Interview: ‘Inside Out 2’ Director Kelsey Mann and Producer Mark Neilsen on Pixar’s Ambitious New Sequel

Back in March, I was at Pixar Headquarters for a preview of Inside Out 2. Shown the first half hour of the film, I was a part of a group that also experienced several elements of making a movie at the studio. The day ended with a conversation that I had with the Inside Out sequel’s director Kelsey Mann and producer Mark Neilsen. Today, I present our conversation about the nearly completed project.

This here is some of what I said about my time at Pixar looking at Inside Out 2:

The themes present in the movie will undoubtedly resonate with teen girls, but everyone should be able to get in on the feels. I found myself not quite choked up early on, but with a definite sense of emotion, no pun intended, watching Riley as a young woman. She’s conflicted by the changes, but watching her navigate is going to be, I think, fairly powerful. We get a little hint of how the new emotions impact her, but the film does seem to be saving the meat and potatoes of it for the rest of the story. That being said, what I saw was an excellent taste.

Visually, Inside Out 2 looks great, with all of the added polish that comes with this being almost a decade after the first film. Riley, especially, looks like a teenager, with all that comes with that. It’s Pixar, so the animation is at the cutting edge, but it completely feels like Inside Out, which is crucial. It needs to look better and evolve with the technological times, but not abandon what worked the first time. From what I say, they’ve succeeded quite well.

Below, you can see my discussion with Mann and Neilsen. It was a bit different to be interviewing someone about a still to be finished work, but we definitely found an interesting angle to tackle. They’re clearly proud of Inside Out 2, so that really came out in the chat. That first 30 minutes suggests that they’ve nailed this film, without question. When we all see the final product, that’ll be the real test, but for now, Mann’s movie is coming together quite nicely.

Here now is my interview with Inside Out 2 director Kelsey Mann and producer Mark Neilsen. Enjoy:

Inside Out 2 is in theaters on June 14th!