Inside Out 2 ending explained: does Riley make it onto the Firehawks, what is her Deep Dark Secret?

• Inside Out 2 has arrived on Disney Plus and can be watched at home.
• The film introduces a number of new emotions including Anxiety, Envy, Embarrassment and Ennui.
• But the ending might leave some fans confused.

Pixar fans have been able to return to the mind of Riley in the comfort of their own homes as the hit animated movie arrived on Disney Plus. After dominating the box office during the summer, becoming the highest grossing film of the year, it is now available on streaming.

The film once again follows the emotions inside Riley’s mind - including all of your favourites from the beloved original: Joy, Sadness, Disgust, Anger and Fear. However the well oiled machine soon hits the rocks once she hits puberty and new emotions enter the frame.

Played by Stranger Things’ Maya Hawke, Anxiety is a new foil for Joy and all her best laid plans. Other new emotions include The Bear’s Ayo Edebiri as Envy, Adèle Exarchopoulos as Ennui and Paul Walter Hauser as Embarrassment.

But the ending is slightly more ambiguous than you may have been expecting from a Pixar movie. So let’s take a look at what happened and see if we can clear it up.

Spoilers for Inside Out 2 including the final scene and the post credit stinger. Full spoilers to follow do not read if you haven’t watched the movie.

What happens at the end of Inside Out 2?

Much of the film revolves around Riley’s desire to impress Coach Roberts during a three-day ice hockey camp and make the Firehawks team alongside her hero Valentina "Val" Ortiz. But a spanner is thrown in the works when her friends and teammates Grace and Bree reveal on the drive over to the camp that they will be going to a different high school to Riley.

During this time, inside her mind there is a struggle between Joy and the old emotions from the first film and the new ones that have emerged since she hit puberty - led by Anxiety.

Introduced early in the film is the key concept of Riley’s ‘Sense of Self’, a set of foundational beliefs that make up her personality. Treasured by Joy, it originally appears as a beautiful blue trophy however Anxiety sends it to the back of the mind - with negative memories that Joy has purged over the years.

While Joy and the original gang of emotions set off on a quest to recover Riley’s ‘Sense of Self’, Anxiety sets about creating a new one - driven by fears of being left friendless in high school and failing to make the hockey team.

Desperate to impress in the final scrimmage, Riley - under Anxiety’s control - first sneaks into Coach Roberts’ office to look in her red notebook. Discovering that she is not considered ready for the Firehawks, it causes Anxiety to push her too hard during the game and hurt’s Grace in her misguided bid to impress. Sent to the penalty box, Riley begins to have a panic attack.

After reaching the back of the mind, Joy recovers the original ‘Sense of Self’ but in order to return it to headquarters the emotions use dynamite to create an avalanche of the purged memories, causing them all to spill into the pool of memories that makes up Riley’s ‘Sense of Self’. Joy and Anxiety realise they cannot control who Riley will be and together all the emotions allow a new ‘Sense of Self’, powered by the good memories and the bad memories, to form, calming her and giving her the opportunity to reconcile with Grace and Bree.

The film ends with Riley starting at Bay Area High School, eating lunch with Val and the Firehawks while also remaining friends with Grace and Bree. The new and old emotions are now working in harmony inside headquarters.

In the final moments of the movie, Riley is waiting on the list of those who have made the Firehawks team to be confirmed. She receives the message after opening her locker and smiles proudly.

Does Riley make the Firehawks team?

The ending of the film is ambiguous, it does not explicitly state whether Riley made the team or not - instead leaving it up to interpretation. The smile on her face at the end seems to suggest she got good news, but it is left up to viewers to interpret the final moments (a bit like the ending of Inception).

What was Riley’s Deep Dark Secret?

During an earlier part of the movie, Joy and the old emotions are locked up in Riley’s Mind Vault - an area where her secrets are stored. The film introduces Bloofy, a kid’s show character that Riley secretly still likes, his sidekick Pouchy (who plays a role in the film’s climax), her old video game crush Lance Slashblade and Riley’s Deep Dark Secret.

It is not revealed at this moment what her secret was and seemingly as the credits begin it appears as if this thread will be left unresolved. However in the film’s post credit scene, Joy returns to the vault to discover what the Deep Dark Secret was - and it is revealed that she once burned a hole in the rug.

What was your favourite moment in Inside Out 2 and did it live up to your expectations? Share your thoughts by emailing our tech writer: [email protected].