- “I... I know you don't want me to, but... I miss home. I miss Minnesota. You need me to be happy, but... I want my old friends and my hockey team. I want to go home. Please don't be mad.”
- ―A tearful Riley opening up to her parents.
Riley Andersen is a character in Inside Out and Inside Out 2. Both movies take place primarily inside Riley's mind.
History[]
Inside Out[]
Riley Andersen was born in Minnesota. Her first memory was a happy one of seeing her parents. As Riley grew, she formed many more happy memories, as well as some sad, fearful, disgusted, and angry ones. At some point, Riley met and befriended Meg and learned to skate and play hockey. Certain Core Memories in Riley's mind shaped her personality.
When Riley was 11, her parents announced that they would be moving to San Francisco because her father had gotten a job at a startup there. To get through the move, Riley remembered all the things her dad had promised she would get in her new home, like a cool new room. However, when they arrived, Riley was disappointed because the moving van had not arrived and she did not have all her things. Despite this, Riley tried to stay cheerful, starting a game of paper ball hockey in the house to get her parents into a better mood and suggesting a pizzeria for lunch one her dad got called away.
Riley was let down again when the pizzeria only served broccoli pizza. Things started to change in her head and Riley struggled to stay at cheerful as she had been. That night, when Riley went to bed, her mom thanked her for remaining their happy girl, which she said would help Riley's dad as he made the adjustment to his new job. Riley agreed and went to sleep.
The next day, Riley got ready for her first day at her new school. She was happy when she got to school, but when the teacher asked Riley to introduce herself and talk about her life in Minnesota, Riley started to cry, saying she missed Minnesota. That night, while eating dinner, Riley's mom noticed something was different with Riley and tried to probe about her day, only to have Riley shrug her off and then yell at Riley's dad when he asked the same question. He sent Riley to her room and eventually came up to check on her, but Riley refused to speak to him, so he decided to give her space.
Riley did a video call with Meg, who told her about the new girl on Riley's old hockey team. When Meg continued to talk about her, Riley got angry and ended the call.
Riley's mom took her to try out for a new hockey team, but Riley quickly became frustrated when she struggled to perform as well as she was used to. Riley ended up throwing down her stick and leaving the ice without finishing the tryout.
The next day, Riley decided to steal her mom's credit card so she could buy a bus ticket back to Minnesota. Riley bought the ticket and got onto the bus, but after a while, she got sad and decided to get off the bus before it got on the highway.
Riley went home and tearfully told her parents the truth about how she missed Minnesota. They said they missed it as well and they shared happy memories of Minnesota and hugged.
Riley eventually tried out for hockey again and ended up on a team called the Fog Horns. Her parents came to her games and supported her by painting their faces and cheering from the sidelines. Additionally, Riley's personality continued to grow as she went through more experiences.
Riley's First Date?[]
Riley was upstairs in her room when a boy, Jordan, whom she met at the end of the Inside Out, arrived to take her skating. Riley's parents greeted the boy at the front door and immediately suspected that Riley was going out on a date with him.
Riley's mother awkwardly tried to divine more information from Riley by trying to use slang. This only confused and disgusted Riley, who then realized that her mom had left her dad alone with Jordan. They both went downstairs and found Jordan and Riley's dad playing air guitar. Riley's parents then saw Jordan and Riley off.
Mind Candy[]
Riley was sitting at a table when she suddenly perked up.
Inside Out 2[]
As time passed, Riley got used to her life in San Francisco, playing on the Fog Horns and making friends with Grace Hsieh and Bree Young. After winning the championship game, Riley, Grace, and Bree celebrated. Coach Roberts approached them and invited them to come to her skills camp. They all decided go to.
On the day of camp, Riley woke up distressed because her emotions were more sensitive as she started puberty. Riley declared that she was too gross to go to camp or anywhere ever again. Riley's mom assured her that was not true since Riley was just changing.
Riley was able to get ready and Mom and Dad drove her, Grace, and Bree to camp. On the way, Riley expressed how excited she was to show Coach Roberts their skills, as her team, the FireHawks, won the state championship every year and the camp was a way she chose her players. Riley noticed a chance in Bree's expression and wondered what it meant. Finally, Grace revealed that she and Bree were going to a different high school. Riley pretended to be okay with it and promised Grace and Bree they would be friends forever.
When they got to camp, Bree and Grace got right out of the car while Riley's parents made sure she had everything she needed. Riley then went to find Bree and Grace, but ran into Val Ortiz, a senior she knew had been on the FireHawks since she was a freshman. Val had heard of Riley, but mistakenly believed she was from Michigan. Rather than correct her, Riley pretended she was and went with Val to meet some other players instead of going to Bree and Grace.
In the locker room, Val introduced Riley to some other players. Val offered for Riley to sit with them, but she said she wanted to save spots for Grace and Bree. Riley was goofing off with them, taking silly selfies, when Coach Roberts came in and called for them to settle down. They did not and Coach Roberts sent all the players to skate lines. As they did so, she specifically called out Riley for not keeping up. While they were on a break after these drills, Riley overheard Val's friends talk about how immature Riley was. After the friends left, Riley went to talk to Val without revealing that she'd overheard them. Val said that the coach's focus on her meant she was on her radar, which was a good thing. Then she suggested they try to get on the same team for the camp. Riley went back to the ice, where Bree and Grace expected Riley to join their team and were upset to see her join the other team with Val instead.
Riley woke up early the next day to practice before the rest of the players arrived. She was doing so when Val came in, impressed at Riley's dedication. Riley asked Val about being on the FireHawks as a freshman and Val said it was hard, but rewarding. Her teammates became her friends. Once the other players arrived, they played a game and Riley scored a goal. Once the game was over, Coach Roberts sent the players to relax. Riley went with Val and her friends. They walked past Coach Roberts' office, where they looked at her red notebook and the others told Riley that everything Roberts thought about her was written in that book.
Riley struggled with trying to fit in with the older players, embarrassing herself when she said that Get Up and Glow was her favorite band. Riley tried to save it by pretending she was being sarcastic, surprising Grace and Bree, who heard her and reminded they had just gone to a Get Up and Glow concert and had a great time.
As they decided to break up and get some rest, Val told Riley to get some rest before the scrimmage the next day. Roberts always had one and Val made the team as a freshman by scoring two goals in the game, something no freshman had ever done before. Val told Riley that she would be great and encouraged her to be herself.
Overwhelmed, Riley tossed and turned that night, unable to sleep. She fell asleep briefly before waking up and deciding to steal the notebook from Coach Roberts' office. Riley was stunned when the notebook said she was not ready yet. Determined to prove herself, Riley dyed part of her hair red in the locker room, like the FireHawks had done, and set out to score three goals in the game. When Val and her friends came in, Val asked if Riley had gotten any sleep. Riley admitted she had not because she was too nervous about the game.
Riley played very aggressively in the game, refusing to pass to her teammates and even stealing the puck from them to score two goals. As Riley tried for a third, she missed the goal several times, frustrating her. As Riley went for another try, she ran into Grace, knocking her over. For this, Riley was sent to the penalty box while they checked on Grace. In the penalty box, Riley was overwhelmed by anxious feelings and had a panic attack. Finally, Riley was able to calm down as Grace and Bree entered the box. She apologized for how she had treated them and said she freaked out when they said they were going to a different school. Riley hoped they could forgive her someday. Bree and Grace stacked their fists with hers and then hugged her before calling Riley back into the game.
Later, after Riley had returned to school, she sat with the FireHawks at lunch as she waited for an email from Coach Roberts, which was supposed to come that day and tell her whether or not she made the team. When Riley's phone chimed, she checked it and found a silly selfie from Grace and Bree, which made her feel better. Val reminded Riley there was always next year if she did not make the team. Riley's phone chimed and she checked it and smiled.
Personality[]
Riley's emotions contribute to her primary behavior in the film. Overall, Riley is happy, honest, and goofy when she is content. However, in her preteen years, Riley becomes more sentimental, a little bit shy, and uncertain of herself as her other emotions begin appearing. By the time her family moves to San Francisco, Riley starts to be more troubled, annoyed, and lonely. Her emotions at this point try to help her get adjusted to the new life. Riley can second-guess herself, but she does not always repent her actions.
Riley really misses Minnesota and is unable to cope with the transition. However, Riley fears letting her parents know that she is upset since they want her to accept the new home and that she has always been their "happy girl." However, as more time passes, Riley becomes emotionally vulnerable, entering a sort of apathetic depression and coming to the point where she tries to run away, almost losing herself in the process. However, it is here that Riley realizes she had almost given up on the things that matter most to her in life and realizes the risk just in time. Returning home and admitting to her parents that she is greatly depressed, Riley learns to accept San Francisco when her parents comfort her over the personal loss, and Riley (with the guide of her emotions) eventually adapts to her new home.
As Riley enters adolescence, she develops a tendency to not communicate with her parents, even in times when she should be so, such as her panic attack at Hockey Camp and her crisis about keeping friends at her new school. Riley has also developed a sarcastic edge to her personality, occasionally leading her to be disciplined by her parents. Like many adolescents, Riley is also prone to radical and random mood-swings when under pressure. However, Riley continues to be a sweet and kind teenager who loves spending time with her friends and is shown as bitterly regretting her mistakes, often being reduced to tears by remorse.
Notes and Trivia[]
- Riley's mind was built at Hong Kong Disneyland during the Coolest Summer Ever event in 2015. Guests could enter her mind and meet Joy and Sadness from the Art of Animation exhibition in the Opera House on Main Street USA.[source?]
- In the dinner scene, Riley with her parents are eating from Chinese food boxes of the same type as the one seen in A Bug's Life and many other Pixar films.[source?]
- In said teaser trailer, the playground seen in Riley's Memory Orbs is taken from Sunnyside Daycare in Toy Story 3.[source?]
- Riley is ambidextrous, using her left hand when drawing Bing Bong on the walls as a toddler and shooting the puck in hockey, and her right hand when she is eating.
- Riley used to stick her tongue out while drawing, according to Joy.
- Riley and Troy are the only characters in the film to have emotions of both genders.
- According to Pete Docter, this was done to make them as diverse as possible, while the emotions of other persons were uniformized for quick readability. He states that it's "a little phony, but hopefully people don't mind."[source?]
- When going into the minds of various characters, the film (and even short) seems to suggest that some children and teenagers have emotions of the same gender while all adults' emotions are the same gender.
- Riley's yelling, screaming, and crying when she was a toddler are actually recycled recordings of Boo's shouting and crying from Monsters, Inc.[source?]
- Riley is inspired by Pete Docter's daughter, Elie (the voice of Young Ellie in Up). As a child, Elie was outgoing and goofy, but when she turned 12, she became more introverted and quiet.[source?]
- Riley is known to have coulrophobia and arachnophobia, a fear of clowns and spiders, respectively.
- Riley makes a cameo in Finding Dory when she and her class go see Destiny.[source?]
- In the video game Disney Infinity 3.0, Joy mentions that Riley loves kittens.
Gallery[]
Quotes[]
- Who's your friend that likes to play? Bing Bong, Bing Bong!
- Pretty much everyone in my family skates. It's kind of a family tradition.
- Stop saying everything is all right!
- I'm TOO GROSS to go to camp or ANYWHERE ever AGAIN!
- Ew, Mom. It's not a date!
- I'M THE WOORRRRST!!!
References[]
v - e - d  | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|