The Best Quotes From Inside Out 2

After blowing everyone away at the box office, “Inside Out 2” roped in a massive billion dollar stash and deservedly so. Reuniting with Riley’s emotions came with another heartfelt and brilliantly depicted childhood experience of growing up and getting in touch with the new emotions that come with it. With that, of course, came the pristine Pixar flair of handling these topics thanks to the Emmy-nominated director, Kelsey Mann, who beautifully co-wrote with Meg LeFauve and Dave Holstein.

Naturally, seeing as “Inside Out 2” is following its now iconic predecessor, there’s a standard set for the film to reach, which it absolutely does. With some affectionate and wonderfully emotional lines, there are a handful of quotes from Mann, LeFauve, and Holstein’s writing that hit the mark just right — but which ones stand out more than most? Well, grab the tissues and get a cushion to scream into, because here are some of the movie’s best lines that will go down as some of the greats, perhaps even getting up there with “to infinity and beyond,” “take her to the moon for me,” and “SQUIRREL!”

“Of course, I’m delusional, do you know how hard it is to stay positive all the time?”

Just as Riley has grown since we last met her in “Inside Out,” so too have her own emotions individually as characters, for better or worse. Proving once again that it’s okay to feel more than one emotion, after Joy (Amy Poehler) and the original core team get bottled up by Anxiety (Maya Hawke), our usual brains of the operation cracks under the pressure, finally admitting that this perma-plucky attitude can’t stay on forever.

When Anger (Lewis Black), Disgust (Liza Lapira), and Fear (Tony Hale) all turn to their great leader, it’s too much for Joy, leading to a rare outburst that ironically is more out of anxiety than it is anger. She lashes out at her friends as one does when things aren’t going your way, and mistakes are made. What makes it all the more impactful is that Anger, in his softest form, helps her find a solution that’s just a reaction to her venting.

As is the common emotional thread with both Inside Out films, the point being made is that emotions are unpredictable and can take a hold at the wrong times, but even the ones that you might try to avoid often guide the way when they absolutely need to — even if that means letting a little bit of anger take control.

“Joy, you’ve made a lot of mistakes, and you’ll make a whole lot more in the future.”

For a character who spends most of his time with his head literally ablaze, it makes for a refreshing and wonderfully sweet moment that Anger becomes the voice of reason when Joy’s first plan to get back to Headquarters doesn’t go as she’d like. Lashing out at those around her while Anxiety and the new gang are back at HQ taking the helm and leading Riley on a concerning but absolutely essential path, it takes a quiet moment of rage and acceptance to acknowledge the situation the original core emotions are in. It’s not great, but it also doesn’t have to stay that way.

“You’ve made a lot of mistakes, and you’ll make a whole lot more in the future,” Anger tells Joy with the brutal honesty only he could deliver. This is not just a harsh truth that Joy needs to acknowledge, but also a lesson that Riley will learn in time as early as the weekend she’s at hockey camp. But, as Anger rightfully adds, “But if you let that stop you now, we might as well lie down and give up.” Thankfully, this is Joy we’re talking about, and that’s just not in her DNA — or Riley’s.

“We’re right behind you.”

Over the years, the tales funneled from Pixar have always been delivered with incredible writing that’s layered to ensure kids enjoy themselves even with the movie details only adults notice. In the case of “Inside Out 2,” even the smallest of speeches from characters come with an extra oomph that might not be intentional, but given just how impactful every word around them has been up to at that point, has no choice but to be.

After Joy’s friends pick her back up following her plan falling to pieces and quickly having to come up with a new one, she gets that last bit of reassurance she needs from the most rage-bent individual who has already thrown in his two cents about what direction to go from here. He tells Joy, “We’re right behind you,” which in any other Pixar film would be standard fare for the support team backing the film’s hero. Here, just like every other conversation had in “Inside Out 2,” there’s a lot more emotion behind it, and that’s a perfectly healthy place to be.

Just like every challenge that Riley encounters in this film, and even the future that we may see in the years to come, Joy might always be the aim, but Anger, Fear, Sadness, Disgust, and a host of other emotions will be lined up as well to step in when the occasion allows it to.

“It’s not about who Riley is, it’s who she needs to be.”

Often, “Inside Out 2,” through all of its colorful perspectives, proves that sometimes all the emotions have the best intentions for their girl Riley, but it’s how they go about it that causes the issue. Some emotions vocalize themselves more than others. In the case of Anxiety, the newest and wildest emotion to have taken hold of the console isn’t so much concerned about what makes Riley now, but who Anxiety believes she needs to be depending on the decisions she makes. In a way, it’s a statement that, while not applied in the correct circumstances at the time, holds some truth. It just takes the rest of Riley’s emotions to help reconfigure Anxiety’s aim.

Ultimately, this really is about who Riley needs to be. That is to say, it’s about the choices she needs to make — right or wrong — that will define her as a person. Going through these experiences is essential to learn and grow, which at this point, Anxiety hasn’t quite done yet. As always with Pixar projects though, it’s only with other characters coming to lend a hand that the light bulb moment arrives, and Riley finally begins to acknowledge her true self and every emotion that comes with it.

“I’m not good enough.”

While a majority of the most memorable moments come from the emotions that are trying to keep Riley on track in the fantastic world that is her own wonderful mind, it’s one of the most tear-worthy thoughts sprouting from it that might be one of the most relatable moments in the film. In replacing Riley’s sense of self, Anxiety sparks an idea that everyone has undoubtedly stumbled upon at least once in their life — “I’m not good enough” — which will only lead to more self-doubt and an internal struggle that the new emotion unknowingly paves the way for.

Once again in this emotional franchise, the only true villains of the piece are the negative thoughts and feelings Riley encounters, which, while completely healthy, can take over if there isn’t enough of the rest to counteract it. Her belief in thinking that she’s not good enough is the biggest struggle of all, but one that thankfully doesn’t last. It interchanges with the anger, fear, sadness, embarrassment, and happy thoughts that lead to her own personal discovery and sense of self. Unfortunately, it’ll never go away, but the good thing is that the other beliefs and feelings will be there to ensure it doesn’t stay too long.

“I don’t know how to stop Anxiety. Maybe we can’t. Maybe this is what happens when you grow up. You feel less Joy.”

Here comes the real gut punch. Just like the first film, “Inside Out 2” acknowledges the facts of how testing, difficult, and sometimes truly heartbreaking the realizations that come from trying to handle your emotions can be. In Joy’s case, she almost comes to the acceptance that she’s fighting a losing battle. With the newest emotion literally wrecking the path that can get Joy and her allies back to Headquarters at every turn, the brightest spark in the brain soon begins to dim when she feels she’s finally reached her limit, and that try as she might, she just can’t stop Anxiety.

Of course, stopping her isn’t the aim. It never should be. Anxiety is something that can only be addressed and managed whenever it rears its head, which, like every problem in this film, becomes a lesson to be learned. That being said, the creeping doubt of experiencing less joy is something that plenty of us have had too. It’s just what we do to ensure that doesn’t happen, that is the thing we shouldn’t stop trying for.

“You don’t get to choose who Riley is … You need to let her go.”

Just like so many of the quotes on this list, the majority of them come at the ending of “Inside Out 2,” when it pulls out all the stops to have us welling up and looking at ourselves as much as we are at Riley and her experiences. In the climax, our hot-shot hockey player has succumbed to the pressure of being the best and got lost to the anxiety of failing to be so. The result is one of the best and brilliant depictions of anxiety to compete with “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.” Anxiety has become a tornado, firing in every direction and yet staying frozen to the console she’s fought to take over. It’s only when Joy steps in to right the ship that our hero learns that she might not have been any different with her intentions.

Joy’s mantra to “keep the best and toss the rest” is no different to Anxiety’s aim of going “out with the old and in with the new,” reaffirming that both are wrong. The old is what allows us to improve and adapt, helping ourselves in moving forward. It’s only with all the emotions, all of what makes Riley who she is, that she’s able to ease herself out of her stressful moment and remember why she wanted to hockey in the first place. She’s doing it just for the sheer joy of it.