From Envy to Anxiety to Nostalgia, Inside Out 2 introduced a bunch of new emotions to Riley’s adolescent mind — and they each had their share of memorable moments in the hit Pixar sequel. The first Inside Out movie followed an 11-year-old Riley contending with five basic emotions, and the second saw a 13-year-old Riley reaching puberty, bringing an influx of new emotions with it. In Anxiety’s own words, as Riley is growing up, she requires more complex emotions. But those complex new emotions block out the old ones and take on a lot more than they can handle.
The original five emotions have a ton of great moments in Inside Out 2. Joy’s rant at the others when she finally reaches her breaking point offers a fascinating insight into the usually upbeat character. Anger raiding Pouchy’s mouth for a stick of dynamite is as hilarious as it is horrifying, and Joy left audiences crying their eyes out when she wondered, “Maybe this is what happens when you grow up… you feel less joy.” But while the old emotions were as compelling as ever, the new ones also left their mark with their own unforgettable moments.
10 Anxiety Introduces The New Emotions
Their Abrupt Arrival Perfectly Captures The Experience Of Puberty
The inciting incident that kicks off the plot of Inside Out 2 is when the emotions’ peaceful slumber is interrupted by the “Puberty Alarm” going off the night before Riley goes to hockey camp. A construction crew comes crashing into Headquarters to upgrade the console, and all the new emotions come flooding into the room. After introducing herself, Anxiety introduces the other three new emotions: Envy, Embarrassment, and Ennui.
The other emotions’ horror perfectly illustrates what a sudden disruption their arrival is, setting up the main conflict for the movie: the clashes between Riley’s core emotions and her new, more complex ones. Anxiety is introduced with a hilarious visual gag. She asks, “Where can I put my stuff?” and holds up two armfuls of suitcases. This is a brilliant way to symbolize all the pesky baggage that comes along with anxiety.
9 Envy Reaches For Val’s Hair
This Scene Shows How Destructive Envy Can Be
When Riley gets to hockey camp, she meets Val Ortiz, a popular player who she idolizes. Inside Out 2’s caricature of Envy is characterized as a naive, curious toddler who just wants to touch everything in sight without a second thought, forcing the other emotions to step in and pull her back. Envy’s character-defining moment is when she crawls onto the console, gazing in awe at the red streak in Val’s hair.
Envy uses the console to make Riley reach out and touch Val’s hair, making Val uncomfortable. Disgust’s reaction to this faux pas sums up just how bad it is: “What are you doing!?” Each of the new emotions has a moment that shows how destructive they can be — and how much grief they’ll cause for the original emotions — and this is Envy’s moment.
8 Ennui Loses Her Phone
It’s A Comedic Contrast To The Rest Of Her Scenes
Ennui is characterized as being so lazy that she won’t even stand up and go over to the console to control Riley’s emotions; she does it through a console app on her phone while lounging on the couch. After Joy sends Sadness back to Headquarters to try to mitigate the destruction being caused by the new emotions, Sadness manages to take Ennui’s phone away while she’s sleeping. When Ennui wakes up, she’s horrified to find that her phone is missing.
Throughout the entire movie, Ennui had been very stoic and inexpressive, barely lifting a finger. So, it created a hilarious juxtaposition when she realized she’d lost her phone and completely flipped out trying to find it. Ennui got less riled up when Riley had a panic attack than when she realized she’d misplaced her precious phone.
7 Anxiety Uses Riley’s Imagination Against Her
This Scene Perfectly Exemplifies The Chaos Of This Emotion
Inside Out 2 captures how anxiety works better than almost any other movie on the subject. Anxiety uses ominous what-if scenarios to get people scared about things that aren’t happening — and probably never will. Therefore, people with an overactive imagination are more likely to suffer from it. In the first Inside Out movie, Riley was shown to have a vivid imagination; she even had an imaginary friend. In Inside Out 2, Anxiety uses that imagination against her.
Anxiety gets the room full of animators who come up with Riley’s dreams and ambitions to spend all their energy creating scary what-if scenarios to keep Riley up at night. To combat these negative thoughts, Joy starts creating more optimistic what-if scenarios, imagining more positive outcomes. This scene perfectly exemplifies the chaos of an anxiety-riddled mind. Watching Anxiety’s scenes is enough to put viewers on edge alongside Riley.
6 The New Emotions Give Riley An Anxious Sense Of Self
This Heartbreaking Moment Sets Up Inside Out 2’s Cathartic Final Act
Every movie needs an all-is-lost moment, when the villain seems to have won and the heroes seem to have lost all hope. Pixar has always been great at delivering a devastating all-is-lost moment. In Toy Story 3, it’s when the toys are about to be incinerated. In Monsters, Inc., it’s when Mr. Waternoose captures Boo and banishes Mike and Sulley to the Himalayas. And in Inside Out 2, it’s when Anxiety and the new emotions replace Riley’s Sense of Self.
Anxiety pushes the more positive Sense of Self that Joy created to the back of Riley’s mind and replaces it with a much more toxic, unstable, and anxious Sense of Self. This is a really heartbreaking moment, but that’s what makes Inside Out 2 such a great story. It sets up the film’s deeply cathartic final act, and it highlights just how much puberty can change a person’s perception of themselves.
5 Anxiety Freezes During Riley’s Panic Attack
This Moment Makes Anxiety A Sympathetic Antagonist
The climactic sequence of Inside Out 2 sees Riley’s anxiety getting the better of her and giving her a panic attack. In the midst of an important hockey game, after her drive to win made her hurt one of her best friends, Riley is sent to the penalty box. She starts hyperventilating and experiencing chest pains. In her mind, this panic attack manifests itself as an uncontrollable whirlwind at the console.
As Anxiety finds herself in over her head, still in control but unsure what to do, she freezes. Along with The Incredibles’ Syndrome and Toy Story 4’s Gabby Gabby, Anxiety is one of Pixar’s most sympathetic villains. The movie does a great job of showing that, much like real anxiety, Anxiety isn’t a destructive monster on purpose. She thinks she’s being helpful by warning Riley of potential danger. Anxiety is the film’s antagonist, but she’s not bad; she’s just woefully misguided.
4 Nostalgia Comes Out Too Early
This Emotion Makes A Hilarious Addition To Inside Out 2
One of the funniest emotions in Inside Out 2 is Nostalgia, characterized hilariously as a kind, affable grandmother constantly looking back on her favorite memories of the past. Nostalgia reminisces fondly about anything and everything, including things that just happened. When she gladly remembers the time all the new emotions finally came up to Headquarters, Ennui reminds her, “That was like 30 seconds ago.”
Nostalgia is one of the best new characters in Inside Out 2, and she isn’t featured nearly enough, as it’s not time for Riley to feel nostalgic yet. When Nostalgia comes out into Headquarters, Anxiety tells her it’s not her time yet. She won’t be scheduled to make an appearance until Riley has been through two graduations and a best friend’s wedding. Hopefully, Nostalgia is being set up for a bigger role in Inside Out 3.
3 Joy Realizes She’s Just As Controlling As Anxiety
It’s Another Touching Development For Joy
Both Inside Out movies reach their cathartic emotional climax when Joy realizes the error of her ways. All throughout the first film, she tries to suppress Sadness because she thinks that Sadness is having a negative impact on Riley. But during the movie’s climax, she realizes the positive role that Sadness can play in Riley’s emotional state. All throughout the second film, Joy wants to regain control of Riley’s emotions from Anxiety.
But when Anxiety confesses that she doesn’t know what’s best for Riley and shouldn’t try to control her, Joy realizes she’s just as controlling and she, too, needs to let go. Joy pushes all of Riley’s complicated thoughts and memories to the back of her mind, but Riley needs these to become a more well-rounded person. It’s another touching development for Joy.
2 Embarrassment Secretly Helps Sadness
It’s A Great Moment For A Minor Character
Embarrassment is the star of one of Inside Out 2’s best running gags. Every time he starts to feel embarrassed, like when he’s not sure how to greet Joy, he blushes, yanks the pull-strings on his hoodie to hide his face, and turns and bends over, unwittingly dropping his pants. Inside Out 2 uses this visual gag a couple of times, and it never fails to elicit a laugh.
But Embarrassment’s greatest moment is when he notices that Sadness has snuck into Headquarters. Rather than telling Anxiety about it and foiling her plan, Embarrassment decides to secretly help her. He can’t speak up for himself, because he’s too embarrassed (naturally), but he can see the negative impact that Anxiety is having and switch sides. This gives a minor supporting character a great dramatic arc, making him more than comic relief in Inside Out 2.
1 Joy Calms Down Anxiety
At the end of Inside Out 2, Anxiety finally realizes she’s having a negative impact on Riley and relinquishes power over Headquarters back to Joy. As Riley awaits the news of whether she’s made it onto the hockey team, Anxiety starts to get worked up with nightmarish worst-case scenarios. But before Anxiety’s panic can get out of hand, Joy calms her down by taking her over to a vibrating massage chair.
While it’s unrealistic that a 13-year-old kid would be able to conquer anxiety in a single weekend, this scene brings closure to Anxiety’s redemption arc. This is a great gag because it’s relatable. Everything Joy uses to calm down Anxiety in the final scene of Inside Out 2 works to ease real-life anxiety: rest, relaxation, a scented candle, and a cup of tea (dubbed “anxie-tea” in a delicious pun worthy of Ted Lasso).
