Pixar: 25 Best Inside Out Quotes

Summary

• The best
  Inside Out
  quotes highlight the humor, heart, and insight that make this one of Pixar’s best movies. It has clever and thoughtful stories that resonate with audiences.
• Inside Out 2
  will continue the story and introduce new and challenging emotions for Riley as a teenager. However, the first movie stands on its own as a wonderful and rewatchable film.
• The quotes from
  Inside Out
  show the importance of embracing all emotions, including sadness, and how they can lead to personal growth and understanding.

The best Inside Out quotes show the humor, heart, and insight that makes this one of the best Pixar movies. The movie centers around a little girl named Riley, but the real focus is on the emotions that operate inside her, like Joy, Sadness, and Anger, who help her deal with the experiences of growing up. The movie won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature and became one of Pixar’s highest-grossing movies. It features the funny, clever, and thoughtful stories the animation studio creates when it is at its best and the Inside Out quotes highlight all those aspects.

Pixar’s Inside Out 2 continues the idea of the first movie, adding new and challenging emotions to Riley’s head as she deals with the struggles of being a teenager. While it is fun to see the next stage of Riley’s emotional development, Inside Out stands on its own as a wonderful movie that is still a joy to revisit years later. The most memorable quotes from the movie show how the inventive premise grew into a thoughtful and important movie about human emotion.

25 “I Sure Am Glad You Told Me Earthquakes Are A Myth, Joy.”

Fear

When Riley’s family moves to San Francisco, it is an adjustment for all the emotions. Certainly, the most unnerved by the move to a brand new city with many unknown elements is Fear (Bill Hader). Fear has more than a few worries about the whole situation while the rest of the emotions look to Joy to smooth things over. However, he takes solace in the fact that earthquakes are not a real thing, or so he has been told.

As Joy takes on her natural leadership role, she seems to have decided that keeping the truth about certain things from Fear would help everyone. Bill Hader’s relieved delivery of the line is hilarious, and it is fun to imagine what his reaction would be when he finally does experience his first earthquake in San Francisco.

24 “Joy, For The Last Time, She Cannot Live In A Cookie.”

Disgust

Joy is such a lovable character, but one of the key lessons she learns in Inside Out is that her best intentions are not always the best way forward. She has such a bright and happy view of things that she can get carried away – right from reality. In the hopes of distracting everyone with some fun stuff when they are all overwhelmed, Joy goes over all the imagined ideas of what their new house could look like. There’s one with slides, a tree house, and more.

Joy reveals her favorite being a fairy-tale-like house made out of various desserts with walls of gingerbread, which Disgust correctly points out is not a great idea. This Inside Out quote is an early hint that, despite Joy’s enthusiasm, she is not always the emotion that should be guiding everything.

23 “Is It Garbage Day?”

Father’s Anger

While much of the action in Inside Out takes place inside Riley’s head, some of the funniest moments are when the audience gets a brief glimpse inside the heads of some other characters. This comes into play as Riley’s parents try to deal with her sadness. While eating dinner, Riley’s mom gives Riley’s dad a signal to address Riley’s behavior. However, a glimpse inside his head reveals none of his emotions were paying attention, since they were reliving his memory of a good game, and they desperately try to guess what she might be wanting from him.

Each of the emotions has their own guess for what Riley’s mom might have said to their person, and Anger goes straight for something that he thinks usually makes her mad – forgetting to take out the trash. It is the kind of humor that proves Pixar movies are for adults just as much as for younger audiences.

22 “On A Scale Of 1 To 10, I Give This Day An F.”

Disgust

Disgust plays an interesting role in Inside Out. Sure, she’s there to rate whether a food Riley is about to eat is disgusting or not, but she’s also, as Riley’s emotions haven’t developed as far as they will in Inside Out 2, there to provide a layer of judgment. She’s the one most interested in Fashion Island of the emotions, after all, and the one who knows whether or not Riley should approach the popular kids in school.

She is also the one who gives this fantastic quote. While scale rankings from 1 to 10 are pretty well known as 1 being the worst and 10 being the best, Disgust makes her point by using the scale as a frame of reference for Riley’s day, and then throwing it all out to offer a grade of an F. It’s something both the adults and the kids in the audience will get with a laugh.

21 “What Was That? I Though You Said We Were Gonna ‘Act Casual’.”

Fear

When Joy and Sadness disappear into Riley’s memory banks, Anger, Fear, and Disgust are left in control of Riley. Because of their specialties, that definitely makes Riley act differently than when Joy is at the helm. Fear doesn’t often take the reins, preferring to allow Anger and Disgust do that, be he is there to observe and be just at the back of Riley’s mind, such as when Disgust takes over following Riley’s first day at her new school where everything goes wrong.

Though Disgust claims that they will just help Riley act casual to prevent her parents from learning how bad the day was, that really isn’t Disgust’s style, and it causes Riley to be heavily sarcastic and unhappy, snapping at her parents, and surprising Fear. Since Riley has never really acted that way with her parents, it makes sense that there would be a hint of fear there while Disgust takes over.

20 “I’m Positive You’ll Get Lost In There!”

Sadness

Part of what makes Inside Outone of the most rewatchable Pixar movies is seeing how it built up to that impactful ending. Sadness is initially seen as a troublesome character who makes everything harder for Joy and is a constant pessimist. She touches memories made by Joy and makes them sad without understanding why she’s doing it. She slows Joy down when they’re both stuck outside of the emotional headquarters, tinting long-term memories with sadness as she does.

However, when looking back at the movie, it is clear that Sadness was often right and what was initially seen as pessimism was actually just a more rational approach than what Joy had in mind. Sometimes, Riley’s going to make sad memories even if Joy doesn’t want her to. When Sadness advises against taking a shortcut, Joy tells her to be positive, leading to this wonderful comeback.

19 “They Came To Help… Because Of Sadness.”

Joy

Inside Out is a great children’s movie not just because it is bright and fun, but also because of the very worthwhile messages at its core. While animated movies deal with serious issues at times, Inside Out might achieve it better than any other movie. The big revelation comes when Joy realizes that sadness is not something that Riley needs to avoid, but something she can embrace at times to feel the love of her family and friends.

It is a worthwhile message for young viewers as it teaches them not to cover up emotions but rather embrace them, so they can be understood and dealt with more effectively. It’s okay for Riley’s memories to be tinged with sadness at times. As Joy sees, when she and Sadness finally work together, Riley’s memories and the emotions attached to them become more complex, with Joy and Sadness both attached to the same memories.

18 “Take Her To The Moon For Me. Okay?”

Bing Bong

Inside Out is one of the saddest Pixar movies and a lot of that has to do with the character of Bing Bong. As Riley’s childhood imaginary best friend, he’s become a part of her past, something only vaguely remembered. Ultimately, Bing Bong sacrifices his own existence so that Joy can escape from the Memory Dump. His parting words to Joy are a reminder of just how much he loves Riley.

While it is an imaginary character, there is something beautiful and heartbreaking about him accepting that his time in Riley’s life is done and that his parting moment is the hope that she keeps a little bit of that child’s imagination, even if he’s not a part of it. Riley is growing up, and she might not have the need of an imaginary friend to keep her entertained, but that doesn’t mean she has to be rid of all of her imagination.

17 “Called It!”

Fear

One of the most interesting parts of Inside Out is the audience getting to see just what roles the different emotions play for Riley. Fear, for the most part, doesn’t control Riley’s life. Instead, the emotion is relegated to watching Riley’s dreams, or more accurately, nightmares, play out, and supporting the other emotions in small ways. Fear watching the dreams, however, is one of the best parts of the movie, showing how Riley’s emotions are working even when she’s asleep.

Fear treats Riley’s dreams like a human being would treat a night binge-watching shows on streaming. He has his favorites, but he also has ones that bring out his terror. It’s clear that he’s not particularly eager to make Riley scared of certain dreams that have become commonplace for her, like her ending up in school without the right amount of clothing on.

Fear: Let me guess, we have no pants on.

Girl In The Dream: Hey look! She came to school with no pants on!

Fear: Called it!

That type of dream is so incredibly common for human beings, a way of the subconscious manifesting fear (or even anxiety, an emotion not seen until Inside Out 2). It makes perfect sense that Fear would have seen this particular dream like a television rerun.

16 “Crying Helps Me Slow Down And Obsess Over The Weight Of Life’s Problems.”

Sadness

While Joy is obviously the main character of the film — full of all the infectious charms that only Amy Poehler can deliver — Sadness also proves to be a remarkable character. Sadness is also the source of many of the best Inside Out quotes. Because she is so consumed with feeling down, many of her lines are played for laughs as Joy sees her as an obstacle to making sure Riley’s life is a happy one.

However, she also delivers a lot of thought-provoking ideas about sadness, such as this one about the benefits of wallowing in that sad feeling. It serves as a reminder that, though sometimes it’s hard to accept, crying can be a useful means for someone to take a few moments out of their day to reflect, even about the darker aspects of human existence.

15 “DID I ASK FOR THE GUM COMMERCIAL?!”

Anger

The TripleDent gum commercial is a running joke throughout Inside Out, with the annoying jingle popping up at various points throughout. As Joy discovers when she and Sadness are trying to make their way through the long-term memory storage area, sometimes, the memory workers send the commercial up to headquarters just for fun. They mix it in with other memories.

It’s a fun play on all the jingles that people get stuck in their heads from television, and Anger’s reaction showcases exactly how most people react to them when they pop up. Every time the advert appears, it is the cause of frustration, but the best moment comes when Anger is planning for Riley to run away. In the midst of all the madness, the advert appears and Anger truly lives up to his name as he loses his temper at such an inconsequential thing.

14 “Remember The Funny Movie Where The Dog Died?”

Sadness

While Pixar movies often are able to cater to adults with their humor without being edgy, this is a rare example of some dark comedy in one of their animated movies. The idea of Sadness fondly looking back on a movie that featured a dog dying is hilariously morbid. While most people find those movie deaths to be more than a little bit difficult to bear, Sadness’s words here reveal that there are actually ways that it can be pleasurable to indulge in sorrow.

In fact, as Inside Out makes clear again and again, sorrow is a necessary part of the human condition. Sadness, as the emotion in charge of that aspect of Riley’s feelings, is going to be the only one to appreciate that at first. That’s why she appreciates the movie and rainy days that send a chill down Riley’s spine.

13 “Congratulations San Francisco, You’ve Ruined Pizza!”

Anger

Voiced by Lewis Black — a man who has made incandescent rage part of his comic persona — Anger is one of the funniest Pixar characters, with his outbursts and tendency to burst into literal flame when he gets frustrated. Anger doesn’t often get to run things in the emotional headquarters, even splitting time at the controls with Fear and Disgust when Joy and Sadness disappear. Joy usually does her best to temper Anger for Riley.

While there are moments in Riley’s life when her anger is well-placed and even understandable, he also loses his cool at such minor things that it foreshadows how ill-suited he is to run the show when Joy goes missing. When Riley’s family arrives in their new home in San Fransisco, all the emotions are worked up, but Anger’s biggest reaction is that the city serves broccoli on their pizza.

12 “Does Anyone Know How To Spell ‘Meteor’?”

Fear

Because Joy and Sadness have such an epic adventure and Anger and Disgust mostly take control in their absence, Fear doesn’t get a lot of time to shine in Inside Out. The emotion is good for a quite a few one-liners, however, if the audience is paying attention.

When Riley is about to start her first day of school, Joy is still in charge of the console and is managing the rest of the emotions. She gives them each something productive to do, and for Fear, she requests a list of all the possible things that could go wrong on Riley’s first day. It’s a normal reaction for kids (and adults at a new job) to have first-day jitters. Joy wants to understand all the potential fears to weed out the ones that don’t matter or the ones that are least likely.

Fear’s response that he’s “already on it” and needing to know how to spell meteor only makes it clear that there is a long list of fears, some of them more likely than others.

11 “Okay, Caution, There Is A Dangerous Smell, People.”

Disgust

Disgust is one of the more relatable emotions in Inside Out as she also has a rational outlook on things, even if they can be a bit snobbish at times. However, her sheer shock and horror over broccoli is one of her greatest moments in the movie. It’s something that everyone can relate to, with parents having struggled to feed their children different vegetables, and children disliking certain ones.

The way that she reacts as if it’s incredibly serious is what makes the scene work perfectly. She firmly believes that broccoli isn’t just disgusting, but that it’s dangerous to Riley. When Riley is a toddler trying it for the first time, Disgust is sure she saved everyone’s life by taking control. It’s Pixar at its best in terms of catering to such a wide audience, which is why it’s such a great Inside Out quote.

10 “Oh No! These Facts And Opinions Look So Similar!”

Joy

One of the things that set Pixar apart as an animation studio is that it is pretty upfront about the fact that its films address some of the key philosophical questions of the present. When Joy, Sadness, and Bing Bong are traveling through Riley’s mind, they inadvertently make a mess of things on the Train of Thought. They knock over two boxes of tiles that are revealed to be made of facts and opinions. Joy points out that they’ve mixed up the facts and opinions, making it hard to distinguish them. Bing Bong throws them indiscriminately back into boxes.

Certainly, it is sometimes very difficult to discern the difference between fact and opinion, especially in the age of social media. This witty little Inside Out quote is a potent reminder that there is a difference between the two, and it’s important to learn to tell them apart.

9 “Boy Band Island? Hope That’s Just A Phase.”

Fear

Towards the end of Inside Out, when Riley’s Mind World expands with new islands, the emotions observe the new changes coming. All of her world islands, the core tenets of her personality, were destroyed as she experienced the upheaval of the move and the missing Joy. Though some, like Family, were rebuilt, others are brand new.

The evolution of a young person’s mind with changing emotions and interests is something Inside Out 2 explores, though it does not revisit the islands in favor of focusing on the newly introduced emotions instead. Fear’s comment here is perhaps the funniest reaction to the forming islands in the first movie, where he takes a dig at the world of boy band music. It’s nothing too offensive and is something that a lot of parents can probably relate to, having to listen to various boy bands over the years.

8 “I’m Too Sad To Walk. Just Give Me A Few… Hours.”

Sadness

In Inside Out, it’s not just that Sadness has some of the most amusing quotes. The animators also make her physically amusing, as when she reveals that she is so overcome with her own signature emotion that she can’t even walk. Joy has to physically drag her through the maze that is the long-term memory storage, even as Sadness touches all the memories she can reach. She also has to prod her along when they travel through Riley’s imagination where different structures are being demolished.

Once again, though Sadness can slow things down at times, she is also very relatable in how she deals with those moments. Wanting to curl up in a ball and escape from the world is a common desire when overcome with sadness. The idea that Joy is there to force her along is a nice subtle comment on how these emotions can work hand in hand.

7 “I… I Know You Don’t Want Me To, But… I Miss Home…”

Riley

The trope of a child being unhappy about having to move to a new town and leave everything behind is one that many youngsters can empathize with. Riley misses her friends, her hockey team, and the pond where her family used to skate in Minnesota, but she tries to put all that aside when her mother requests that they both show Riley’s father how happy they are.

However, Inside Out might help kids deal with that troubling time as she tries to be happy at first, then gets angry, and then finally admits to herself and her parents that the whole experience has just made her sad.

While Riley is honest about her feelings, she expresses them in a way that is totally comprehensible and respectful of her parents, and they return that respect. Though Riley is not as entertaining as the personified emotions in her head, moments like this make her one of the most relatable Pixar characters.

6 “Who’s Your Friend Who Likes To Play?”

Bing Bong

Bing Bong is one of the best supporting characters in Pixar’s history, and he’s incredibly memorable for his bubbly and happy personality. Fans love how excited he is about all of the different aspects of the imaginary land in Riley’s mind. He loves Cloud City and the literal house of cards that gets knocked down repeatedly. While the emotional side of his story is obviously very well known, there’s no doubt that his catchy song is also one of the best Inside Out quotes.

The way he continues to sing the song to himself long after he has mostly faded from Riley’s memory is a fun little moment of him trying to remain relevant while also adding to that heartbreaking aspect of the character. The fact that Joy also knows his song by heart and sings it to herself might mean that even if he’s gone, his memory is still there too.