Inside Out 2 – Fun to watch and helpful teaching tool

Released in 2024, Inside Out 2, is a coming-of-age sequel to its original 2015 hit Inside Out. The Pixar film, directed by Kelsey Mann, focuses on Riley Andersen and her emotions (who were also main characters in the first movie), as she enters adolescence. In the Inside Out universe, the emotions are their own characters who live at Headquarters, the mind’s control centre.  

In the first movie, viewers were introduced to five core emotions in Riley’s life: Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear and Disgust. In this current movie, Riley is newly 13 and experiencing a lot of new developments in her life: she is going through puberty, navigating changing relationships, facing the pressure of trying out for the Firehawks hockey team, making sense of new social dynamics and trying to make new friends. In the beginning of the movie, a demolition occurs at Headquarters to make room for new emotions. Much to the dismay of Riley’s five core emotions from childhood, four new ones arrive! Anxiety, Envy, Embarrassment and Ennui are introduced as important new permanent residents in Riley’s mind to help the newly minted teenager. Anxiety (voiced by Maya Hawke) quickly proves to be a dominant emotion, taking over Riley’s decision-making and taking up more place than the others.  

Inside Out 2 does a stellar job at depicting the more complex emotions teenagers experience during this life stage. It explores themes of self-worth and identity through personified emotions, which can help both adults and children alike understand that all emotions are valid and necessary for growth, and that none need to be labelled as good or bad.  

For children on the autism spectrum, the movie can be a particularly helpful tool for teaching the complexities of emotions. In a 2024 Psychology Today article, Dr. Patricia Wright, who is a practitioner and researcher interested in well-being and autism, writes about how the movie garnered attention in autism communities on social media. She also praised the film for presenting an opportunity to provide instruction for developing well-being skills. Parents who watch Inside Out 2 with their children can therefore expect both an entertaining and educational experience for the entire family.