Docter conceivedInside Out in October 2009 after observing changes in his daughter's personality as she grew older. The project was subsequentlygreen-lit, and Docter and co-directorRonnie del Carmen developed the story, while consulting psychologists and neuroscientists in an effort to accurately portray the mind. Development took five-and-a-half years on a budget of approximately $175million. Significant changes to the film's story and characters delayed the film'sproduction schedule.
In the mind of a young girl named Riley Andersen are five personified emotions that influence her actions:Joy,Sadness,Fear,Disgust, andAnger. Riley's experiences becomememories that are stored as colored orbs and are sent intolong-term memory each night. The aspects of the five most important "core memories" within her personality take the form of five floating islands. Joy acts as the leader and tries to limit Sadness's influence, perceiving her as an unnecessary burden for Riley.
At age 11, Riley moves fromMinnesota to San Francisco for her father's new job. On Riley's first day at her new school, Sadness retroactively saddens joyous memories, causing Riley to cry in front of her class. This creates Riley's first sad core memory. Joy tries to dispose of the memory using apneumatic tube but knocks loose the other core memories during a struggle with Sadness, disabling the personality islands. Joy, Sadness, and the core memories are sucked out of Headquarters.
In the absence of Joy and Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust try to make happy core memories, but the results are disastrous, distancing Riley from her parents, peers, and hobbies. Without the core memories, Anger causes Riley's personality islands to crumble and fall into the "Memory Dump", where things fade to non-existence as they are forgotten.
While navigating the vast long-term memory area, Joy and Sadness encounter Bing Bong, Riley's childhoodimaginary friend, who suggests riding the "train of thought" back to Headquarters. Meanwhile, Anger, intending to restore Riley's happiness, convinces Disgust and Fear that Riley should run away to Minnesota, where her happy memories were formed. Joy, Sadness, and Bing Bong catch the train, but it is derailed when another island collapses. Joy tries to ride a "recall tube" back to Headquarters, but the ground below the tube collapses, sending her and Bing Bong plunging into the Memory Dump.
Joy discovers a sad memory of Riley losing ahockey game that turned happy when Riley's parents and friends comforted her, and she realizes Sadness's purpose in alerting others when Riley is emotionally overwhelmed and needs help. Joy and Bing Bong try to use his song-fueled wagon rocket to escape the Memory Dump but are unable to ascend due to their combined weight. In the final run, Bing Bong manages to sacrifice himself to save Joy in the memory dump by jumping out of the wagon before fading away.
Anger's idea shorts out the console, putting Riley intodepression as she boards a bus to Minnesota. Joy reunites with Sadness, and they return to Headquarters. Joy hands control of the console to Sadness, much to the others' shock and confusion. Sadness successfully removes the idea bulb from the console, restarting it and prompting Riley to get off the bus and rush home. Joy, realizing that Riley needs to tell her parents the truth, hands Sadness the core memories, allowing her to make them sad. Riley bursts into tears, telling her parents she misses her old life. Riley's parents comfort her and tell her they also miss Minnesota.
Sadness brings Joy over to have her join hands on the console, creating a new core memory that is both happy and sad, and a new island forms, representing Riley's acceptance of her life in San Francisco. A year later, a 12-year-old Riley has adapted to her new home, made new friends, and acquired new hobbies. Inside Headquarters, Riley's emotions admire her new personality islands, powered by new multicolored core memories that contain a mixture of emotions, and are given an expanded console that has enough room for them to work as a team. Although they admit slight concern over a red alarm light markedpuberty, they decide that it is not important at the moment.
Development onInside Out wasgreen-lit in October 2009,[1] after directorPete Docter noticed his daughter Elie becoming "more quiet and reserved",[2] and began to wonder what was happening internally.[3][4] Docter invitedRonnie del Carmen, who had worked as story supervisor onFinding Nemo (2003) andUp (2009), to join the project as co-director, a role del Carmen accepted.[5][6] They sought inspiration from their own personal histories and experiences,[7] and conferred with psychologists and specialists such as psychologistPaul Ekman andDacher Keltner, professor of psychology at theUniversity of California, Berkeley, for accuracy.[8][9] While designing Riley's mental landscape, they consulted neuroscientists, and took cues fromDNA strands and photographs of neuronal flashes.[1] According to Keltner and Ekman, the film emphasizes the ways emotions organize our thoughts and social lives, especially the role of sadness in fostering connections.[10]
About 27 emotions—including irritation, envy, greed, gloom, despair, depression, love,schadenfreude,ennui, shame, embarrassment, and hope—were considered for early versions, but the number was later reduced for the sake of simplicity.[b] Ekman supplied a list of emotions—anger, fear, sadness, disgust, contempt, surprise, and happiness—and Docter decided to remove surprise due to its similarity to fear; he also removed contempt. Happiness was renamed Optimism and later Joy.[8][16][17] According to Docter, for some time in the film's development, Chief Creative OfficerJohn Lasseter was less involved on a day-to-day basis onInside Out and the other Pixar films as he continued to balance running Pixar andWalt Disney Animation Studios. However, when Docter informed Lasseter that the film was not working after more than two years and proposed to swap Fear with Sadness as the emotion who would go on the main journey with Joy, Lasseter agreed. On his involvement with the film's creative team, Lasseter said, "We’re always tearing up work and starting over. At Pixar, we trust our process, and we trust each other".[2] It wasPixar's first original film to be produced almost entirely without involvement from the studio's co-founderSteve Jobs, who died in 2011.[2] Development took five-and-a-half years,[18][19] and the film was produced on a budget of approximately $175million.[20]Ralph Eggleston, Pixar's production designer, stated it was the hardest and longest film he had ever worked on.[19]
In 2010, Docter and the filmmaking team met to discuss aspects ofInside Out, including its setting, rules, and reels. Docter then recruited a small team to develop the narrative and design its characters within 12 months;[1][21][22] their main challenge was to handle its multilayered technique.[23] Del Carmen described his upbringing as a significant influence and had the idea of making Riley an avid ice-hockey player due to that sport's popularity in Minnesota.[24][25] Though the script was deemed ambitious and ingenious, screenwriterMichael Arndt spent a year on it before leaving the project in early 2011;[26] he was attributed with providing additional story material.[27] Along with Docter,Josh Cooley andMeg LeFauve were credited as screenwriters for its rewrites.[28]
To promote diverse input, half of the story team were women at a time when the animation industry largely consisted of men. AlthoughInside Out's focus is a girl, research found females age 11 to 17 were more attuned to expressions and emotions than younger girls.[25] Docter decided Riley was not a main character but the setting.[1] He considered the lead emotion as female because Riley is a girl. Other emotion characters were assigned male and female.[29] Docter discarded an initial idea about Riley falling into a deep depression.[2] Creation of storyboards took two-to-three years and included seven-to-eight screenings for Pixar's "brains trust", a small group of creative leaders who oversee development of all films. They spent over three years improving the dinnertime scene to avoid it becoming stale with audiences while sustaining the story and humor.[30]
The filmmakers were responsible for expressing the characters' personal traits, talents,[11] and contrasts.[25]Inside Out's design team researched more of Riley's personality's distinct directions after Docter became concerned over Joy's displeasure. Designer Albert Lozano wanted Joy to be tomboyish and mischievous.[31]Amy Poehler helped the team write Joy, illustrating a broad range of happiness after facing difficulties. With LeFauve's help, the team envisioned Joy as a vulnerable, intangible character because she is "unapologetically positive".[21][32] From the outset, the idea of Joy's potential to excessively manipulate youth, persisted, setting off Riley's "social storms".[33]
In one instance, Riley was to have wanted the lead role as a turkey in aThanksgiving Day pageant; Docter found that plot idea to be too unfamiliar and sought something to replace it. Several drafts emerged, including the characters cultivating ideas after falling to "Idea Fields";[34] in another, Bing Bong would recruit a large entourage of exiled characters from Riley's childhood.Richard Kind later defined his character as "the fading of childhood" whenInside Out's development had progressed.[35] In October 2011,Diane Disney Miller persuaded Docter to reduceInside Out's distractions and reprioritize the story.[21] Docter determined the concept of personality islands could integrate the mind world's geography and story.[34]
In 2012, the film was put into production[1] after several screenings and suggestions, and was evaluated after three months. Editor Kevin Nolting said seven versions were created before the production began.[30] Balancing the tone, for example, viewers' responses to Joy's cheerful nature while feeling negative about the mess Joy manipulates in Riley, was difficult. ProducerJonas Rivera credited Poehler for developing these aspects of Joy's nature.[33] Eggleston recommended setting the film in Riley's mind rather than in her brain,[36] and a few scenes about the brain were dropped.[11]
Pixar filmmakers held an evaluation screening in July 2012. An early version focused on Joy and Fear getting lost together. Docter deemed this problematic and determined the idea about Joy had learned from Fear to develop her characterization, before deciding to integrate emotions and relationships. Instead, Sadness replaced Fear to have a "much juicier" role.[11][37] Docter's altercation between Joy and Sadness lacked the film's emotional ending. To address the issue, he changed a scene where Riley is separating from her friend in its subsequent portions. Islands of Friendship and Personality became Joy and Sadness's outings to maintain itscontinuity.[38]
During the storyboarding process, 27 sequences and 178,128 outlines were developed,[21] with 127,781 remaining upon completion.[11] According to Cooley, 10 plot rewrites ofInside Out and 10 unabridged scenes of Riley's mind were made.[38] Initial storyboarding differentiated the importance of Riley'scharacter arc rather than her emotions but Rivera considered the balance was "about 75 percent inside, 25 percent out".[23] In early 2013, the filmmakers made seven-to-eight distinct openings.[21]Inside Out's first completed scenes weretest-screened at theAnnecy International Animated Film Festival in June 2014.[39] The brain trust eventuallylocked the picture and its story. Production concluded in May 2015[1] after three years.[16]
Inside Out's principal characters were cast in August 2013.[40] Voice recording began that year and ended in 2014.[1] Casting focused on actors who have personas identical to those of the characters they voiced.[41] BecauseInside Out's cast includes several veterans ofSaturday Night Live (SNL), the film's production team spent a week at that program researching a live television sequence.[42]
Phyllis Smith was the first of the emotions characters to be cast and Poehler was the last. Smith and Poehler had three voice-recording sessions each.[43][44] Smith was initially concerned about her attempt to voice a role in an animated film.[45] Once Smith got a call to travel to Pixar's headquarters inEmeryville, California, Rivera cast her after watching a lunch scene inBad Teacher (2011). He contacted Docter and said, "I think we found our Sadness".[44] Smith saw her natural voice following her first recording session.[45]
Kind was Docter's perfect choice for Bing Bong.[46] Kind attempted to convey the same "sort of innocence" he had conveyed in his previous Pixar roles.[47] Docter described Bing Bong as a contribution of Joy's characterization.[46] Kind modeled Bing Bong's personality and appearance onOliver Hardy,Jimmy Durante, andJohn Candy, especially Candy's performance inPlanes, Trains, and Automobiles (1987).[45]
Bill Hader and the filmmakers visited the set ofSNL in New York City, where his immediate casting as Fear was assumed until his stay ended. Hader contacted Poehler and said his role was secret before reaffirming his involvement inInside Out. In preparation, Hader practiced "almost every emotion" and his screaming voice in recording sessions.[c] Fear was modeled on both actorDon Knotts andRowan Atkinson's characterMr. Bean, both of whom have wide eyes. Docter described Fear as "the kind of guy who could bring sophistication and then flip on a dime".[29][51]
Mindy Kaling attended six recording sessions within four hours to voice Disgust before being cast in the role. She said the story sounded "really beautiful" when it was pitched to her.[8][49] Docter saidLewis Black exemplified Anger, and he was cast after the filmmakers kept him in mind, having heard Black's voice.[17] The filmmakers cast Kaitlyn Dias as Riley, having described her performance as "touching" and adapted its "heartbreaking honesty". According to Rivera, Dias's casting was "perfect".[45]
Eggleston was tasked with outlining the mind and real worlds throughdesign briefs. The mind world incorporates soft surfaces, increased use of saturated colors and contrasty light, and translucency whereas the real world uses opposite attributes.[19] The worlds' design resembles those of Pixar filmsUp andToy Story 3 (2010),[16] the romantic dramaOne from the Heart (1982),David Hockney's theatrical productions,[52] and the intended 1950sBroadway musicals.[2]Supervising animator Victor Navone tightened the design's aspects,[16] which were emphasized byfreeform surface modeling.[53] Around 300 designs of Headquarters were developed.[1] Decoding how to depict the mind's interior, the filmmakers concentrated on the word "electrochemical" and considered options using electricity.[54]
Character designs underwent several revisions before they were finalized. Simple shapes were initially designed, these included Anger as a brick, Joy as a star, Sadness as a tear, and Fear as a nerve. Sadness's appearance was eventually changed to that ofDebbie Downer. Lozano planned to dress Sadness in pajamas to highlight her depression. Disgust's and Anger's approaches were respectively based onApril Ludgate andHades fromHercules (1997). To avoid similarities toTinker Bell, Joy was given a green dress and her hair color was changed to blue. After Pixar presented potential designs of Riley to the audience, Lozano thought the character looked like Elie.[51][55]
Animation ofInside Out took a year and a half. About 48 animators, including supervisorsShawn Krause and Victor Navone, anddirector Jamie Roe and 350 artists—35 of them lighting–led by cinematographer Kim White–and 10layout—and technicians were involved in the production. Two animation teams were assembled: one for the abstract sequence and another involvingcrowd simulation for the character groupings.[16][18] They used novel technology to locate every part of the human body.[56]
Docter imagined with emotions for characters, they could "push the level of caricature" to both design and style of movement. To this end, they emulated the animation styles ofTex Avery andChuck Jones.[34] Docter informed Krause and Navone to push the graphic caricature of each character rather than sticking to the rigid behavior of eachRenderMan model. This required an artist to draw over the characters using aWacom Cintiq duringdailies.[57] After their forms were finalized, the characters were proposed for 3D models usingdesktop computers. The filmmakers studied dailies until Docter gaveInside Out's finalized shots approval on lighting andrendering.[1]
Inside Out made increased use of an advanced sketching tool with which animators performed rapid sculpting on silhouettes, altering the characters' appearances and evaluating a "fine-tuning" cloth stimulation.[58] Through the simulation department, the motion of the characters' hair and garments was added.[11] Pixar co-founderEdwin Catmull felt the characters' attributes have to a lesser extent humanoid forms, bright colors, and strange shapes due to their possession offorce fields.[59] All aspects ofInside Out were eventually merged into a single image,[11] becoming an animation spread across 1,600 shots. Each three seconds of footage took three weeks to create[1] and 33 hours to render.[59]
Both animation teams handled the transition of Joy from a "complete abstract" to an "animatable character".[60] Lighting Joy was Eggleston's early inspiration through his production design. Eggleston's pastel diagram shaped Joy, increasing her illumination[61] and making her Pixar's crucial character. Instead of being solid, Joy's effervescence was derived from pinwheels,Champagne, and sparklers. Lozano thought Joy looked likeAudrey Hepburn.[1] For Joy to become brightened, the RenderMan team developedgeometrical optics,[61] and Docter suggested designing her with "sprite-like and golden" modifications.[29] These effects function dependably due to Joy's typical type. Over 750 shots were made using artistic performance and lighting cinematography.[60] The filmmakers worked on Joy's aura for eight months but encountered difficulties with time and budget. Lasseter requested that it be applied for each emotion instead. Eggleston described this technique, saying "You could hear the core technical staff just hitting the ground, the budget falling through the roof".[62] Docter and his six-designer team spent approximately 18 months finalizing Joy's look.[31] The process of making Joy took three years.[29]
Director of photographyPatrick Lin focused on emphasizingInside Out's cinematography. It created avisual language with unique camera styles to depict the mind world and the real world, allowing a connection between the story and Riley's character. Lin said these worlds can polarize themselves.[63][64] The mind world's layout and cinematography were influenced byCasablanca (1942). Pixar researched films fromHollywood's golden age forset constructions. They performedmaster moving shots, combining them into a single scene, the longest of which were 48 seconds and consisted of 1,200 frames.[61]
Filming the real world encountered problems with lens distortion and out-of-focus shots but directorial changes countered the camera-work's complexity. The camera operators used Arri Ultra Prime and Zeiss Cooke S4 lenses with distinct camera movements and predetermined paths for both worlds. Adolly,track,crane, andboom were used for the mind world and hand-held cameras withzoom lenses andSteadicam mounts were used for the real one. Lin's crew supervised Riley's arc as these cameras were used acrossthree acts; the first was mounted on a Steadicam and the second was hand-held.[19][65]
Inside Out's certain aspects were supported by "scale progressions" (theworldbuilding size based on the main characters' perspective) for characterizations, as well as Riley and Joy's arcs,staging for the story, andframing for the theme.[65] The cameras were created by the crew have attached sensors; these cameras were "rough" and "physical" but were improved inInside Out after being used in Pixar's short filmThe Blue Umbrella (2013).Human–machine system was made to roam each person withinInside Out's environment, assigning each of their performances to interact the scenes. Virtual ones wereblocked using Layout before being animated.[53]
Michael Giacchino composed the music forInside Out.[66] He began planning in January 2015[67] and concluded in May 2015.[1] While in the music session, Docter felt its score was "bittersweet" and "nostalgic".[21] Giacchino wanted to create something more emotionally monumental forInside Out thanhis score fromUp.[67] The producers first met with Giacchino to discuss the concept and screen it for him. In response, Giacchino composed an eight-minute suite of music, unconnected to the film, based on his emotions viewing it. Rivera said because both Giacchino and Docter were musicians, they discussed the film in terms of story and character.[34] In accordance with his creative preference, sound designerRen Klyce created a progressivesoundscape.[68]Audio mixing was done to harmonize "dense" sounds for the beginning scene. The introduction of Joy uses a single sound.[69]
MarketingInside Out was considered difficult despite the enthusiasm of executives atDisney and Pixar.[37] Writing forThe Washington Post, Kristen Page-Kirby described this as "absolutely screwed".[70] Disney's marketing strategy included an activesocial media campaign,[71] a worldwide publicity tour,[72] and the creation of five colorful character posters.[73] Kind did not take part inInside Out's marketing because the producers decided to keep Bing Bong a secret.[47] As a result, the character was excluded from the film's promotion to focus on the emotion characters. Docter considered Kind's decision "smart", recognizing Bing Bong was a "surprise to the audience".[74][75] In the run-up to its release, the film was test-screened for children because executives were worried about its appeal to young viewers.[32]Disney Infinity 3.0 added a platformer-typeInside Out playset featuring all five emotion characters as playable characters.[76][77] A mobilePuzzle Bobble-style game titledInside Out: Thought Bubbles was released.[78][79]
The North American premiere ofInside Out took place at theEl Capitan Theatre (pictured in 2008).
The 95-minute filmInside Out debuted in a competition at the68th Cannes Film Festival on May 18, 2015,[90][91] followed by a premiere on June 8 at theEl Capitan Theatre inHollywood, Los Angeles.[92] In the event at Cannes, the film received an eight-minute standing ovation.[93][94]Inside Out was also released inDolby Vision, making it one of the earliest films to adopt the format.[95] In theaters, it was accompanied by a short film calledLava (2014).[96]
Inside Out was initially scheduled for release on May 30, 2014,[97] but was postponed to June 19, 2015.[98] During its opening weekend in the United States and Canada,Inside Out grossed $90.4 million across 3,946 theaters, 3,100 of which were in3D, debuting at number two behindJurassic World ($106.6million).[99] This revenue included $3.7million from Thursday night previews.[100] The weekend-total figure madeInside Out the first Pixar film not to debut at number one,[101] the biggest number-two debut of all time (surpassingThe Day After Tomorrow), and the largest opening weekend for any original film (surpassingAvatar), and was Pixar's second-biggest opening afterToy Story 3.[102] Multiple factors were attributed toInside Out's successful opening such as its Cannes premiere,CinemaCon, andFathom Events screenings, favorable word-of-mouth, favorable critical reception, and its release over theFather's Day weekend. It primarily drew a mostly female audience and approximately 71 percent of the viewers were families.[103][104][105] The film grossed $52.1million in its second weekend—a reduction of 42percent—and $29.3million in its third.[106][107] After finishing its theatrical run on December 10, 2015,Inside Out had grossed $356.9million in the U.S. and Canada as thefourth-highest-grossing film of the year.[108][109] In July 2020, due to the worldwide closure of cinemas during theCOVID-19 pandemic and limits on which films played,Inside Out returned to 442 theaters—mostlydrive-ins—and grossed $340,000.[110]
Outside the U.S. and Canada,Inside Out grossed $40.3million during its opening weekend in 37 markets.[111] Its top-grossing markets were China at $11.7million,[112] the United Kingdom at $11.5million,[113] Mexico at $8.6million, Russia at $7.6million,[111] Italy at $7.4million,[114] Germany at $7.1million,[115] and South Korea at $5.2million.Inside Out was the first Pixar film to gross over one billion rubles in Russia.[116] The film grossed a further $501.9million, its highest grosses coming from the United Kingdom ($59.4million), Japan ($33million), Germany ($31.6million), Mexico ($31.1million), South Korea ($30.9million), France ($30.1million), Italy ($27.1million), Venezuela ($25.4million), and Australia ($24.2million).[108] This made it the seventh-highest-grossing film outside the U.S. and Canada,[117] and theseventh-highest-grossing film of 2015 with a total gross of $858.8million.[118]Deadline Hollywood calculated the film's net profit as $279.51million, accounting for production budgets, marketing, talent participation, and other costs; box-office grosses and home-media revenues placed it sixth on their list of 2015's "Most Valuable Blockbusters".[20]
Inside Out received critical acclaim,[d] and was listed on many critics' top-10 lists in 2015.[128] It has an approval rating of 98% based on 385 professional reviews on thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of 8.9/10. The consensus reads, "Inventive, gorgeously animated, and powerfully moving,Inside Out is another outstanding addition to the Pixar library of modern animated classics".[129]Metacritic (which uses a weighted average) assignedInside Out a score of 94 out of 100 based on 55 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[130] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+-to-F scale.[103]
Inside Out was praised by critics for its craftsmanship and Docter's direction,[e] with some describing it as a return to form for Pixar.[f] Peter Debruge (Variety),Kenneth Turan (Los Angeles Times), andTodd McCarthy (The Hollywood Reporter) praised the film. Debruge and Turan described it as Pixar's best, calling it "sophisticated" and "audacious". Turan andRichard Brody (The New Yorker) cited the engaging visuals, its message about the value of emotions, and the depiction of Riley's imagination, and Debruge andAnthony Lane (The New Yorker) praised its originality.[g]Vulture'sDavid Edelstein said the film is a "new pop-culture touchstone".[145]The Guardian criticPeter Bradshaw andSlant Magazine writer Christopher Gray assessed it as slightly inferior to Pixar's best works.[146][147] Jackson Murphy gave the film a positive review and a "B" grade, describing the film as "good, but far from Pixar’s best effort", adding it was "emotionally manipulative" at times and the core messages were "underwhelming and off-balance".[148][149]
The scriptwriting, plot, and subject matter were praised.[h]Forbes's Scott Mendelson said the script supports its themes[150] whereas Leigh Singer ofIGN noted the tropes include child devotion, teamwork, and confused chases. Singer said the "tried-and-tested" journey had an unprecedented "licence to go".[156] Rene Rodriguez, writing for theMiami Herald, said the story skips from the beginning to the end and characters inside Riley's head have thin goals.[157]Ann Hornaday (The Washington Post) andA. O. Scott (The New York Times) appreciated its entertaining subject matter.[140][158]The Hindu's Udhav Naig saw the film as promotingmental health but panned its misinterpretation of brain functions.[159]
Media reviews for the actors' performances were very positive;[i] their work was described as "wonderful" and "excellent".[164][165] Edelstein commended Poehler's acting, saying she has "supernatural exuberance but the semi-tonal quavers of doubt that keep that ... from being cloying or cartoonish".[145] Magnett called Anger the "most perfect" character with a "sense of humor and genuine care".[161]
A central theme ofInside Out is the consequences and portrayal of emotions and memories.[173][174][175] Those depicted in the film are "honest" and "generous";[174][176] their goal is maintaining Riley's life.[177] Natasha Moore of the AustralianABC News said of the film's theme: "[If] Riley's carefree life gets more complicated, ... Joy's attempts to deliver uninterrupted happiness become increasingly neurotic".[178]Nicole Markotic said the film explores the relationship between "the many and the one", demonstrating people have "composite" personalities. The different components of one person's personality are vital for that person's "emotional and psychological balance". Depression and sadness are distinct in the film; this distinction is meant to "[offer] individuals strategies to avoid suppressing crucial feelings".[179] Writing in theBritish Journal of Psychiatry, Hannah Marcarian and Paul O. Wilkinson said this validation of different emotions helps people express themselves.[180]
Ruth Bettelheim ofUSA Today wrote human responses to physical and social environments evolved over millions of years and are not yet fully understood, as shown by the film's omission of Riley's bodily sensations and their possible effect on mental states. Primatologist Louise Barrett said the film shows disconnection between characters who are not relating to each other or to their own emotions but moments of personal harmony lead to positive interpersonal connections.[181] According toUSA Today's Jamie Altman,Inside Out shows major environmental changes can be "difficult, but not impossible, to overcome", recommending it to college students experiencing homesickness or sadness.[182]
Three lawsuits followedInside Out's release. Pediatrician Denise Daniels sued Disney and Pixar in 2017, claiming the film's personified emotions infringed on her pitch for a television series calledThe Moodsters.[183] Two similar suits followed in 2018; author Carla J. Masterson sued Disney for infringing her booksWhat's on the Other Side of the Rainbow? andThe Secret of the Golden Mirror,[184] and another was brought in theUnited States District Court for the Northern District of California by a Canadian student Damon Pourshian, who had made a film titledInside Out.[185][186] Pourshian's suit was approved by anOntario court in 2021.[187] The outcomes of these lawsuits are unknown[184][187] and Daniels' was rejected.[188]
According toFilm and Philosophy, a philosophical journal,Inside Out is one of the best animated films ever made.[189] Various publications, such asIndieWire andThe A.V. Club, have referred toInside Out as a standout entry in the 2010s.[j] A 2016BBC poll of 177 film critics listedInside Out as the 41st-best film of the 21st century,[198] andThe New York Times placed it seventh on its own list.[199]Empire andThe Independent respectively named it 18th- and 41st-best in 2020.[200][201] The film's screenplay was listed number twenty-nine on theWriters Guild of America's "101 Greatest Screenplays of the 21st Century (So Far)" in 2021.[202] In 2025, it was one of the films voted for the "Readers' Choice" edition ofThe New York Times' list of "The 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century," finishing at number 110.[203]
In 2015,Google started aMade with Code event forInside Out named "Inside HQ" to encourage children, especially girls, to study programming.[204] Worldwide, it was among the top entertainmentGoogle searches of 2015.[205][206] The film is referenced in the television seriesThe Simpsons.[207][208] During the COVID-19 pandemic,Inside Out was one of the 35 films recommended byThe Independent.[209]
Inside Out inspired severalInternet memes. A meme implying a similarity between Joy and Disgust and the Philippinesupercouple nicknamedAlDub was posted on social media in 2015.[210] Riley's mother and maternal characters from other Pixar films were shown in a buttocks-themed "Dump-Truck" meme.[211]
The concept of "core memories" became an expression used amongGen Z and later atrend on video-sharing serviceTikTok in mid-2022.[212][213]
Inside Out was followed by a short film titledRiley's First Date? (2015) that takes place briefly after the events of the film and was included on the film's Blu-ray release,[83] and later a feature-length sequel,Inside Out 2 (2024).[214] It featured Docter's "five to 27 emotions" idea,[12] incorporating Anxiety (Maya Hawke), Envy (Ayo Edebiri), Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser), Ennui (Adèle Exarchopoulos), and Nostalgia (June Squibb) into the sequel,[215] and outgrossed the original film at the box office.[216] A four-episode limited series titledDream Productions that takes place between the events ofInside Out andInside Out 2 was released onDisney+ on December 11, 2024.[217] Another sequel,Inside Out 3, is in development as of 2025.[218]
^Ehrlich, David; Kohn, Eric; Erbland, Kate;Thompson, Anne; Sharf, Zack; O'Falt, Chris; Dry, Jude; Obenson, Tambay; Blauvelt, Christian; Lu, Leah; Zilko, Christian (July 22, 2019)."The 100 Best Movies of the Decade".IndieWire.Archived from the original on July 27, 2019. RetrievedMay 15, 2021.
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