Amy Poehler’s Joy should not be the main character in the upcoming Inside Out 2. The 2015 Pixar animated film Inside Out was commercially and critically successful, becoming one of the highest-grossing films of 2015. The animated film follows Joy and five other personified emotions inside a young girl named Riley. After moving to a new town, Riley falls into a depression, personified by Sadness (Phyllis Smith) who Joy tries to tame. Praised for its honest portrayal of complicated emotions in childhood, Inside Out became another success story for Pixar Animation, winning Best Animated Feature at the 88th Academy Awards.
Not much is known about the upcoming Inside Out 2 except that it is to be released in 2024, and it will follow Riley as a teenager. Amy Poehler will reprise her role as Joy, but the role of her character has yet to be revealed. With Joy as the main character and Riley’s mind as a setting, Inside Out was a clever risk for the animated film, which could’ve easily centered the story around Riley and reduced the emotions to side characters. However, if Inside Out 2 wants to stand out from its predecessor, it should change the main character for the sequel.
Joy Being Inside Out 2’s Main Character Makes No Sense
With Riley getting older, it seems likely that Joy will be pushed to the side as new emotions emerge in Inside Out 2, but this risks becoming too close to the Andy/Woody dynamic in the Toy Story sequels, with the “human” character outgrowing their old childhood friend. Joy’s place in Riley’s changing mind will likely evolve as she gets older. As such, there’s no good reason that Joy should be the focus of the story once Riley becomes a teenager.
While Inside Out did focus on some emotions associated with adolescence, such as sadness and fear, these emotional changes were triggered by her environment change. Riley as a teenager will no doubt bring in the negative emotions associated with that difficult age bracket. While childhood happiness can be personified in Joy, the adolescent emotions personified will likely have negative connotations. Since Inside Out focused on Joy coming to terms with the beauty and necessity of “negative” emotions, Joy cannot follow the same arc in the sequel.
Inside Out’s Ending Makes A Sequel With Joy As The Focus Difficult
While these six personified emotions can be one-dimensional, Joy and the rest of the emotions prove that these personified characters can be surprisingly relatable. Part of this is Amy Poehler’s layered performance, but it is also at the heart of the story. Inside Out offers a lot for its audience to digest with its themes on growing up and accepting oneself. When hard events happen in life during childhood, it’s natural to mourn the death of one’s childhood that used to bring joy. Riley’s move distances her from her childhood joy as she learns to embrace sadness and move on. Inside Out’s ending proved that this is natural and not to be feared.
A sequel with Joy would have to give her a new conflict, one that reflects Riley’s adolescent struggle. However, Inside Out already made a film about the death of childhood and how children evolve for the better, so there doesn’t seem like a clear story to be told with Joy as the main character. Joy can still be a solid supporting character or her appearance could be purposely limited. Joy is a strong character, but her strengths can be highlighted when her appearances are limited.
How Inside Out 2 Should Use Amy Poehler’s Joy
Rather than Joy being the main character of Inside Out 2, she could be missing from the start. This would mean the other emotions would need to try to find her inside Riley’s head. In this scenario, Joy would become the MacGuffin rather than the protagonist. This would not only allow the other emotions to shine, but it will also give the spotlight to some of the new personified emotions that will be present in the sequel.
When Riley becomes a teenager, her emotions will be heightened, which may overwhelm Joy. Amy Poehler’s Joy could run away, or Riley could suppress Joy as she tries to come to terms with her changing body. Either way, Joy being missing works metaphorically as well as providing an extension to the themes of the first film.
Inside Out 2 faces the same issues as many sequels do, namely, how to honor the original without making the same film twice. However, Inside Out 2 could join the ranks of other successful Pixar sequels, such as Toy Story. Following a similar premise as Inside Out, Inside Out 2 can further Riley’s journey to adulthood and all the complicated emotions that come with getting older, without necessarily becoming overreliant on Joy.
