Before delving into these emotions, it’s important to highlight the sequel. “Inside Out” not only captivated audiences but also solidified its status as a Pixar classic, leading to the creation of “Inside Out 2.” Released in 2024, this much-anticipated sequel follows a teenage Riley, now voiced by Kensington Tallman, and quickly became a blockbuster sensation. However, casting changes for certain emotions added a layer of intrigue to the sequel. Here’s a look at the real-life voices behind these endearing characters, spanning both the original and the sequel.

When it comes to embodying joy itself, Amy Poehler is an impeccable choice. Her voice, brimming with warmth and exuberance, introduces us to Riley right from birth, as Joy becomes the first emotion to appear. Poehler’s portrayal captures Joy’s relentless happiness, which sometimes blinds her to solving problems. But where else might you recognize Poehler?

Phyllis Smith, with her uniquely melancholic tone, perfectly voices Sadness in both “Inside Out” films. Her voice resonates like Eeyore’s from “Winnie the Pooh,” embodying the second emotion to emerge in Riley’s mind, as Joy explains when a baby Riley cries. Despite Joy’s efforts to sideline her, the first film poignantly illustrates that true happiness cannot exist without sadness.

Smith’s journey to fame began unexpectedly on “The Office,” where she transitioned from casting director to actor, earning widespread acclaim. Beyond her role in “Inside Out,” Smith has appeared in projects like Cameron Diaz’s comedy “Bad Teacher” and the whimsical film “Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar.” Her ability to portray Sadness with depth and humor underscores her talent and versatility.

With the utmost due respect to Phyllis Smith, she’s uniquely perfect as the voice of Sadness in both “Inside Out” movies; her dour, low voice sounds like Eeyore, the depressed donkey from the “Winnie the Pooh” franchise. Sadness is the second emotion to join Riley’s brain — something we learn from Joy when a baby Riley starts crying — and even though Joy tries to circumvent her at every turn, an important lesson throughout the first “Inside Out” film is that you can’t truly experience happiness without sadness. 

Smith, of course, got her start on “The Office” after simply reading with other actors as a casting director — and the American adaptation of the cult British favorite made her into a huge star. Besides “The Office” and “Inside Out,” you can see Smith in projects like Cameron Diaz’s delightfully dirty movie “Bad Teacher” and the absurd, hysterical 2020 film “Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar.”

Riley’s Fear emotion plays second fiddle to Joy and Sadness, and it’s pretty self-explanatory — though Fear tends to overreact to everything, his main goal is simply to keep Riley safe and happy. So who voices Fear in the “Inside Out” movies? That’s actually a bit complicated.

In the first “Inside Out” movie, “Saturday Night Live” veteran Bill Hader beautifully voices Fear — and you can see Hader in a wide variety of projects like his exceptional HBO original comedy “Barry” and movies like “It: Chapter Two,” “Superbad,” and “Forgetting Sarah Marshall.” Despite being a Pixar stalwart who’s also lent his voices to movies like “Finding Dory,” “Toy Story 4,” and “Monsters University,” Hader didn’t return for “Inside Out 2” in 2024. So who replaced him?

That would be Tony Hale, who made waves with comedy nerds as the meek and bizarre Buster Bluth on “Arrested Development” before winning multiple Emmys for his role as Gary Walsh on “Veep,” a man utterly devoted to his politically ambitious boss Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus). As it happens, Hale is also a Pixar go-to; before “Inside Out 2,” he voiced Forky in “Toy Story 4.”

In the first “Inside Out” film, Joy, Sadness, and Fear are eventually joined by Disgust, an emotion who hates broccoli and casts judgment on everything and everyone — and in that movie, she’s voiced by Mindy Kaling. In “Inside Out 2,” though, Disgust gets a new voice: Liza Lapira. So why do we know both of these performers?

Kaling, like Smith, got her start on “The Office” as ditzy customer service representative Kelly Kapoor, though she also worked as a writer on the hit NBC series. After that, Kaling created shows like “The Mindy Project,” on which she also starred, and popular coming-of-age stories like “Never Have I Ever” on Netflix and the sadly-canceled “Sex Lives of College Girls” on HBO Max. (She’s also the creator of Kate Hudson’s buzzy sports comedy “Running Point” on Netflix.) As for Lapira, you might have seen her on the super-underrated “Don’t Trust the B**** in Apartment 23” alongside Krysten Ritter and the late James Van Der Beek, and she’s also appeared in recurring roles on “NCIS” and a main role on the CBS reboot of “The Equalizer.”

If you’re at all familiar with stand-up comedian and actor Lewis Black, you know exactly why he’s such a perfect pick to voice Anger. Black’s work is frequently characterized by intentionally tongue-in-cheek, rage-fueled outbursts, and it’s genuinely sublime to watch him play the concept of fury. So where have you seen and heard Black before?

Again, Black is a seriously prolific stand-up comedian who’s also appeared on shows like “The Daily Show,” but he’s also a delightfully funny actor. You might remember him from his supporting role in the Justin Long-led college comedy “Accepted,” and on the small screen, he’s appeared on shows like “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” “The Big Bang Theory,” and the 2016 biopic miniseries “Madoff.”

If you want to make an “Inside Out” fan cry immediately, just mention Bing Bong, Riley’s imaginary friend voiced by Hollywood stalwart Richard Kind. In the first movie, Joy and Sadness journey through Riley’s memories, mind, and consciousness as they try to recover a core memory — and along the way, they meet Bing Bong, a discarded mental concept from the days where Riley was young enough to have an imaginary friend. Bing Bong, an elephant dressed in what seems to be a clown costume, ends up helping Joy find her way to the Memory Dump, where she discovers the core memory … and Bing Bong sacrifices himself to the wilds of the Memory Dump so that Joy can use his magical wagon and escape. Even for a Pixar movie, this moment is devastating, made all the more emotional by Bing Bong’s final words (Take her to the moon for me. Okay?”).

Kind is one of those guys who’s just sort of been in everything. Across his long and storied career, Kind has appeared in “Mad About You,” “Spin City,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” and “Only Murders in the Building” in main and recurring roles, and he’s also popped up in movies like “Tick, Tick … Boom!” and “Beau is Afraid.” Kind is also the support for John Mulaney on the comedian’s brilliantly niche Netflix late-night show “Everybody’s Live with John Mulaney.”

It makes sense that, in the years between “Inside Out” and “Inside Out 2,” Riley would bring some new emotions into the fray … and arguably, the most important newcomer in “Inside Out 2” is Anxiety. Voiced by Maya Hawke, Anxiety kicks out the original emotions and steers Riley’s mental ship until Joy can regain control, which, as you can imagine, makes Riley’s life pretty difficult since she’s operating at her most anxious level possible. (Though Anxiety argues that she’s only trying to make Riley’s life better and easier, she absolutely does not.) So where have you seen Hawke before? 

Hawke comes from a formidable pedigree — her parents are Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke, and she was genetically blessed with the former’s looks and the latter’s unbelievable charisma. After her breakout role Season 3 of “Stranger Things” as fan-favorite character Robin Buckley, Hawke played that role until “Stranger Things” ended on the first day of 2026 and has also appeared in projects like “Do Revenge” and “Wildcat.” Hawke is also an accomplished musician who’s released several albums.

Another new emotion in “Inside Out 2” is Envy, a turquoise pipsqueak who drives Riley to seek things that other people want (an impulse that doesn’t necessarily serve her well, especially when she’s trying to snag a place on her new school’s ice hockey team). Envy tends to work in tandem with Anxiety, and if you’ve ever experienced either of those emotions, you know they can be pretty toxic together. So who voices Envy?

That would be Ayo Edebiri, a favorite from Hulu’s “The Bear” who’s won multiple awards for her performance on that series as chef Sydney Adamu — including a Golden Globe and an Emmy. Besides “The Bear,” Edebiri has shown up in lead roles in delightful projects like the absolutely absurd high school comedy “Bottoms” and the similarly absurd indie comedy “Theater Camp” as well as dramas like “Opus” and “After the Hunt.” She’s also somehow found time to play guest roles on shows like “Abbott Elementary” and “Dickinson.” Edebiri is also no stranger to voice acting; she’s voiced characters in “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem.” 

Everyone knows that, as you approach your teenage years, you start taking on a disaffected tone and attitude to prove that you’re way too cool to care. This is beautifully depicted in “Inside Out 2,” during which Riley is 13 years old, by Ennui, a phone-addicted character who doesn’t care about anything voiced by Adèle Exarchopoulos. So why is Exarchopoulos familiar?

If you’re a Francophile or fan of French cinema, you might be familiar with Exarchopoulos, a Parisian native who won a César Award (the French equivalent of an Oscar) for “Blue is the Warmest Colour” alongside her co-star Léa Seydoux. (Exarchopoulos went on to win a second César for her project “All Your Faces” and has received several nominations.) Exarchopoulos is a celebrated actor in France, and roles like Ennui in “Inside Out 2” help her reach a much wider audience — and hopefully, adults who saw “Inside Out 2” will check out her vast body of work in French cinema.

The final new emotion to join the gang in “Inside Out 2” is Embarrassment, who nicely rounds out the quartet that also includes Anxiety, Envy, and Ennui. Embarrassment doesn’t talk all that much — because, well, he’s easily embarrassed. Most of the time, he can be found shrinking into his own sweatshirt inside Riley’s mind. So who voices Embarrassment when he does talk?

Embarrassment is voiced by Paul Walter Hauser, an actor who’s proven that he can handle both comedic and dramatic roles with ease. Hauser notably won an Emmy and Golden Globe for the 2022 miniseries “Black Bird,” where he plays real-life murderer Larry Hall, and he rose to prominence in another true crime drama, the 2019 film “Richard Jewell.” He also memorably played the world’s most loyal wife guy (and amateur theater star) in a memorable sketch from Season 2 of Tim Robinson’s award-winning Netflix sketch series “I Think You Should Leave,” so clearly, the guy’s got range.

Because Pixar is such a huge and renowned animation studio, they bring in some pretty big names for supporting roles in their movies — and that’s definitely true of both “Inside Out” movies, where Riley’s parents are voiced by two veteran stars. Riley’s mom, who’s just referred to as “Mom,” is patient, kind, caring, and has her own coterie of emotions that we briefly visit; she’s also voiced by Diane Lane.

Lane, who’s been nominated for Oscars and Emmys throughout her long and illustrious career, has appeared in everything from “My Dog Skip” to “Unfaithful” to “Under the Tuscan Sun,” plus popcorn fare like “Must Love Dogs” and “Nights in Rodanthe.” In recent years, she’s returned to stage work and made time for projects like Ryan Murphy’s biopic miniseries “Feud: Capote vs. The Swans,” where she plays real life socialite Slim Keith.

With Diane Lane voicing Riley’s mom, who gets to voice her dad in both “Inside Out” movies? Riley’s lovable, well-meaning, and goofy stereotypical dad is voiced by none other than Kyle McLachlan. 

It’s honestly hard to say what McLachlan is best known for — he’s been working for so long in such a wonderful variety of movies and TV shows that it feels like he’s part of a different classic for each generation. Obviously, MacLachlan originated the role of special FBI agent Dale Cooper in David Lynch’s game-changing series “Twin Peaks,” a role he originated in the 2017 reboot and the film “Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me” — and MacLachlan also worked alongside Lynch for years, as the two were close friends up until Lynch passed away in early 2025. MacLachlan is also known to an entire generation of fans as Trey MacDougal, first husband to Kristen Davis’s Charlotte York on “Sex and the City,” and the guy just keeps taking on cool projects; in 2024, he took on a role as Hank McLean, father of Ella Purnell’s protagonist Lucy, in the Amazon adaptation of the popular video game “Fallout.” 

As for both “Inside Out” movies, they’re streaming on Disney+ now.