With Inside Out 2, practically everyone at Pixar (and Disney) is breathing a sigh of relief.
After a few years of less-than-stellar reviews and movies that were sent straight to Disney+, Pixar seems to be returning to its former glory with the second installment in the Inside Out series. It has grossed nearly $800 million worldwide at the box office, making it 2024’s highest-grossing movie to date, and critics and audiences seem pleased.
Inside Out 2 also has something else familiar to fans of the animation studio’s movies: Easter eggs, quotes, and references to Pixar’s past catalog. In this case, however, there is also a particular reference to a film coming in the future.
As is often the case in animated productions, it is easy to litter scenes with nods to other works, a way to tease the viewer’s attention and invite them to unearth every possible link. Inside Out 2 is no exception.
In the scene where Riley’s emotions run through her future career hypotheses, for example, there is a quick glimpse of Pixar’s iconic Luxo ball. Look closely at the boy band posters on Riley’s wall and you’ll catch a glimpse of one for 4*Town, the musical group beloved by the kids in Turning Red. When Joy has Sadness observe the new configuration of the Islands of Friendship and Family in Riley’s mind, she hands her a pair of binoculars that look like Lenny from Toy Story.
But the movie contains more than just glimpses of the past. Inside Out 2 also features a character who will join the Pixar family in 2025: the protagonist of Elio, its feature about a young boy who is mistaken for Earth’s ambassador to alien races and then “summoned” to deal with the future of the galaxies.
During Inside Out 2‘s sarcasm scene—though not the “sar-chasm” one—there are several memory spheres and one is dedicated to Elio, the movie’s namesake. It’s easily missed but also something of an odd premonition. Elio was originally slated to hit theaters earlier this year, before Inside Out 2, but got postponed to June 2025. Did you catch it?