Disney previews the first 35 emotional minutes of Pixar’s anticipated sequel Inside Out 2 at CinemaCon

Disney is closing out CinemaCon 2024 with extended looks at upcoming films, including Pixar’s highly anticipated sequel, Inside Out 2. Coincidentally, I visited Pixar Studios at the end of March for an in-depth look at the emotionally driven sequel, which finds audiences getting reacquainted with Riley, the same young woman who let us walk around inside her head in the Pete Docter and Ronnie Del Carmen original in 2015.

THIS PORTION OF THE ARTICLE CONTAINS MAJOR PLOT SPOILERS FOR PIXAR’S INSIDE OUT 2:

Riley (Kensington Tallman), the central character of 2015’s Inside Out, returns for the sequel. She’s entering her “terrible teens,” and the emotions inside her head -Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Anger (Lewis Black), Fear (Tony Hale), Disgust (Liza Lapira) – are frantically trying to course-correct as new emotions – Anxiety (Maya Hawke), Ennui (Adèle Exarchopoulos), Envy (Ayo Edebiri), and Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser) – arrive in Riley’s Mind Space.

The story finds Riley attending a Hockey camp after an influential coach notices her skills on the ice. As she and her friends explore new surroundings, Riley begins to experience the onset of bodily maturity and mood swings. New emotions take control of her every move, compelling her to make questionable choices and cloud her judgment. While the emotions should work together, it’s not long before Joy and her friends are bottled up and cast into the far corner of Riley’s mind, forgotten and unable to influence the young woman’s actions.

I found the preview positively hilarious as Riley displays some BIG feelings during the onset of her teen years. Like Pete Docter, Inside Out 2 director Kelsey Mann goes to great lengths to understand and represent what it’s like to be a young girl on the verge of womanhood. Easily overwhelmed by the tornado of change around her, Riley begins making poor life choices when Anxiety (Maya Hawke) seizes control from Joy, who considers herself the boss of Riley’s Mind Space.

While Sadness proved to be a necessary element of Riley’s growing pains, Anxiety gives villain vibes as she allows a mixture of fear and apprehension to dominate Riley’s decision-making. Toward the end of the preview, Anxiety and the other new emotions bottle Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust in a bottle and cast them into the recesses of Riley’s mind. While in their new prison, they meet a cadre of new characters who vow to help them escape incarceration. I refuse to spoil who we meet at this point in the film; suffice it to say it turns the plot (and animation style) on its head, introducing new wrinkles and laughs to the mix.

The CinemaCon preview for Inside Out 2 has the film looking positively brilliant and is a must-see in theaters this summer. We’ll have much more to share soon when the first part of our Inside Out 2 Press Day coverage goes live here.

Inside Out 2 arrives in theaters on June 14, 2024.

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