Inside Out 2 has become one of 2024’s biggest successes, and it’s now proving why Pixar is reversing its stance on sequels. As it’s now a tradition for the studio, Pixar keeps releasing at least one movie per year, and 2024 saw the long-awaited release of Inside Out 2. Directed by Kelsey Mann, Inside Out 2 reunited the audience with Riley Andersen (voiced by Kensington Tallman), now a 13-year-old, and the emotions in charge of everything at the Headquarters in her head: Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Disgust (Liza Lapira), Fear (Tony Hale), and Anger (Lewis Black).

Inside Out 2 follows Riley as she enters puberty and attends a weekend hockey camp with her best friends, who tell her they won’t be attending the same high school. To make it more complicated for Riley, a group of new emotions arrive at the Headquarters: Anxiety, Envy, Ennui, and Embarrassment. Anxiety takes over, and Riley goes through new and complex emotions that soon get out of control. Inside Out 2 was a huge critical and commercial success, proving why Pixar is changing its mind about sequels and why Disney should follow.

Inside Out 2’s Success Proves Disney Sequels Can Work

Inside Out 2 Was A Massive Box Office Success

Inside Out is one of Pixar’s most popular and praised works, thanks to its originality and how it covered complex themes in a light and fun way. Unlike other studios, Pixar isn’t one that makes many sequels, the only ones being the Toy Story saga, the Cars movie series, Finding Dory, The Incredibles 2, and now Inside Out 2, but the studio recently changed its stance on sequels. In May 2024, it was revealed Pixar is considering a reboot, with certain franchises eyed for new projects, in addition to the development of Toy Story 5.

Monsters Inc.
got a prequel in 2013 titled
Monsters University
.

Following Inside Out 2’s success, Pixar is more than likely to carry on with its plan to produce more sequels, which should be a huge lesson for Disney. In addition to its 90% critics score and 95% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, Inside Out 2 grossed $1.697 billion against a $200 million budget, breaking many box-office records and becoming the highest-grossing animated movie of all time. Inside Out 2 proved that sequels can work (with the right story, of course), which should be enough evidence for Disney to choose sequels over remakes.

Disney has been riding the wave of live-action remakes for too long to the point of exhaustion, yet it still has more in development. However, it seems like Disney might have taken note of Inside Out 2’s success, as a new Frozen movie was teased during 2024’s D23, but it’s to be seen if there will be more sequels in Disney’s future and fewer remakes.

Why Disney’s Focus On Original Movies Over Sequels Didn’t Last Long

Disney Has Struggled Lately To Find Exciting Stories

In recent years, Disney planned to focus on original movies rather than on sequels, though it continued to expand the Frozen franchise. Disney has had some recent hits with original movies, such as Encanto, but others, like Wish, were a massive disappointment and failure. Seeing the success of Pixar’s sequels might have given a hint to Disney that there’s still interest in expanding well-known and successful stories, prompting the studio to focus on sequels again and leave original movies behind for a while.

Inside Out 2’s massive success will surely set an example for Disney and other studios as well, more so at a time when trends like reboots and legacy sequels are at their peak. Surely, not all movies need sequels, but Disney has a wide catalog of movies that could benefit from a continuation rather than a remake.