D23 Expo Round-Up: 'Inside Out' Insight and Casting Announcements

Following a Good Dinosaur info blowout, Pixar continued on at today’s Animation at Walt Disney Studios D23 panel to reveal more on Inside Out, the first of two Pixar films planned for 2015. In addition to voice cast reveals, director Pete Docter and producer Jonas Rivera delved further into the film’s story.

As previously announced, Inside Out follows a young girl and the emotions churning inside her mind. Now we know that this girl’s name is Riley, and she’s forced out of her comfort zone when her family moves away from their familiar Minnesota hometown and into San Francisco.

As she faces this new environment, the film explores her emotions and how they react. Amy Poehler voices Joy, the leader of the group; Lewis Black is Anger, Bill Hader is Fear, Mindy Kaling is Disgust, and Phyllis Smith is Sadness. They all work in tandem at a headquarters of sorts, watching Riley’s POV on a screen, adjusting her emotions, and storing her memories. Other areas of the mind, including Dream Production, Long-Term Memory, and Imaginationland, are connected to the headquarters by a literal Train of Thought.

Things go awry when Joy and Sadness are forced out of the headquarters, leaving Anger, Fear, and Disgust to operate Riley. An extended sequence showed the trio struggling with this task as Riley interacts with her parents. Turns out we don’t just see inside Riley’s mind; her mother and father also have unique groups of emotions. The three teams play off of each other in a fast-paced dinner table scene that got a ton of laughs at the D23 panel.

It’s tough to visualize all of this, but Inside Out seems like the most creative idea from Pixar in a long while. I’m definitely excited to hear more as its June 2015 release approaches.

(Thanks to The Pixar Times and ComingSoon.net for their coverage of the event)

What do you think of Inside Out thus far?