Inside Out 2's 21 Easter Eggs & Pixar References Explained

The much-anticipated sequel Inside Out 2 (2024) is the latest Pixar movie to feature a litany of fun Easter eggs and hidden Pixar references. Nine years after the original Inside Out (2015) delighted audiences of all ages, Inside Out 2 expanded the roster of entities that control the mind of now-13-year-old Riley Andersen by introducing five new Emotions. As was the case with its predecessor, Inside Out 2 has generated a high Rotten Tomatoes score, which was sorely needed after the last few Pixar movies fell short of the production company’s lofty standards.

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Pixar Animation Studios has crafted a tradition of loading their movies with Easter eggs and references to both past and future Pixar films, along with other relevant pop culture nods. The new sequel is no different, as by the end of Inside Out 2, eagle-eyed viewers can catch more than 20 different Easter eggs, some more obvious than others. It can be incredibly difficult to spot everything while trying to enjoy the movie, as many are only on the screen for a few seconds at most, so a guide can be helpful both pre- and post-viewing.

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21 A John Ratzenberger Cameo

The Iconic Pixar Veteran

One of Pixar’s oldest traditions returns in Inside Out 2, as legendary voice actor John Ratzenberger makes a voice cameo for the first time in four years. Known for roles throughout Pixar’s filmography, including Hamm from the Toy Story franchise, the Yeti from Monsters, Inc., the Underminer from The Incredibles, Mack from the Cars franchise, and John from Wall-E, the former Cheers actor has a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo midway through the movie.

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Inside Out 2 leans more towards greatness than redundancy & though it falls short of being one of Pixar’s best, it’s a worthy addition to the library.

He voices Fritz, the Mind Worker, who calls the original Emotions “jerks” after misinterpreting their tone thanks to the Sar-chasm. This is also a repeat role, as Ratzenberger also played Fritz, the Mind Worker, in the original 2015 Inside Out movie as well. The cameo appearance fits perfectly, as Raztzenberger often takes on sarcastic roles himself in both live-action and his numerous Pixar roles. It was also a nice return since Ratzenberger hadn’t voiced a Pixar movie role since Onward in 2020.

20 A Tough-To-Spot A113

Not A Traditional Appearance

The famous A113 Easter egg can be found somewhere in each Pixar movie. A113 is the classroom number used by character animation students at the California Institute of Arts; some CIA students went on to be founding members of the Pixar animation team, and the tradition has continued. This is a nice way for the students to pay tribute to where they learned their craft. Its first appearance was in Toy Story as a license plate on Ms. Davis’ minivan. In the first Inside Out, it was street graffiti art.

While it used to be written out and hidden in earlier movies, recent Pixar creations have gotten more clever in how it’s hidden. Elemental’s A113 Easter egg involves the periodic table, while Inside Out 2 labels the prison vault that the original Emotions are trapped in with the Roman numerals for A113: ACXIII. This was a nice callback and one Inside Out 2 Easter egg that eagle-eyed fans had to actually look for and understand how to read Roman numerals.

19 A Pixar Self-Acknowledgement

Riley’s Relevant Jersey Number

One of the earliest Easter eggs requires just a bit of Pixar knowledge to recognize. The movie opens with Riley playing hockey for the Foghorns, the local team she joined upon moving to San Francisco. Her jersey number on the team is 28, which is no coincidence. Inside Out 2 is Pixar’s 28th feature film, and the jersey number is clearly a nod to the longevity of the animation studio’s storied history.

Pixar got its start making short films before finally getting the chance to make features. This was long before Disney bought the studio, and the small company was able to impress everyone with its 1995 debut film, Toy Story. It has almost been 29 years since that first movie came out and the studio became an award-winning factory. With Inside Outi 2′s release, Pixar remains one of the strongest animation studios in the world, and the “28” was a nice callback to show how far they had come.

18 Riley’s Rainbow Shirt

Evidence Of Her Growth

As Joy narrates Riley’s transition into teenhood, sequences of her growing up accompany the voiceover. One such clip involves Riley trying to put on a rainbow shirt that is now far too small for her, and illustrates how much taller she is from the first movie. Inside Out fans will recognize Riley’s iconic rainbow t-shirt, which she famously wore in the first movie.

This is a nice Inside Out 2 Easter egg as it shows how hard it is to leave the ideas of childhood behind for teens. The movie’s main theme is that Riley is discovering new emotions and struggles to deal with them. She is still a child, but is becoming a young woman, and seeing her in the same shirt she wore when she was younger is a nice way to show that she wants to hold onto her childhood for as long as she can. It is a nice visual cue for anyone who remembers the shirt.

17 A Bing Bong Memorial

Joy Remembers Riley’s Imaginary Friend

The self-sacrifice and subsequent disappearance of Riley’s imaginary friend Bing Bong in Inside Out has been the source of more than a few adult tears over the last nine years. Unfortunately, Bing Bong doesn’t return for Inside Out 2 with Riley having permanently forgotten him. Joy, on the other hand, clearly has not forgotten his sacrifice for Riley; on the shelf by her bed, Joy has an origami figurine of Bing Bong and his rocket.

Bing Bong’s sacrifice was something that didn’t outwardly hurt Riley since she could never remember him since he eliminated himself from her memories. However, since Joy still has the figuring, it shows that Bing Bong has never truly been forgotten. This is also something that many adults might understand since there are things from childhood that remain somewhere in the back of their memories that they can’t quite put their fingers on, and this ornament shows why that happens.

16 Riley Brangs It Back

A T-Shirt References Her Dad’s Company

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Early in the movie, Riley can be seen in a Brang! t-shirt, which Inside Out aficionados will recognize as her father’s company. It’s a small callback to the first traumatic experience of Riley’s life — her move from Minnesota to San Francisco due to changes to her father’s job. As she wears the shirt in casual/sleep settings, and it seems a little big, it could very well be the same shirt her dad wore in the first movie.

This is also a nice reminder of how and why Riley and her family ended up in San Francisco and so far from home. Seeing her continue to struggle when the new emotions come on strong reminds Riley and viewers that she had a much easier and relaxing life when she lived in Minnesota and now things are just getting harder for her. Her wearing her dad’s old shirt likely shows that she has finally settled into her new home, even if things are harder than they were before.

15 A Toy Story Throwback

Lenny Makes An Appearance

Pixar is never shy about tossing in references to their other movies, both past and future. Early in Inside Out 2, they reference their very first movie, Toy Story. As Riley’s priorities have shifted since the events of Inside Out, her Islands of Personality have changed dramatically. Friendship Island has completely overtaken Family Island, and when Sadness claims she can’t even see Family Island, Joy gives her a pair of binoculars to help pick it out.

The binoculars are actually the walking pair of binoculars from Toy Story named Lenny, and he is a small wind-up binocular toy that appeared in both the first two movies in that franchise. He is small and blue and is often the source of warning the other toys of danger since he can theoretically see long distances and notice when danger is coming. Joe Ranft voiced him in those movies, but he has no voice in Inside Out 2.

14 4*Town Is Popular As Ever

A Brief Turning Red Reference

As a newly minted teenager, it’s only natural that Riley’s wall is covered in band posters as opposed to more childish imagery. One of the bands she has a poster of is 4*Town, which is the boy band that acts as the major common interest between Mei and her friends in Pixar’s Turning Red. The Toronto-based boy band is depicted as an international sensation in Turning Red, and it appears their influence has reached the West Coast if Riley has a poster of them in her room.

This is a nice way for the different franchises in the Pixar universe to tie together. While the characters never cross paths, the idea that 4*Town is popular in both Turning Red (where they actually appear and perform a concert) and Inside Out 2 shows that Riley and Priya live in the same world, or at least there is a popular boy band with the same name in both of their worlds. Since there are several crossover toys in the Pixar movies, everything likely shares a universe.

13 A Cheeky Onward Reference

Joy Struggles With French

One of the new Emotions accompanying Anxiety in Inside Out 2 is Ennui, the French-accented representation of teenage boredom and apathy. She can’t even be bothered to get up to use the console, and operates it from her phone. As Joy is introduced to her, she attempts to pronounce her name, and one of the incorrect attempts is simply “onward,” which is a reference to Pixar’s 2020 fantasy adventure Onward.

Onward was the last Pixar movie to get a theatrical release for years as the pandemic and the rise of Disney+ caused Disney to choose to move Pixar movies to the streamer instead. However, after missing the chance to see some great animated movies on the big screen (Soul, Turning Red, Luca), Pixar returned to theaters with Lightyear in 2022 and has dominated the box office once again. While it was just a mispronunciation, hearing a callout to Onward was nice.

12 A Preschool TV Parody

An Amalgam Of Popular Shows Show Up

While trapped in the back of Riley’s mind after Anxiety suppresses them, the original Emotions encounter a collection of similarly-trapped entities from Riley’s past. One is the two-dimensional character Bloofy, from a preschool show from Riley’s youth. Bloofy breaks the fourth wall, much like real preschool shows such as Dora the Explorer and Blue’s Clues, and is accompanied by a sentient fanny pack named Pouchy, who provides materials and solutions to problems like Dora’s Backpack or Mickey Mouse Clubhouse’s Toodles.

Bloofy is an obvious reference to all of those shows, and his name and appearance are also reminiscent of Disney’s Goofy. While Pixar is its own original franchise of movies, there is a way to see how classic kids shows like Blue’s Clues and Dora the Explorer might have influenced these brilliant storytellers. Pixar is known for Easter eggs of its own work, and it’s nice to see them paying tribute to some shows outside the studio.

11 A Popular Video Game Crossover

A Final Fantasy Reference

Another of Riley’s nearly forgotten characters trapped in the vault is Lance Slashblade, who is from a fighting game that Riley and her friends used to play. Riley has a crush on the character, who is very obviously a stand-in for Cloud Strife from the Final Fantasy video game series. His early Playstation-style graphics and overly dramatic voice and personality are straight out of the early 2000s.

Lance Slashblade is voiced by Yong Yea, a professional video game voice actor who has contributed to the actual
Final Fantasy
video game series.

The first Inside Out showed a lot of things that kids were into in Riley’s mind, from the toys to the childhood crushes to the fears of grandma’s vacuum cleaner. However, as she became a teenager, it was a nice time to show what teens are into. While Riley still loves hockey and has an affinity for boy bands, she also loves video games, which is something that usually becomes big in the teenage years. That makes this a perfect addition and Final Fantasy might be the best way to show it.

10 Riley’s Personal Movie Studio Pops Up

A Quick Dream Productions Reference

At one point in Inside Out 2, Fear is holding a coffee cup that contains a reference from the original movie. The cup features the Dream Productions logo, which is the internal movie studio in Riley’s mind that is responsible for all of her dreams. While it would have been fun to revisit the chaos of Dream Productions in the sequel, the coffee cup reference is all that the audience really gets.

There was a movie studio in Riley’s head in the first Inside Out movie. This is where her dreams and even her nightmares come from, so it was always going to be notable that it would likely return in the sequel. The idea that the studio is based on a more fantastical version of Pixar, with all the wild ideas and bizarre situations coming out of it, is brilliant and was a welcome return to the new movie. It also makes one wonder if Pixar could make a film based on the studio itself in the future.

9 Legendary Puppeteer Cameos

Two Of The Biggest Stars In Kids’ Movies & TV Are Hidden

Two of Riley’s Subconscious Guards from Inside Out reappear in Inside Out 2, and are responsible for trying to recapture the escaping Emotions as they break out of the vault that Anxiety put them in. The two guards are named Frank and Dave after the actors who voice them, Frank Oz and Dave Goelz. In both movies, the two are shown arguing about whether they are wearing the correct hat.

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Frank Oz is one of the most famous puppeteers in American cinema, as the original voice and puppet actor for characters like Miss Piggy and Fozzie Bear from The Muppet Show, and Cookie Monster, Bert and Grover from Sesame Street. Dave Goelz is one of Frank Oz’s close friends and coworkers, as he voiced Gonzo, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and more characters from the original The Muppet Show.

8 Triple Dent Gum Is Still Stuck In Riley’s Head

The Infamous Jingle Resurfaces

Inside Out referenced songs getting stuck in a person’s head with the commercial jingle for Triple Dent Gum, which Joy and Sadness discover will be periodically sent up to headquarters (much to Anger’s chagrin). The jingle comes up again in Inside Out 2, as it’s one of the items that the original Emotions send up to headquarters in their attempt to get back themselves.

It’s one of the most universally identifiable elements from the first movie, so it makes sense that they would bring it up again in the sequel. This is a nice callback to the idea of the earworm that is often stuck in someone’s head. While this mostly affects the emotions inside of Riley’s head, anyone can relate to hearing a song that ends up playing over and over in one’s mind, and this entire TripleDent ad jingle is something that likely drives Riley bonkers, even years after she first heard it.

7 A Sesame Street Icon

A Major Influence For The Director Is Referenced

Per Collider, during a press conference leading up to the film’s release, Inside Out 2 director Kelsey Mann made specific mention of some of the Easter eggs she thought were fun to hide in the movie. One such Easter egg she told fans to be on the lookout for was a reference to Carroll Spinney, the original puppeteer behind Sesame Street‘s Big Bird. Mann noted that meeting Spinney in person was one of her greatest thrills, as Sesame Street had a big influence on her career (Frank Oz and Dave Goelz’s cameos also reference this).

Mann managed to sneak the reference in very briefly, and it’s one of the easiest-to-miss Easter eggs in the movie. When Riley goes to hang out with Valentino and her teammates after Hockey Camp, the girls order pizza. The pizza shop they order from, whose name is on the box, is “Spinney’s Pizza.”

6 Can’t Forget The Forgetters

Two Famously-Voiced Characters Return

The very Mind Workers responsible for the Triple Dent Gum commercial remaining forever stuck in Riley’s head make another appearance in Inside Out 2. Joy and the other original Emotions attempt to use the Mind Workers’ vacuum tube in reverse, blasting themselves back to where they need to go. The two workers are named Forgetter Paula and Forgetter Bobby, after the comedians who voice them: Paula Poundstone and Bobby Moynihan.

Inside Out was Poundstone’s first Pixar movie role, and Forgetter Paula was the only role she had played for the company. She is also known for her stand-up comedy and voicing characters in the 1999 animated series Home Movies. Bobby Moynihan, on the other hand, has also voiced the character of Chet Alexander in the sequel Monsters University. He is a former Saturday Night Live cast member.

5 Mt. Crushmore Nods To A Pixar Short

A Familiar Face From Riley’s Past

As the original emotions explore Riley’s mind in an attempt to get back to headquarters, they encounter how much the landscape has shifted since Joy and Sadness got lost in the stacks of memories in Inside Out. One of the new features they encounter is Mt. Crushmore, which is a visual representation of four different boys carved into rock, much like the real Mt. Rushmore.

One of the faces is the aforementioned Lance Slashblade, but on the other end of the monument is Jordan, the boy that Riley went on a date on in the Pixar short Riley’s First Date? It is nice to see this area of Riley’s mind make a return, and it should get bigger and bigger as she gets older and has more dates and crushes on boys throughout high school. Seeing Jordan return is also a nice wink for people who are familiar with the Pixar short.

4 Anxiety Through The Lens Of A Popular Meme

One Of Anxiety’s Plans References The Distracted Boyfriend Meme

Further in their exploration, the original Emotions discover that the once-fun Fort Pillow Town has been taken over by Anxiety, who has a bunch of workers (who may be other, less prominent Emotions) who are drawing up potentially disastrous scenarios to send up to Riley’s mind as she attempts to fall asleep. In one instance, Riley mentions that her coach could like her better than Val, the hockey team captain, and the image that’s shown is clearly meant to emulate the famous Distracted Boyfriend internet meme (via KnowYourMeme).

For those unfamiliar with the meme, it shows a guy walking with his girlfriend, but then he looks back and checks out a woman that they just passed while his current girlfriend looks at him in disgust. This is a way to show that there is always something better that catches people’s eyes, even if they already have something great right in front of them. Seeing Riley having this in her mind shows that she recognizes memes, and often sees her own problems in those forms.

3 A Deep Cut 1984 Reference

An Iconic Apple Commercial Is Parodied

Anxiety’s Fort Pillow Town panic factory hides a reference that will only land with Gen X viewers or older. The setup, with Anxiety’s giant face on a screen overlooking dejected, fearful workers, is eerily reminiscent of a famous commercial that Apple produced in 1984, which in fact referenced George Orwell’s dystopian novel titled 1984. The commercial was designed to introduce the Macintosh computer, and like in Inside Out 2, features an object being thrown at the giant face to destroy the screen.

In the commercial, it’s a sledgehammer, but in the movie, it’s a chair. This is also a huge Easter egg because of Pixar’s history. For those who don’t know, Pixar as a studio was part of Apple when Steve Jobs was building his computer empire. The studio was just as important to Jobs as his computers because he knew that what computers could do with animation was untouched and had no ceiling. Having this in the movie pays tribute to Pixar’s origins as well.

2 A Dark Inside Out Memory

One Of Riley’s Lowest Moments Resurfaces

In a last-ditch effort to get back to headquarters, Joy and the original Emotions trigger an avalanche of all the “bad” memories that they have been sending to the back of Riley’s mind every day. While their intention was to craft a personality for Riley that was happy and ultimately good, they were misguided, and unleashing the bad memories into the pool where her personality forms allows her to be her true self.

While thousands of bad memories make up the avalanche, one is spotlighted as it hits the pool and sends up a thread. It’s footage of Riley stealing the credit card from her mother’s purse so that she can purchase a bus ticket and run away, as seen in Inside Out. That memory of dishonesty is one that Joy attempted to suppress but encapsulates Inside Out 2‘s ultimate message about our personalities being far more complex than five simple Emotions.

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