20 facts you might not know about 'Inside Out'

It’s not unusual for animated films to take a bit, but “Inside Out” was born several years before it hit theaters in 2015. Pete Docter, Pixar staple, noticed changes in his daughter’s personality, and began wondering what was happening in her mind. This led to Docter pitching the idea for “Inside Out,” which was green-lit by Pixar and Disney in 2009.

Soon after the movie was green-lit, Docter turned to fleshing out his idea. Ronnie del Carmen had worked as a story supervisor on “Finding Nemo” and “Up,” and Docter gave del Carmen a larger role in the process. He served as co-director, though ultimately, the only billed director would be Docter. However, del Carmen did get co-credit for the story of the screenplay.

Docter and del Carmen knew animation, but they needed a little help with the human brain. Multiple psychologists were turned to for insight into the screenplay. Not only that, but the directors turned to neuroscientists to try and picture how to design the internal workings of Riley’s brain.

In the early stages of the process for “Inside Out,” upwards of 27 emotions were considered for characters. Then, with the help of a psychologist, that number was pared down to seven. At this point, Docter cut two more: contempt and surprise, the latter for being too similar to fear, which made the final project. Additionally, happiness became optimism and then became joy, with Joy in turn, becoming the main character in “Inside Out.”

Docter and company worked over the plotline and characters for a year after “Inside Out” got the green light. Several writers came and went. Michael Arndt, a staple screenwriter in the Disney family, worked on the project for a year, and he didn’t even get credit for the final script. Docter, Josh Cooley, and Meg LaFauve all shared screenplay credit, with Docter and del Carmen getting story by credit.

For the emotions, the production wanted actors with pre-established personas in line with the emotional characters they would be voicing. Lewis Black as Anger, for example. However, the production also mined “Saturday Night Live” quite a bit for the movie. That includes Amy Poehler and Bill Hader, but Bobby Moynihan and Paula Pell are also in the cast.

Sadness was cast first. Phyllis Smith, who was famously a casting associate, not a professional actor, when she was cast as Phyllis on “The Office,” was selected based on one of the producers seeing her in “Bad Teacher.” Perhaps because Joy was the lead character, she was cast last. Ultimately, they landed on Poehler, who helped shape the character based on her own experiences.

There are some interesting voiceover actors in “Inside Out,” such as Rashida Jones and Flea. However, the guards of the subconscious, Frank and Dave, are voiced by Dave Goelz and Frank Oz respectively. No, we didn’t get that backward. Dave voices Frank and Frank voices Dave. Oz, in addition to being an acclaimed director, is a puppeteering legend and the original puppet behind Fozzie and Miss Piggy, among others. Meanwhile, Goelz has been the puppeteer and voice for Gonzo since the beginning as well.

Docter thought Richard Kind was the ideal choice for Bing Bong, Riley’s childhood imaginary friend, and he got his man. To be fair, it’s not exactly difficult to get Kind. He’s a working character actor, but “working” is the operative word. Dude likes to stay busy. Plus, Kind had lent his voice to previous Pixar films as well. Kind’s performance, and the look of Bing Bong, were inspired by a few characters, but most notably John Candy’s character in “Planes, Trains and Automobiles.”

At first, the emotions were going to be less human in their look. Anger was a brick, for example, and Joy was a star. That was nixed ultimately. Some influences for character design include Debbie Downer for Sadness and April from “Parks and Recreation” for Disgust. Meanwhile, the look of Joy was also tweaked when it was decided she looked a bit too much like Tinker Bell.

Since the emotion characters were manifestations of emotions in the human mind, Docter was not worried about verisimilitude. He felt they could “push the level of caricature” in terms of the movements and expressions. Thus, the animators were inspired by old school “Looney Tunes” and Tex Avery cartoons. Not that this made the process breezy. A whopping 48 animators worked on “Inside Out,” and the animation took a year and a half to complete.

How should the world of the mind be depicted? Obviously, this was a complete fabrication. Perhaps the idea of the life of the mind had the crew thinking about “Barton Fink.” By that we mean they were inspired by the set design of the films of the Golden Age of Hollywood. Ultimately, and specifically, “Casablanca” ended up influencing the look of the world of the mind.

Marketing for “Inside Out” focused heavily on the emotions, with each of those characters getting their own character posters. However, you didn’t see a whiff of Bing Bong. Or Richard Kind, for that matter. It was decided that Bing Bong should be kept a secret, and so he was not included in the marketing, and Kind was not part of the promotional touring.

Cannes is the most-prestigious film festival in the world, but the French cinematic event is usually associated with Oscar bait and artsy directors. Not so much animated movies from Pixar. However, “Inside Out” had its debut not only at Cannes, but in competition. The film received an eight-minute standing ovation, but if you know anything about Cannes, you know anything under five minutes is a sign people hated your movie.

“Inside Out” debuted June 19, 2015. Domestically, it finished second in the box office behind “Jurassic World.” Because of this, it became the first Pixar movie not to debut number-one in the box office. Don’t fret. “Inside Out” made $90.4 million domestically. That made it the highest-grossing film to debut at number two and the highest-grossing original movie. Also, it was the second-highest debut weekend for a Pixar film behind “Toy Story 3.” Yeah, it turned out fine.

When all was said and done, “Inside Out” made $356.9 million domestically. That made it the fourth-highest-grossing film of 2015, behind “Jurassic World,” an “Avengers,” and the first new “Star Wars” movie in over a decade. It did a smidge less well internationally, so it finished seventh in the worldwide box office. Still, not too shabby.

Unsurprisingly, “Inside Out” was nominated for Best Animated Feature. It also won, though it was a down year. Sorry, “Shaun the Sheep Movie.” Beyond that lock-of-all-locks win, “Inside Out” earned another nomination. The movie was nominated for Best Original Screenplay, but lost to “Spotlight.”

Successful Disney movies are a magnet for lawsuits. “Inside Out” drew three that claimed infringement. Denise Daniels’ suit that Disney and Pixar stole ideas from a TV series she pitched called “The Moodsters” was rejected, but two other lawsuits have unknown results at this time. One, from a Canadian animator who made a movie called “Inside Out” as a student, was allowed to proceed in a Canadian court in 2021.

Pixar used to be sequel adverse. Now? Not so much. “Inside Out 2” hit theaters in the summer of 2024. Apparently affinity for Joy, Riley, and company remained steadfast, as “Inside Out 2” proved to be the summer blockbuster of the year.

Before “Inside Out 2” even became a huge hit, Disney was primed to go all-in on the world of the movie. It was announced prior to the sequel hitting theaters that a TV show based on “Inside Out” called “Dream Productions” is in the works. The show, which is being developed by “Soul” and “Luca” co-writer Mike Jones, is scheduled to debut on Disney+ in 2025.