EMERYVILLE, Calif. — Back in 2015, the film “Inside Out” journeyed beyond the surface to uncover the complex emotions of 11-year-old protagonist, Riley.
Fast forward to the 2024 sequel, “Inside Out 2.” We pick up as Riley turns 13 years old to explore what goes on in the teenage brain.
“New emotions are arriving on the scene. Her worlds about to get expanded, a construction crew has come in to expand headquarters,” shared Mark Nielsen, the “Inside Out 2” producer. “It’s time for her to kind of experience more of what teenagers are going to be going through and to be ready for it.”
ABC7’s Reggie Aqui ventured to the Pixar campus to get the inside scoop on the four-year process behind making the film.
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“Anxiety…it all kind of started with her,” said Kelsey Mann, the film’s director. “It’s definitely something that I dealt with and deal with even now. I started in January of 2020, and even then, it was starting to be an issue in teenagers, especially, especially teenage girls, and then the pandemic hit.”
Mann added, “We had already kind of landed on anxiety being kind of the main new emotion, even before the pandemic, but even after we went through it, we just knew as an important story to tell.”
To ensure authenticity in the storytelling, the production team enlisted the help of nine teenagers.
“You may notice that none of us were ever 13 year old girls,” expressed Nielsen. “We thought this would be really helpful to see what teens right now think about the story we’re telling and get their reaction to it, so that we can make it as believable as possible.”
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He added, “We picked nine girls from around the country that we met with for a period of three years, and showed them the movie every four months, and got there her notes and their feedback”
Based on the information gathered, new emotions were developed to encompass real life feelings and experiences felt by teens.
“It’s got heart. It’s got humor, but it’s got a real emotional depth that we’re proud of,” described Nielsen. “We want this to be meaningful to people and not just fun and entertaining. But it is fun and entertaining.”
Watch the video above for more information, and catch Disney and Pixar’s “Inside Out 2” in theaters June 14, 2024.
