Director Kelsey Mann On First Oscar Nom & Tapping Into An “Even Deeper Level” For ‘Inside Out 2’

As the highest-grossing animated film of all time, it’s not a surprise that Inside Out 2 was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Animated Feature category this morning. Though that fact didn’t temper the anxiety director Kelsey Mann felt when he set his alarm last night. 

“I’m normally used to having Anxiety drive me at night when something is coming the next morning, but I found that not only was she at the controls, but Joy was there too,” says Mann. “I was really excited to get up and hear what possibly could happen.”

Not only is this special because it’s Mann’s first Oscar nomination, but the recognition for a sequel of a beloved Pixar film is the best part of his morning. “There’s always high expectations for any film that we do at Pixar, but to do one that’s a follow up to a film that everybody loves so dearly… The first Inside Out taps into a very deep personal side to people, and to be able to continue that to an even deeper level was quite an honor.”

The high level of expectation for the film is enough to cause anxiety to begin with, but more unexpected obstacles came with bringing characters back from a movie made almost a decade ago. “When I first started, I thought we could just bring Joy out of the digital box,” he says, “[but] the technology had changed so much that we needed to literally start from scratch and start over, which was surprising to me but afforded us the ability to give them a bit of an upgrade.”

The upgrade in technology was necessary for the new lead character, and the stress of leading a film like this probably also helped with the creation as well. “Anxiety was a really hard character to come up with, technically, design-wise and really character-wise. She went through many different versions to end with the one we ended with, and what Maya Hawke brought to it was absolutely paramount and so helpful to making the character so appealing and relatable.”