'Inside Out 2' Ending Explained: Does Anxiety Get the Best of Riley? (2024)

Editor's Note: The following contains spoilers for 'Inside Out 2'

Pixar's long-awaited sequel, Inside Out 2, is finally here, and as many may have expected, the film's grand finale is an emotional one. Riley Andersen (Kensington Tallman) is now a thirteen-year-old girl and is being more-or-less well-managed by her crew of emotions - Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Anger (Lewis Black), Fear (Tony Hale), and Disgust (Liza Lapira). However, that will change when Riley's puberty alarm begins ringing.

Suddenly, four new complex emotions are introduced to Riley's psyche, including Anxiety (Maya Hawke), Envy (Ayo Edebiri), Ennui (Adèle Exarchopoulos), and Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser). Unfortunately, Anxiety in particular thinks she can do a much better job creating a new path for Riley than the original crew of emotions ever could, so she banishes them from the control center. Joy and her friends' quest to help Riley get back on the right path takes place throughout the course of the film. The dramatic ending almost sees Riley succumb to anxiety, but is she able to forge a path forward?

Inside Out 2

Adventure

Comedy

Drama

Fantasy

Family

See Also

Inside Out 2 Cast And Character Guide‘Inside Out 2’ Review: New Feelings Propel a Pixar Sequel Enchanting Enough to Second That Emotion‘Inside Out 2’ Craftspeople On Reworking Riley’s World For A Sequel & Bringing In New Emotions While Staying “True And Faithful To The Original Voice”'Inside Out 2' spoilers! How the movie ending will tug on your heartstrings

Follow Riley, in her teenage years, encountering new emotions.

Release Date

June 14, 2024

Director

Kelsey Mann

Cast

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

Riley Has an Anxiety Attack in the Climax of 'Inside Out 2'

Throughout the runtime of Inside Out 2, Anxiety has been building a new belief system for Riley by replacing the good-hearted one that Joy and her friends have spent years creating. Anxiety's core memories end up creating a new identity for Riley, but instead of the young teen thinking she's a good person, she now thinks she isn't good enough. This all occurs right before the extremely important hockey scrimmage is about to take place, and it's bound to have an effect on Riley.

Sadness may already be in the control center, but the other emotions are running out of time. With the help of a 2D-animated fanny pack, they're able to follow an avalanche of thrown-out memories back to the base. The only downside is the memories that Joy and her friends are riding to get back to the base will dilute the belief system pool, the results of which could create a chaotic and uncertain future for Riley.

By the time Joy gets back up to the control room, Anxiety is in full-blown panic mode. Riley's anxious attitude is causing her to be overly aggressive in her hockey game. Not only does she steal the puck from one of her teammates, but she also ends up injuring her best friend Grace (Grace Lu) in the process. After being sent to the penalty box by her coach (Yvette Nicole Brown), Riley begins having a heart-pounding panic attack and Anxiety is helpless to stop it.

Anxiety Finally Lets Joy and Riley Take Control

Despite all her careful planning, Anxiety rapidly tries to keep Riley stable during her panic attack. Anxiety is moving so fast that she's created a sort of anxiety tornado around the control panel. Joy manages to break through the storm to try and pull her off the panel, but the speed at which she's trying to control everything makes that impossible. In a final effort, Joy appeals to Anxiety's better nature to simply let go of the panel and let Riley reform her belief system. With an ashamed tear, Anxiety finally lets go of the panel, but the tornado she created and Riley's panic attack is still going.

Just when it seems Riley's anxiety is peaking, something unexpected happens. Riley's belief system starts to change shape and color, revealing multiple nuanced personality types as opposed to just a single one. With that and some help from Riley's best friends, she's finally able to escape the anxious slump she's been in for the past few days.

Does this mean Joy and her other emotions simply kick the newcomers that almost destroyed Riley to the curb? Not at all, as they all learn to work together to build a much better and brighter future for Riley Andersen. Now with nine different emotions working alongside each other, Riley now has a good connection with her friends from middle school, a friend group with her teammates at high school, and perhaps even has a chance of fulfilling her dream and joining the school's hockey team.

Will 'Inside Out 2' Get a Sequel?

The ending of Inside Out 2 doesn't directly tease a third installment in the Inside Out franchise, but that doesn't mean a follow-up isn't on the table. On June 11th, director Kelsey Mann teased she's already thinking of ideas for a potential sequel. There's certainly no shortage of potential for more stories about Riley and her emotions as they continue to learn and grow up, and Mann seems very interested in exploring those ideas:

"I love this world. It's such a great world to play in, and ideas just kind of come from playing in this world, both for locations and characters. There's so many ideas not only from the first film, but especially in this one, where I'm like, 'That's a really fun, clever idea. I don't know how it fits into this particular story, but it should be used at some point.'"

Another Inside Out movie would be consistent with Pixar's plans for more sequels. The recent news that Pixar plans on releasing a sequel every other year has sparked both praise and criticism from animation fans. Not to mention that we will return to the world of Inside Out in some form, as Dream Productions is now, well, in production. Still, if the upcoming movies are at the very least on the same level as the two Inside Out films, then the future of Pixar, much like the future of Riley, has endless levels of potential.

Inside Out 2 is in theaters now.

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