Amy Poehler, Pixar chiefs explain why they're making 'Inside Out' sequel: 'It's been top secret'

The distinct possibility of a sequel has been hiding in plain sight this whole time.

In the very final scene of Pixar’s Oscar-winning 2015 hit Inside Out, after the young Riley has managed to endure her family’s cross-country relocation with the help of her personified emotions, comes this narration from Amy Poehler’s Joy: “She has great new friends, a great new house, things couldn’t be better. After all, Riley’s 12 now … What could happen?”

On Friday at Disney’s D23 Expo in Anaheim, Calif. that possibility became a reality, at least publicly, as Pixar chiefs Peter Docter (who co-directed the first Inside Out) and Jim Morris announced Inside Out 2 will be hitting theaters in 2024.

“It’s one of those [movies] where everywhere I go, people [say] ‘Oh my God, you made Inside Out,’ and they have a story about how it touched them, how it affected them in deep ways,” Pixar filmmaker-turned-CCO Docter tells us shortly after the announcement (watch above). “What I always said with the first one was, when we look around, we should feel as though we’re actually visiting [only] 10 percent of what’s in Riley’s mind. There’s just so much more to explore.” (In other words, count on some new emotions to be introduced as Riley battles teenagedom — likely hormones and all, à la Turning Red — in Part 2.)

“Taking it to the next level where the story’s about a teenager and going through that set of emotions, and emotions that enter in at that point, it’s just such a fertile ground, and it’s what everybody goes through,” adds Pixar president Morris.

Pixar films typically take about four years to produce, which means Inside Out 2 has been in the works for up to two years now. That’s also meant Poehler’s had to keep it all a secret until Friday.

“It’s exciting news. You want to share good news, and we’ve been working on it, and recording and re-recording, and Pixar, as you probably know, they go through so many iterations and drafts,” Poehler tells us.

“So we were working on it for a while. It’s been top secret. A lot of body doubles. A lot of unmarked cars.”

Inside Out 2 opens June 14, 2024.

—Video produced by Jen Kucsak and edited by Jason Fitzpatrick