What emotions didn't make the cut for Inside Out 2? Here's a couple!

Inside Out 2 is the biggest Pixar hit in years, but it could have been packed with even more emotions! Find out what characters got cut!

Just when folks were worried about Pixar losing their touch with audiences, Inside Out 2 has silenced the doubts. The movie had a stunning $155 million opening weekend and has been keeping up with the trends, hinting that it could still make $100 million for its second weekend. That makes it the most profitable Pixar film since 2019's Toy Story 4 and likely a third film coming.

The movie brought back the five key emotions from the 2016 film in Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear and Disgust, all residing in the mind of young Riley. When Riley becomes a teenager, new emotions come in with Anxiety, Ennui, Embarrassment and Envy. The conflict between the emotions on what's best for Riley fuels the movie's story.

The film has succeeded but director Kelsey Mann has shared there were different plans. That includes telling Collider that Anxiety was meant to be more the pure villain, but as they worked on the film, he felt it better that Anxiety truly means well to help Riley; she just goes about it the wrong way. 

Mann also told Entertainment Weekly he had planned to introduce a whopping nine emotions to the film only to realize how unwieldy that would be to harm the story.

"I overwhelmed her with all these new emotions showing up. And not only did I overwhelm Joy, I overwhelmed the audience. There were too many. Anxiety was always there. She was one of the nine that showed up. But the first note I got was, 'That's fantastic, but there's so much noise around her that you're losing your focus.' So, I ended up stripping it down to the emotions that we have now in the final film."

That seemed a good idea as balancing 14 characters plus Riley and her friends would have been far too distracting for the story. We do have an idea just what emotions didn't make the final cut. 

What emotions were going to be in Inside Out 2?

In a post from a red carpet interview at the film's premiere, Mann and producer Mark Nielsen shared at least two emotions that were cut with Mann saying he had a fun one. 

"There's an emotion I wish we could get into the movie, we tried it. Schadenfreude , it's a German expression. It's the feeling you get taking pleasure in someone else's pain. So we had him showing up, he was like this German character and Fear hit him on his head and he'd go "ah, I could use the pain, amuse me' in a German accent. "

Nielsen added that Ayo Edebiri, who voiced Envy, might have done double duty as identical twin Jealousy. 

"Jealousy was in the movie too as a twin with Envy. They were identical twins who no one could tell apart and they got confused by it. But then we did the research and found out they really are different emotions so it didn't make much sense. So we went back and just kept Envy. "

It's possible that if a third movie is made (and given the sequel is such a hit, it's hard not to see that happen), some of these emotions can pop up. There's also the planned Disney+ series that can use them as Riley grows up.

It's possible that as Riley grows, some emotions can fade a bit into the background and new ones enter, allowing the filmmakers to balance them out better. It also shows how people change emotionally as they get older.

It proves how Inside Out 2 had such a wide range of characters that a few were cut but still could pop up to continue the franchise's terrific success.

Inside Out 2 now in theaters.