How INSIDE OUT 2 made emotions feel so real

Published: October 1, 2024

How INSIDE OUT 2 made emotions feel so real

By Movieguide® staff

INSIDE OUT 2 was a huge success thanks to its relatable emotions and sweet story of 13-year-old Riley navigating all the changes that come with growing up.

Pixar hired doctors and psychologists to ensure they conveyed the emotions correctly.

“I’ve been teaching a course on human emotions at Berkeley for 30 years – it’s my pride and joy,” said Dr. Dacher Keltner told TIME. “In the early days before podcasts, we were recording the course and Pete Docter saw one. One day he called me out of the blue and said, ‘Hey man, I’m thinking about making a movie about emotions.’ Come on down.’ It went so well that he called me again for INSIDE OUT 2 and here we go again.”

Despite Dr. Keltner’s extensive knowledge of human emotions, he still believed that creating an emotion-based film for children would be challenging.

“It was very difficult for me to imagine how INSIDE OUT could represent the technical complexities of the brain, and I didn’t really do it,” he admitted. “I just do the science and answer their questions. Pete’s first question to me for INSIDE OUT was: How many emotions are there?”

For those who don’t know, people experience 20 different emotions.

If there ever is an INSIDE OUT 3, Dr. Keltner expects Riley to overcome some even more difficult emotions.

“When Riley is 15 or 16, oh man, this is serious,” he said. “She would leave her peer group and enter society hoping to do something good. So I would include the moral emotions, outrage of course, but also awe, desire and compassion. I have been teaching young women for 33 years and I can tell you that they are so hard on themselves. They are strict about their emotional life and say, “I shouldn’t feel this, otherwise I’m bad for feeling this way.” That’s just not true. As long as you don’t hurt people, I tend to think that all feelings are good. That’s the whole point of this film.”

INSIDE OUT 2 was a huge success and made it into the top 10 animated films of all time. Movieguide® reported:

INSIDE OUT 2 just hit some major box office milestones, earning a spot in the top 10 all-time animated film list as the film hit the $800 million mark.

The film grossed $799.7 million at the worldwide box office, making it the tenth highest-grossing animated film of all time. It overtook MINIONS: THE RISE OF GRU, FINDING NEMO and SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE.

“Globally, what matters is when, not if, INSIDE OUT 2 crosses the $1 billion mark,” Deadline reported. “The Kelsey Mann-directed juggernaut is already on track to surpass the $859 million worldwide gross of the first INSIDE OUT.”

Part of Movieguide®’s review reads: