Inside Out was considered the most pivotal Pixar animated film of 2015, with critics praising the movie for giving an accurate depiction of mental health, especially when it concerns the mental health of children. It was also praised for portraying the relationship between humans and their emotions, depicting their responses to circ*mstances beyond their control, as is the case with Riley being transplanted from Minnesota to California. It doesn't come as a surprise that Inside Out 2 was targeted as Pixar's next sequel.
Wth Inside Out 2 on the horizon, we get to see Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear and Disgust face even bigger changes as Riley becomes a teenager and experiences even more emotions than she’s had before. For kids, the sequel will serve as a preview of their teenage years, while it will take adults back to that time period of their lives, warts and all. Here’s everything we know so far about Inside Out 2.
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- Latest Trailer
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- Voice Cast
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Latest Inside Out 2 Trailer
Inside Out 2 Release Date
Inside Out 2 is scheduled to release on June 14, 2024. That release date is five days close to nine years after the release of the original film.
Inside Out 2 was announced during the D23 Studio Showcase in September 2022, with Amy Poehler coming on stage alongside Pete Docter to surprise the audience with the announcement of the sequel being in development. Pixar then tweeted the announcement with a Summer 2024 release window.
Going by Pixar’s film release pattern, it was safe to assume that Inside Out 2 would come out in June. Lo and behold, we got the June 2024 slot.
Inside Out 2 Voice Cast
Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith, and Lewis Black are reprising their roles as Joy, Sadness, and Anger, respectively. Tony Hale (Toy Story 4, Arrested Development) and Liza Lapira (The Equalizer) have joined the cast as Fear and Disgust.
Hale and Lapira are filling in for Bill Hader and Mindy Kaling after they declined to reprise their roles over a pay dispute, as they and the rest of the returning cast were reportedly offered $100,000 compared to Poehler’s $5 million (with lucrative bonuses) – just two percent of her pay.
Maya Hawke (Do Revenge, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) will voice Anxiety, one of the new emotions entering Riley’s mind after Riley turns 13. The three other new emotions, Envy, Ennui, and Embarrassment, will be voiced by Ayo Edebiri (Big Mouth, The Bear), Adèle Exarchopoulos (Blue Is the Warmest Colour), and Paul Walter Hauser (Cobra Kai, Orion and the Dark), respectively.
As a bonus for the gamers, YouTuber and voice actor Yong Yea will be voicing Lance Slashblade, a video game character Riley once had a crush on. Lance is prone to glitching, much like Vanellope von Schweetz in the Wreck-It Ralph films, putting him in conflict against the film's smooth animation. His design is inspired by Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy 7, Buster Sword on his back and all.
Inside Out 2 Story
In Inside Out 2, Riley turns 13 and Headquarters undergoes a sudden demolition to make room for new emotions, something Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust weren’t prepared for. The first new emotion they meet is Anxiety, who carries a lot of emotional baggage — literally.
Joy and the gang aren’t sure how to feel about Anxiety joining the crew, but they can’t possibly imagine a full house with the other new emotions, Embarrassment, Ennui, and Envy.
These new emotins will set the stage for all the changes that Riley will be going through as she enters the complex world of adolescence. Anxiety is one of those emotions that will shake up Riley’s life overnight, changing her personality and causing her to figure out who she is, her friendships, family, school, and experiment with things that will draw the ire of everyone around her, as most teenagers do.
Where Inside Out Left Off
Inside Out follows Joy and the rest of the original line-up of Riley’s emotions as they help the 11-year-old cope with relocating from her home state of Minnesota to California due to her father’s new job. As she tries to adjust to her new life in San Francisco to no avail, Sadness screws things up on Riley’s first day at her new school by overwriting her happy core memories as sad ones, causing her to break into tears in front of her class. This causes a struggle between Joy and Sadness, who accidentally knock the core memories loose, disabling the personality islands, and get sucked from Headquarters to Riley’s subconscious along with the core memories, and they have to find their way back.
When Anger, Fear and Disgust take over the console, they attempt to create new core memories with disastrous results. Their bickering over what to do triggers drastic changes to Riley’s personality that cause her to distance herself from her parents, her friends and hobbies, including ice hockey, and even attempt to run away to Minnesota after Anger put that idea into the console, disabling it and plunging Riley into depression — causing the personality islands to deteriorate completely.
Meanwhile, Joy discovers a memory of Riley being comforted by her parents after losing a hockey game followed by her friends coming to cheer her up — a memory that is both sad and happy. She discovers that Sadness plays an important role in alerting others when Riley’s aid when she is emotionally overwhelmed, therefore two emotions can work at once. Once they return to Headquarters, Sadness takes over the console, reactivates it, and prompts Riley to go back to her parents, who tell her they miss their old life after she confesses the same.
A year later, the memories created in Headquarters are now filled with dual emotions as Riley (aged 12) has successfully adapted to her new life in San Francisco, gaining new friends and participating in new hobbies as well as her old ones. Joy and the gang also get a new console with enough room for everyone to work together, along with a signal for puberty, leading to the events of the sequel.
Looking for more upcoming Pixar films on the Pixar timeline? Check out everything we know about Toy Story 5.
Cristina Alexander is a freelance writer for IGN. She has contributed her work to various publications, including Digital Trends, TheGamer, Twinfinite, Mega Visions, and The Escapist. To paraphrase Calvin Harris, she wears her love for Sonic the Hedgehog on her sleeve like a big deal. Follow her on Twitter @SonicPrincess15.
