No matter how you measure it, Inside Out 2 was a massive hit last year. The film wasn’t just the highest-grossing movie of 2024 but it became the highest-grossing animated movie ever made. On top of that the movie got stellar reviews, making it the obvious front-runner in the race for Best Animated Film at the Oscars later this year. Disney is being open that a third film in the franchise is being explored, and the co-writer of the sequel, David Holstein certainly wants to be involved.
Inside Out 2 finds its hook in the idea of Riley aging, and the different emotions that evolve as we grow older. With Riley still only being a teenager she has a lot more of her life in front of her, which means there’s potentially a lot more that could be done with the concept. David Holstein tells ScreenRant that he would love to see multiple Inside Out sequels over the next few years, each one a snapshot of a new part of Riley’s life. He explains…
I mean, Riley’s only 13 going on 14. There’s a lot of life left to explore. I really hope that this franchise follows her through motherhood. I really hope that there’s a big story every couple of years that we can tell. There are certainly plenty of good [emotions] I’m sure you can think of, and plenty of the ones that we haven’t thought of yet. Whatever it is we go, it’s going to be great.
Holstein isn’t the first to suggest that if Inside Out 2 found success in Riley’s growth from child to teenager. Lightning could strike twice, or possibly more than twice, if each movie introduces new emotions and struggles for Riley as she ages.
As franchise concepts go, this certainly isn’t the worst idea. If you’re going to make Inside Out Pixar’s newest franchise, then this is exactly the way to do it. And it could be phenomenal. Imagine a movie series that follows a character from being a child herself until the point where she has one!
It’s also one that Pixar has already found a certain amount of success with already. We’ve already had our Toy Story movies (Toy Story 5 is on the way) and while the main characters of those movies don’t technically age, they have continued to grow and evolve as the human characters around them have aged.
The next two years of upcoming Pixar movies are set, with Elio opening later this year, and Hoppers and Toy Story 5 set for release in 2026. After that, the only other project we know is in development is Incredibles 3. If we get an announcement that Inside Out 3 is also coming it would surprise very few people, and probably make a lot of fans very happy.