Disney and Pixar’s movie “Inside Out 2” will be released this Friday, June 14, 2024. The long-awaited sequel returns to the new mind of 13-year-old Riley, experiencing new adventures of teenage life. Back in headquarters, Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear and Disgust have been running a successful operation for the past 13 years, until they encountered new emotions – Anxiety (Maya Hawke), Ennui (Adele Exarchopoulos), Envy (Ayo Edebiri) and Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser),  that could change everything. 

Kelsey Mann, the director, filmed the movie to express how his teenage years changed him. He looked over old photos of himself growing up, which made him realize that he went through an “awkward faze” that showed how he was uncomfortable with attention. “In the early days of this movie, I did a lot of research that says this is exactly what happens to us in our brains when we’re 13. And we are hard-wired to do that. You start to look and compare yourself to others. And there’s a reason for it. That’s because we need to be able to survive out in society and be amongst other people and make sure that you’re safe and protected. It’s kind of this protection thing that kicks in at this age, but with it comes a whole other side of new emotions that can be really damaging if they take over and aren’t managed the right way, which is where the spirit of this movie came from,” says Mann. 

Out of the four new emotions, Mann and his team decided that Anxiety is the main character in the film as anxiety portrays in the lives of everyone and develops during the teenage years. During teenage years, society plays a huge role in influencing teen’s behavior, character, personality, and attitude. Mann’s creation of Anxiety was planned to show how the focus of a teenager’s thoughts have shifted. The director’s team thought that if Anxiety lives in Riley’s brain, it will send a message to the audience and show how Riley deals with it as she starts her journey to high school.