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15 Inside Out Facts That Will Give You All the Feels

We've put together 15 facts all about Pixar's beautiful film, Inside Out! How many of these behind-the-scene trivia tidbits did you already know?

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Beano Facts Team
Last Updated:  January 23rd 2024

Inside Out tells the story of Riley and her emotions -Joy, Fear, Sadness, Anger and Disgust. As Riley goes through lots of changes, her emotions must learn how to cope with the world. If you're a big fan of this beautiful film, you're going to love the fun facts we've put together for it! These 15 facts all about Inside Out will fascinate you - find out who Riley is based on, how many hidden Easter eggs are in the film, and what's going to happen in the sequel! And if you enjoyed this, check out more Disney facts here! How about these magical Encanto facts? Or maybe you want to find out more about Beauty and the Beast with these enchanted facts? You might even like these Winnie the Pooh facts!

1. There Were Going To Be Way More Emotions


Inside Out | Walt Disney Pictures | Pixar Animation Studios | Jonas Rivera | Pete Docter

There are only 5 emotions (or 'core emotions') in the film; Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear and Disgust. But originally, the writer had planned many, many more - 27, in fact! This was because in real life, humans feel lots and lots of emotions. However, in the end they landed on 5, which best represent all kinds of emotions.

2. Riley is Based on the Director's Daughter


Inside Out | Walt Disney Pictures | Pixar Animation Studios | Jonas Rivera | Pete Docter

Some of the inspiration for Riley's character came from Pete Docter's own daughter, Elie. These included a shared birthday, and being fans of the band One Direction. Docter wanted to explore how she turned from an outgoing child into a shy tween through the film, and also included some of his own childhood memories.

3. It's Pixar's 15th Film

Inside Out marks Pixar's 15th feature length film. The director, Pete Docter, also director Monsters, Inc, and Up. The short film attached to it is called Lava, and features a love story between two volcanoes!

4. Each Emotion Has a Different Shape


Inside Out | Walt Disney Pictures | Pixar Animation Studios | Jonas Rivera | Pete Docter

If you look closely you can see that each of the emotions vaguely resembles a shape related to them. Joy is a star, Sadness is a tear drop, Anger is a fire brick, Disgust is broccoli and fear is a nerve in the body!

5. There is No Villain

This is one of Pixar's first films not to include any sort of villain. Instead, the peril comes from following Joy and Riley's journey and seeing how they deal with difficult emotions and feelings. But it WAS supposed to have a villain- Gloom! The emotion Gloom was supposed to be more of an antagonist, but in the end he was cut from the film.

6. Some Parts of The Film Change Depending on Where You See It


Inside Out | Walt Disney Pictures | Pixar Animation Studios | Jonas Rivera | Pete Docter

Depending on where you see the movie, there are a few small changes that you may notice. For example, in Japan, kids actually really LIKE broccoli, so it was changed to green peppers for the audiences there. Similarly, depending on where you are, Riley's dad will either fantasise about hockey or football. It just depends on what that country prefers!

7. The Film Has Lots of Easter Eggs

Like any good Pixar film, there are lots of surprises hidden throughout it for Disney fans to enjoy, including the famous pizza truck, references to Ratatouille, Up and Finding Nemo, and a couple of 'hidden Mickeys'! Have you been able to spot them all?

8. Bing Bong is Meant to Represent All of the Emotions


Inside Out | Walt Disney Pictures | Pixar Animation Studios | Jonas Rivera | Pete Docter

You might noticed that Bing Bong wears a multi-coloured flower. Well, its actually supposed to represent all the different emotions Riley has. Bing Bong has embraced all of these emotions, which Riley is nervous to do throughout the film, but which is the key to real happiness.

9. The Writers Consulted Doctors and Scientists

The writers of Inside Out wanted to make sure they were getting the emotions and science behind them right, so they interviewed lots of psychologists about emotion to help them prepare for the film. The depictions of emotion, memory and perception are all meant to represent the real way in which we process these things. For example, in the film you see short term memories become long term memories during sleep - which is also what happens in real life!

10. It Won Lots of Awards

Inside Out was a huge success, and was even tipped at one point to get a Best Picture nomination. That didn't happen, but it was nominated for two Oscars - Best Animated Feature and Best Screenplay, and it won the first one! It also collected lots of other prizes.

11. The Emotions Were Going to Have Names


Inside Out | Walt Disney Pictures | Pixar Animation Studios | Jonas Rivera | Pete Docter

In an earlier version of the script, the emotions would also have their own names. So Joy was 'Optimism' and Sadness was 'Ira', Sadness was 'Misty' and Disgust was 'Nadia'. We think we prefer it this way!

12. The Director Loves Broccoli

Broccoli might be the closest thing to a villain this film has, but in actual fact the director, Peter Docter doesn't have a problem with it! He just chose it as a popular hated vegetable!

13. Long Term Memory is the Size of a Country

Because humans have an incredibly amount of space and capacity for long term memory, the Long Term Memory part of the film is actually supposed to be really, really big - about the size of the island of Taiwan, actually. That's about 14,000 square miles, if you didn't know -a lot of memories!

14. Lewis Black Was the Only Choice For Anger

Lewis Black is so great as Anger that its a surprise than anyone else was even considered. That's because they weren't! Right from the start, the film makers wanted Lewis Black for the role, and even sent him a collection of Pixar films (although of course, he'd already seen them)

15. There's A Sequel Coming


Inside Out 2 | Walt Disney Pictures | Pixar Animation Studios | Mark Nielsen | Kelsey Mann

In 2024 we'll see the release of Inside Out 2. The film will continue to follow Riley on her journey through life, this time as she becomes a teenager and struggles with new emotions, such as the orange Anxiety. We can't wait!