Real Life Riley: The Story of the Sweet Girl Who Inspired the ‘Inside Out’ Movies.

The furor over ‘Inside Out 2’ doesn’t end in theaters. The Pixar film has been the talk of the town since its June 13 premiere, leading fans to ask all kinds of questions about the plot, learn weird facts, and even create memes about the film. One detail that has recently emerged has to do with the inspiration behind Riley.

The Real-Life Girl Who Inspired Riley From ‘Inside Out’

Pete Docter, director and co-writer of the first film, has stated in numerous interviews that the idea for the film and the teenager it focuses on came from real life. Specifically, from his personal life: his daughter Elie and his transition into adolescence inspired him to create ‘Intensely’.

A curious fact is that Elie Docter has another connection to Pixar films: she voiced young Ellie, from ‘Up’.

According to Docter, when her daughter was young, she looked a lot like this character: happy, energetic and brave. However, the changes of puberty made her quieter and withdrawn, so he wanted to know what was going on in her mind. This is how ‘Intensely’ was born. When the first film was released, the young woman was already 16 years old.

In that sense, that first episode also tried to portray Riley’s parents’ difficulties in accepting that their daughter’s childhood is ending.

This somehow carried over to Joy, who takes on a parental role with Riley, seeking to protect her from grief or calling her “our girl”.

“Inside Out 2” had an advisory group of teenagers

While the first ‘Inside Out’ movie was based on a real-life girl, the sequel went with a whole group of teenagers to make it more realistic.

In “Inside Out 2,” Riley turns 13 and puberty leads her to experience all kinds of changes, as well as new and more complex emotions.

To ensure that the experience of a teenage girl would be best portrayed, the creators asked Pixar to assemble a group of teenagers from different parts of the United States and backgrounds. The team was called ‘Riley’s Crew’ and each version of the film was shown to them to get their opinion on what was represented on screen.

“It was an incredible help. They tell us what is right and wrong, what resonates with them and what doesn’t. The only way to do it is to go straight to the source,” director Kelsey Mann told Entertainment Weekly.

Let us know in the comments what you think of Riley after learning these details from ‘Inside Out’.