Maya Hawke

© 2024 Disney/Pixar. All Rights Reserved.

If Inside Out sent you on an emotional rollercoaster, then the sequel is guaranteed to throw you for a loop.

Leading up to the film’s summer release, we visited Pixar Animation Studios to discuss Inside Out 2 with director Kelsey Mann and producer Mark Nielsen, who also worked on Inside Out.

The day before, we were treated to an early sneak peek of the first thirty minutes of the sequel. As a longtime Pixar enthusiast, I was thrilled—though perhaps not as excited as Mann was to push the big red button.

Kelsey Mann, who saw Inside Out as an audience member in 2015 while working on Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur, described his reaction to the first film’s ending as he pointed to Mark Nielsen. “You guys set up [the puberty button] on the console and I’m like, ‘I want that thing to go off. If you don’t set off, I’m gonna be upset!”

He finally gets the chance to do just that as the director of Inside Out 2. He went on to explain that he also set out to cause more chaos than just a blaring puberty alarm.

“[The first movie] ends in a great way where she’s like, ‘we’ve got new friends, a great new house, after all, she’s 12, what could happen?’” he says, “She has such confidence in herself and I wanted to crush that.”

Mann also detailed how they explored challenging Joy’s traditional ideas of who Riley is in this new phase of her life. “That’s where the new emotions come in,” he said, “because they’re like, ‘we understand this teenage world and we know how to play this game better than you do. So you know what? We need you to step aside because we need to take over.”

Once again, filmgoers will see some push and pull at the controls in this new story—just in a different way. “Joy, in the beginning of [Inside Out] learned that lesson that all emotions are valuable, she learned to let Sadness go to the console.” Mark Nielsen says, “And now in this film, she’s like, ‘maybe not ALL of them.’”

© 2024 Disney/Pixar. All Rights Reserved.

The new movie features new additions to the cast, including Maya Hawke (Anxiety), Ayo Edebiri (Envy), Paul Walter Hauser (Embarrassment), and Adèle Exarchopoulos (Ennui). During a press conference session earlier that day, Mark Nielsen had nothing but praise for what they brought to the film. “They’re all very funny,” he said, “Some of them are actual straight-up comedians.”

“[Envy] wasn’t as developed as some of the other emotions,” Mann jumped in to say, “Ayo really helped flesh out who that character was in a positive way.”

Nielsen was also wowed by Maya Hawke’s performance as Anxiety, describing her as the “fastest talker I’ve ever met.”

“She brought an element of humanity to the character,” Mann added.

During those first thirty minutes of the film, we didn’t get the chance to become well-acquainted with Embarrassment, but Mark Nielsen gave us an idea of what to expect from the character.

“Paul Walter Hauser as Embarrassment was amazing—what a gem of a human being,” he said, “We met with him beforehand to talk about the role. On the script, it doesn’t look like much because he’s too scared to talk and barely has any lines, but he’s a really important character in the film. It’s actually a really big role, which is a beautiful relationship he ends up having with Sadness.”

You can check out our interview with Kelsey Mann and Mark Nielsen at Pixar Animation Studios in the video below. “Inside Out 2” will be hitting theaters on June 14th, 2024!