Inside Out is a film about an 11 year old girl named Riley, but Riley isn't the main character; she's the setting. The film takes place in her mind, following her emotions, Fear (Bill Hader), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Joy (Amy Poehler), Disgust (Mindy Kaling) and Anger (Lewis Black), which director Pete Docter describes as "our version of Walt Disney's Seven Dwarfs," as they help Riley adjust to life in San Francisco after her family relocates there from a small town.
These distinct color-coded characters help Riley to process new experiences and to make memories, which are constantly being recorded within brightly colored orbs that look something like those translucent bath-bubble balls (filed away nightly and then erased in long-term storage by "Forgetters" with a vaguely Minions-like vibe). The inventive opening scene extends from the moment of Riley' birth and the creation of her first memory to the introduction of its five main characters, ending with an encounter between Joy and Sadness where the former can't seem to figure out Sadness' role in the operation. Once the clip ended, Docter explained that Riley and her parents relocate from a quiet rural home to San Francisco at a particularly impressionable age, resulting in a new-school trauma that forces Joy and Sadness out of the control panel and into the far, unfamiliar reaches of her mind.
The film is said to be a revolutionary new way of looking at human emotions that asks viewers to examine and confront their own feelings. Inside Out is slated for release on June 19, 2015.