of Sadness (these two emotions later share a bond). Ennui, or as she describes herself, Boredom, is the opposite of Anger. Where Anger feels emotions very passionately, Ennui is resigned to everything. The only exception is Joy, which ties into one of Inside Out 2's more devastating sequences.

Growing Up Means Feeling Less Joy

Joy has been the emotion in control for most of Riley's life. When Inside Out 2 begins, she has learned her lesson from the first film and sees the value in all of Riley's emotions, even Sadness. So when Anxiety and new emotions arrive, Joy welcomes them but also wants to maintain a sense of control. She is used to calling the shots until Anxiety takes over, where she and the other five get repressed. Joy tries her best to keep everything together, staying positive and thinking to herself. All she needs to do is find Riley's sense of self, which will make everything better.

Yet when the tube to headquarters is shut down, and it seems like Joy can't help Riley, she has a moment to think. She looks down on all the negative emotions and memories she has repressed for Riley and is shocked at just how many there are. Defeated, she says, "I can't stop Anxiety. Maybe this is what happens when you grow up. You feel less joy.”

This line obviously will hit a lot of people very hard, particularly older audiences. It is hard to argue that when you grow up, sometimes the weight of various problems in life can become overwhelming. It feels harder to be happy, and people tend to look back on how joyful they were in their youth with less care in the world.

Capturing the Feeling of Childhood

Sometimes, the things that make us happy no longer do; they are just part of growing up and dealing with more complex emotions. It is hard to return to that joy of childlike wonder. One could even say much of the negative criticism from certain fans of properties like Star Wars and even Pixar is from audiences who have grown up and are upset less with the individual projects but that they don't make them feel the joy they did as a kid.

Inside Out 2, like the Toy Story sequels and Monsters University, might be an animated movie aimed at families. Still, it also acknowledges the passage of time and realizes the kids who saw the original film are older. This is likely an emotion they have been feeling, and in 2024, it feels like it is a sentiment everyone shares. Between inflation, rising global conflicts, and various other issues going on in the world, it feels like finding joy in anything is becoming harder. Luckily, Inside Out 2 shows that even though Joy never goes away.

Anxiety Is an Overwhelming Emotion

One of Inside Out 2's most clever bits of writing is the characterization of Anxiety. She is the antagonist of the movie, but she is not an evil villain like The Prospector from Toy Story 2 or Syndrome in The Incredibles. Anxiety is doing what she thinks is best for Riley to help protect her. Every action she does is not out of her own selfish interest but in service of helping Riley as she sees fit. As is the case with anyone who has anxiety, it can be a very powerful emotion. In the film, Anxiety quickly takes control of Riley's mind, suppressing the main five emotions and making big changes, creating a new sense of self while tossing the old one away.

In the film's climax, Anxiety's efforts to give Riley a new sense of self backfires, with Riley believing she isn't good enough. Anxiety tries everything to fix it but begins to overwhelm Riley's systems, giving her an anxiety attack. Anxiety begins to move in a whirlwind around Riley's console, where not even the other emotions can stop her. Envy even tells her, "You are putting too much pressure on her." When the main five emotions get back to headquarters, they, along with Ennui, Embarrassment, and Envy, try pulling the new sense of self out of Riley and replacing it with the old one, but it doesn't work.

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Joy enters Anxiety's storm, and while she initially tries to yell at Anxiety to stop, Joy notices something. Despite Anxiety moving around the console, she is also frozen, stuck in place, and overwhelmed, much like somebody having a panic attack. Joy tells her it is okay to let go, and she understands she is doing what is best for Riley. Joy also realizes she is making a similar mistake to Anxiety. Earlier in the film, Joy had been shoving the awful thoughts that would weigh on Riley to the back of her mind. Both Joy and Anxiety tried to control Riley instead of letting her be who she was. Anxiety lets go, and Joy's actions earlier in the movie of riding the negative thoughts back to headquarters begin to take form in Riley's sense of self.

This new sense of self is a complex web of conflicting thoughts. Joy and positive emotions mixed with Anxiety, as well as a whole host of others. Riley is growing up, which means her worldview and her own identity is not so simple. She can have conflicting ideas about herself because that is what growing up is like. Riley can be both a good person and sometimes a bad friend, and it is important to recognize those contradicting notions.

This settles Riley down, and she apologizes to her friends as she had been ignoring them for most of the movie due to Anxiety and wanting to prioritize future friends in high school so Riley wouldn't be alone. Like the first film's climax, Riley has a heart-to-heart with the people she loves. Yet in the inverse of the first film, where Joy needs to let Sadness take control, saying, "Riley needs you," Sadness gets to tell Joy that Riley needs her. It is a reminder that Joy always has a way of coming back if we just let it into our lives.

Inside Out 2 Teaches Audiences to Live With Their Emotions

By the film's conclusion, all nine main emotions have found a balance in Riley's head. Even Anxiety has a place there. There are healthy and unhealthy anxieties, just like with all emotions. Joy is a valuable tool, but it can also create toxic positivity. As with all the emotions, she deserves a necessary function; it is all just in degrees. It is also worth noting that emotions do not make Riley who she is. They can guide her, but in the end, Riley is the culmination of her life choices, of which emotions are part. All of these aspects of Riley are an important part of growing up.

Inside Out 2 will hopefully be a helpful tool for young kids encountering these emotions for the first time. It will help them explain these difficult concepts while also acknowledging the good and bad parts of all their conflicting emotions. As for older audiences, they will likely relate deeply to the film's concepts and wish they had it when they were younger, but they can be grateful that future generations will have it to look to when they need help understanding their feelings. Inside Out 2 is playing in theaters now.