Inside Out 2’s Amy Poehler & Maya Hawke Talk Joy, Anxiety & Spinoff Potential (2024)

Nine years after the release of the Pixar hit, Inside Out 2 is set to bring audiences back into the mind of Riley. The sequel sees the emotions of the first movie challenged by a growing roster of personalities as Riley hits her teenage years, with powerful new emotions coming into play. Inside Out 2 was directed by Kelsey Mann, a longtime Pixar storyteller but first-time feature director, and written by Meg LeFauve and Dave Holstein.

Where the first movie revolved around a road trip of sorts between Joy and Sadness, Inside Out 2's story pits Joy and her friends against new emotions led by Anxiety. Amy Poehler returns as Joy in the sequel, while Anxiety is voiced by Stranger Things and Asteroid City star Maya Hawke. Poehler brings new depth to Joy as the emotion faces different challenges, and Hawke’s experience in a vocal booth is evident in her portrayal of Anxiety despite Inside Out 2 being the actor’s first major animated feature.

Alongside Poehler and Hawke, the ensemble Inside Out 2 cast sees the returns of Phyllis Smith as Sadness, Lewis Black as Anger, Diane Lane as Riley's mom, and Kyle MacLachlan as her father. They're all joined by franchise newcomers Tony Hale, Liza Lapira, Ayo Edebiri, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Paul Walter Hauser, June Squibb and Kensington Tallman. Hale, Lapira and Tallman all find themselves taking over the roles of Fear, Disgust and Riley from the first movie.

In anticipation of its release, Screen Rant interviewed Amy Poehler and Maya Hawke about their work on the long-awaited Inside Out 2. The actors discussed finding compassion for their characters and revealed where they’d like to catch up with Riley next time.

Joy Will Be "A Little Lost" Heading Into Inside Out 2

Screen Rant: Amy, the first movie felt to me like a buddy road trip comedy between Joy and Sadness, and this one seems to get more into Joy's inner struggle. Did you relate to the character differently this time around?

Amy Poehler: Yeah, I did. I felt like we've all experienced a complicated 10 years, and I loved that Joy felt a little lost. Also, she's such a parental figure in this, and the film is really about that tender and difficult moment when you have to kind of separate from your parents as a young person, your friends become important, and you start building your own self. I really related to that on both sides. I remember doing it, and I'm a parent wanting the best for my kids. So, those two things were really, really deep and lovely to play.

Anxiety Is Far More Than A "One-Dimensional Villain"

Maya, I was in the second I found out Anxiety was in this movie. It was instantly relatable, and then I was blown away by how compassionately that emotion was written. How was it for you to play that in a way that wasn't just as a straightforward villain?

Maya Hawke: From the very first conversations in my first audition, it was made very clear to me that that was not what was being looked for. What was being looked for was somebody who had a lot of empathy for Anxiety, and I really did. It was really important to me that she wasn't this one-dimensional villain — partially because I hope that she's in the next film, so she has to have a redemption arc. If you want to make it to the sequel, you need a redemption arc.

But also, [it was] because I think anytime we demonize an emotion, we bottle it up, and then it comes back 10 times stronger and more powerful. When you bottle up an emotion, it expands in the bottle until it breaks the glass. I am a metaphor-aholic, but that's why I like Pixar so much.

I think learning how to have a healthy relationship with anxiety is something we're all working on, especially as levels of anxiety are, at least reportedly, higher than ever before. And it makes sense, because [we have] a deluge of things to worry about. We have access to it in ways we've never had before, where you can be worried about things that are happening a bajillion miles away in a way that human beings — I don't know if we were supposed to, but we're figuring out how to handle it.

And so [it’s about] being in conversation with anxiety. The Dalai Lama has this thing about how enlightenment is not the absence of suffering — it's knowing how much suffering is happening and being able to experience joy anyway. It's not just existing and suffering, it's being able to experience joy with the suffering. I think that only in the conversation between anxiety and joy is that enlightenment vibe possible.

Hawke Wants To See An "Only-For-Disney-Adults" Disney+ Spinoff

To jump off what you said at the start, if we are lucky enough to get Inside Out 3, is there an age or a life event both of you would like to guide Riley through?

Amy Poehler: There are so many things. They could just move a little forward and have her graduate from high school, they could flash forward to a feeling of romantic love, [or] they could flash forward to the birth of her first child. I think Pixar wants to stay kind of young in some ways, and [with] that feeling, but what they do so well is, they grow with their audiences too.

I think that’s what's special about the second one: that the people who saw it when they were five or 10 are now young adults in the world and feeling seen. And the young kids that watch this for the first time think it's a funny, silly movie with these goofy people, and they like how everybody's yelling and running around, [and] it's going to grow with [them]. I think there are a million ways to go with it, and I really hope they keep making more.

Maya Hawke: I would also accept an only-for-Disney-adults Inside Out television spinoff, where [in] each episode, you're dealing with a different adult issue. It's not really for kids, but it's like, “Here guys, we'll give it to you.” Each time you're in a different character's head, seeing them going through something different. I feel like seeing them work through childhood is so beneficial, but we're all working through so many feelings all the time and every person is so different.

And Riley's so almost perfect. As much as she's going through all these struggles, God, if I could have a kid like Riley someday, I'd be so happy. Or if I could have been a kid like Riley — and I really wasn't. I would also love to see — which is not really exactly the right Disney spirit — the mind of a different kind of kid.

Amy Poehler: Or we go backward and everyone’s babies. We’re just little baby beans.

About Inside Out 2

Disney and Pixar’s Inside Out 2 invites moviegoers inside the mind of newly minted teenager Riley just as Headquarters undergoes a sudden demolition to make room for something entirely unexpected: new Emotions.

Stay tuned for our other Inside Out 2 interviews with:

• Tony Hale & Liza Lapira
• Lewis Black & Paul Walter Hauser
• Kelsey Mann & Mark Nielsen

Inside Out 2

Adventure

Comedy

Animation

Inside Out 2 is the sequel to the 2015 original film, which starred a young girl named Riley with a head full of emotions. - literally. With Amy Pohler as Joy, Bill Hader as fear, Mindy Kaling as Disgust, Phyllis Smith as Sadness, and Lewis Black as Anger, the all-star cast brought to life the emotions that adolescents face as they grow, change, and adapt to new situations. This sequel, currently in development, will bring Amy Pohler back as Joy, with Riley, now a teenager.

Director

Kelsey Mann

Release Date

June 14, 2024

Studio(s)

Disney

Distributor(s)

Disney

Writers

Meg LeFauve

Cast

Amy Poehler , Tony Hale , Maya Hawke , Liza Lapira , Lewis Black , Phyllis Smith , Diane Lane

Franchise(s)

Disney

prequel(s)

Inside Out