35 Inside Out 2 Easter Eggs You May Have Missed

Pixar is known for leaving a wealth of hidden gems for audiences to find in its animated features, and the Inside Out 2 Easter eggs do not disappoint. Even in its first movie, Toy Story (1995), viewers could spot nods to Pixar’s history, like the license plate on Andy’s mom’s car: A113. This same detail also makes an appearance in our list.

These “Easter eggs” give audiences something to look forward to, aside from the quality animation they’ve come to expect from Pixar. The more movies the studio releases, the more references to its past works abound.

This exhaustive list of Easter eggs from Inside Out 2 feature nods to Soul, the first Inside Out film, an old Apple commercial, and even Jerry Macguire. How many did you spot?

Turning Red (2022) was another Disney/Pixar film starring a different teenage girl, Mei, obsessed with the boy band, 4*Town—and it seems Riley is a fan too. Look close enough behind Riley’s headboard in Inside Out 2 when she’s turning off the light before she goes to sleep. You’ll spot a poster featuring the 90s-inspired boy band.

It’s been a few years for Riley since the events of Inside Out (2015) and she’s grown a bit (albeit far less than audiences watching probably have since then). And some of her growing pains include not fitting into the rainbow shirt she wore in the first film. She’s seen struggling to put it on in front of the mirror in her bedroom. 

Bonus Easter Egg

Each color in Riley’s shirt represents the four original emotions.

One hidden reference you might miss if you blink is a wink at Pixar’s upcoming film, Elio (2025). While it’s might seem odd to include a reference to an unreleased movie, Pixar has a history of teasing upcoming releases in the form of Easter eggs.

Keep an eye out when Sadness is sent back to headquarters by Joy. She tumbles out of a tube with a swath of memory orbs where Elio can be seen in one of the orbs just for a brief moment. 

The beloved character from the first movie, and Riley’s now-forgotten imaginary friend, can be seen as an origami figurine. Look for him in a scene where the focus is on Joy sleeping in her bunk. Scan the background and you might spot Bing Bong in folded paper form.

Similar to Bing Bong, the Pizza Planet delivery truck from Toy Story can be seen in origami form near Joy’s beds while she and the other emotions sleep peacefully.

Bonus Easter Egg

The Pizza Planet Truck has been hidden in almost every Pixar film, going as far back as A Bug’s Life (1998). The Easter eggs went “real world” with hidden Pizza Planet trucks at Pixar Fest 2024.

When the emotions get a wake-up call from the demolition team to update the console with Inside Out 2 new emotions, a Soul (2020) reference crashes the scene—literally. Joe’s piano drops seemingly out of nowhere, adding to the chaos of Riley’s changing persona.

In an unused bit from Inside Out, Anger has his own steam room where he goes to decompress, complete with a door shaped just like him. Despite the scene never being used in the first film, the door remained as part of HQ’s environment in Inside Out 2.

The Anger-shaped doorway was repurposed as a place for Nostalgia to emerge from before being shooed back into her nook for latent emotions.

One of “Andy’s Toys” from Toy Story appears in the scene where the emotions are surveying Riley’s Islands in her head and Joy hands Sadness a pair of binoculars. The binoculars are, in fact, a wind-up toy from Toy Story: Lenny.

If this Inside Out 2 Easter egg looks familiar, it’s because Woody uses the binoculars in a similar fashion in the 1995 film.

Of all the Inside Out 2 facts you might not know, the film being the 28th for the studio is one to make note of. And animators made sure to call that out in Riley’s hockey Jersey number.

Bonus Easter Egg

This is similar to Lightning McQueen’s racing number in Cars (2006): 95 — a nod to the year Toy Story was released.

You might not know Jason Deamer by name, but certainly by reputation. If you take a look at Riley’s hockey gear when she’s in full uniform, you’ll see the initials “DMR” printed on her neck guard. This is an insider’s shout out to Pixar art director and character designer, Jason Deamer. 

When Sadness, Fear, Joy, Anger, and Disgust are banished from headquarters by Anxiety, they wind up deep in Riley’s Vault of Secrets. The vault door is labeled “A113” in Roman numerals. Pixar gives a nod to the Cal Arts classroom, number A113, where many design and animation students learned their craft.

Bonus Easter Egg

This Inside Out 2 easter egg isn’t unique to the film. A133 has been referenced almost every Pixar movie plus films like The Brave Little Toaster (1987) and some episodes of The Simpsons.

More of a visual “dad joke” than anything, Anxiety introduces herself to the rest of the emotions holding up a bunch of suitcases. This is a not-so-subtle gag about having “too much baggage”—a phrase often used to describe someone with a loaded history in their past relationships.

If you look closely, you’ll notice Envy only has four fingers on each hand. This was added intentionally in the design of the character. It serves as a metaphor for the character’s desire to want what everyone else has that she doesn’t. 

In Inside Out, Riley’s dreams are created by Dream Productions, a studio inside her head responsible for her subconscious thoughts while she sleeps. When all the emotions are gathered to watch one of Riley’s memories in Inside Out 2, Fear can be seen holding a coffee mug adorned with a logo of the studio. 

Pixar was well aware in the years following Inside Out’s release that viewers had been eyeing Riley’s dad. The studio has the receipts. So when Riley’s dad bites his lip when asking his wife about their weekend plans in an empty house, the animators were playfully giving the fans what they want.

In an interview with Polygon, production designer Jason Deamer conceded, “Well, we cannot let them down.”

This Inside Out 2 Easter egg might only be thrilling for the Pixar animators and other film enthusiasts, but the seal located in Riley’s Vault of Secrets is a reference to the 1985 movie, Brazil, directed by Terry Gilliam. It’s a dark comedy, cult classic, and definitely a reference that would go way over the heads of younger viewers… and maybe even most audience members. 

Bloofy, the main character from a show Riley watched as a young child (and secretly still enjoys as a teen) is an obvious parody of popular cartoon characters geared toward the preschool age crowd.

The purple pup is a mish-mash of Dora the Explorer, Bluey, Disney’s own Mickey Mouse from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, even a little Blue from Blues Clues, for good measure. Bloofy’s sidekick, Pouchy, is also a parody of Backpack from Dora the Explorer.

For any video game enthusiasts out there, you might recognize the character design of Lance Slashblade from Riley’s Vault of Secrets from video games like Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts (specifically the character of Sora). His inability to walk in anything but right angles is also an inside joke for any gamers.

This one gets a little meta. Anxiety enlists a hoard of Mind Workers to draw up the worst-case scenarios for Riley’s life, which only serve keep Riley up at night. This scene is inspired by a 1984 ad for Apple which aired during Super Bowl commercial breaks. The Apple ad itself, set in a dismal future, was inspired by George Orwell’s novel 1984.

Bonus Easter Egg

An Apple computer, like the one advertised in 1984, can be seen in Coco on an employee’s desk in The Land of the Dead.

Pixar director Kelsey Mann explained it wasn’t just Apple’s commercial that inspired the Mind Worker revolt scene. Joy’s speech also takes cues from similar scenes in Jerry Maguire, Field of Dreams, and Normal Rae. 

During Joy’s speech to inspire the Mind Workers, look in the background and you might see a parody of a long-standing internet meme. The “distracted boyfriend” meme appears with Riley holding the hand of a nameless boy as he eyes Val Ortiz, Riley’s hockey idol.

During the production of Inside Out 2, one of Pixar’s key production designers, Ralph Eggleston, passed away. He was known for his work on Pixar shorts like For the Birds and the first Inside Out film. In an interview with Skwigly, Pixar director Kelsey Mann revealed Mind Worker 87 was designed to embody the spirit of Eggleston.

Anger endorses Joy’s speech with one of his own. His speech is inspired by Network‘s (1976) most famous scene where Howard Beale let’s everyone know he’s “not gonna take it anymore!”

Joy builds a pillar of Riley’s imaginary boyfriends in the first Inside Out to help her get back to HQ. They would “die for Riley,” and before helping launch Joy back to HQ, proclaim, “For Riley!”

We hear the same battle cry from one of the Mind Workers in this scene right before sending a chair smashing into screen where Anxiety looks down on them.

In Inside Out, Riley moves to San Francisco after changes in her dad’s job. In the film, we see her dad wearing a shirt with the company logo for Brang. In Inside Out 2, we see Riley wearing a Brang shirt to sleep in. Who hasn’t used an ill-fitting company tee in place of real pajamas?

Bonus Easter Egg

In Soul, an ad for Brang can be seen on the subway.

When the new Inside Out 2 emotions, Anxiety, Envy, Embarrassment, and Ennui introduce themselves, Joy fumbles over pronouncing Ennui’s name. When “onward” spills out of her mouth instead, many viewed this as a reference to Pixar’s fantasy epic, Onward (2020).

Disgust is the only one who flat out admits she doesn’t want to get on the broccoli to potentially get back to HQ with the other emotions. This is a direct callback to the first film where baby Riley turns her nose (and bowl) at the broccoli she’s given for lunch. 

During one of Riley’s hockey matches, you can catch a glimpse a print ad for Spinney’s Pizza. Spinney refers to Carroll Spinney, the long-time performer of Sesame Street’s Big Bird.

Pixar director Kelsey Mann, a longtime fan of The Muppets and Sesame Street, shares in The Art of Inside Out 2 how the film originally included a scene in the pizza shop, but it was cut due to timing.

As a running gag from the first movie, Pixar could not resist throwing the TripleDent Gum ad in one more time, making it the only Inside Out 2 Easter egg with earworm potential. In the scene where Sadness is dumped into HQ with a ton of memory orbs, the new Inside Out characters become distracted by a TripleDent Gum commercial.

Bonus Easter Egg

TripleDent Gum appears as an Easter egg in Onward.

In Inside Out, Riley steals her mom’s credit card to afford getting a ticket back to her home state of Minnesota. This moment in Riley’s life is seen in one of Riley’s bad memories in Inside Out 2.

Jordan is a character briefly seen in Inside Out and better recognized from the short film Riley’s First Date? (2015). The short revolves around Riley’s parents’ suspicion that she’s going on a date with Jordan. In Inside Out 2, Jordan appears as an Easter egg when we see his face carved into Mount Crushmore, alongside Lance Slashblade.

Keep an eye out during the Inside Out 2 end credits and you just might spot a Hidden Mickey. While they usually appear as covert Disney Easter eggs on Disney Parks attractions, this little Mickey head can be seen among the credit’s drawings on a cup of ice cream.

Bonus Easter Egg

Hidden Mickeys are a popular Disney easter egg and can be found in The Little Mermaid (1989) and Lilo & Stitch (2002).

Another Inside Out 2 Easter egg that isn’t unique to the film, is Pixar’s tendency to hide Luxo, the Pixar Ball, in nearly every movie they make. Naturally, they couldn’t help plugging it in again in Inside Out 2. You’ll catch sight of the ball in the scene with Riley’s Parade of Careers, which also features the perplexing profession of Ethnomusicologist.

A quick, but quirky Easter egg in Inside Out 2 comes near the end of the film. When Joy is bringing all the emotions together in the end, she is seen giving Anxiety some tea to soothe her labeled “Anxitea.” A little on-the-nose, but cute nonetheless.

In a scene where the guards are flummoxed after being overrun by the emotions escaping from Riley’s Vault of Secrets, audiences get a brief glimpse of a hat with its interior labeled “My hat.” This is a callback to the first movie where, in a “Who’s on First?” style exchange, two guards argue over who is wearing whose hat, only to reveal the hat isn’t labeled with a name but, instead, “My hat.”

Bonus Easter Egg

The guards’ names are the same as the performers voicing them. Frank and Dave are voiced by Frank Oz and Dave Goelz. Their characters’ likenesses have even been used as McDonald’s Happy Meals toys.