How we cite our quotes: All quotes are from Inside Out.
Quote #1
MOM: The drive out was pretty fun, huh? What was your favorite part?
ANGER: Spitting out the car window!
DISGUST: Definitely not when Dad was singing!
FEAR: Wearing a seat belt!
JOY: Oh, what about the time with the dinosaur?
ANGER: Oh!
FEAR: That's the one.
DISGUST: Definitely.
This exchange shows how emotions affect the perception of experiences and contribute to the memories being made. Anger, Fear, and Disgust all took the same drive, but, at least initially, they all had different aspects of the experience come to the forefront when Mom asks.
Quote #2
JOY: Sadness, you nearly touched a core memory. And when you touch them, we can't change them back.
The movie seems to suggest that once a memory's tinged with sadness it can't be, uh, un-tinged. (No, that's not a word. Just go with us here.) Is that necessarily a bad thing?
Quote #3
MEG: Do you like it there? Did you feel any earthquakes? Is the bridge cool?
RILEY: Yeah, it's good. What happened with the playoffs?
MEG: We won the first game. Coach says we might actually go to the finals this year. Oh, and we've got this new girl on the team. She's so cool.
DISGUST: Uh, she did not just say that.
FEAR: A new girl? Meg has a new friend already?
DISGUST: Hey, hey! Stay happy. We do not want to lose any more islands here, guys!
MEG: We can pass the puck to each other without even looking. It's like mind reading!
ANGER: You like to read minds, Meg? I got something for you to read, right here!
FEAR: Let's just be calm for one second!
Anger shoves Fear out of the frame and blows his top.
MEG: I heard they have parrots—
RILEY: I've got to go.
After the move to San Francisco, land of nasty pizza and no frozen ponds, Riley's missing Minnesota something fierce. When Meg acknowledges that life has continued to move on there without her, it upsets Riley. A lot. Minnesota as she remembers it is changing, and she can't live in the past.
Quote #4
JOY: It is so great to see you again. I gotta tell you; I am such a huge fan of your work. Do you remember when you and Riley were in a band? I went to all of your concerts.
BING BONG: Yeah, I blow a mean nose.
JOY: Watching you play tag was such a treat.
BING BONG: Two-time world champ.
JOY: Oh, and remember your rocket?
BING BONG: Of course! It runs on song power!
Bing Bong is a walking, candy-crying, part-dolphin embodiment of our complicated relationship with memory and the past. For a while, Bing Bong was Riley's BFF. He was such a big deal that Joy's downright star struck when she finds him making mischief in the corridors of Long-Term Memory. That's the thing, though: he's just wandering around out there, without a home, forgotten.
Quote #5
SADNESS: What exactly are you supposed to be?
BING BONG: You know, it's unclear. I'm mostly cotton candy. But shape-wise, I'm part cat, part elephant, part dolphin.
JOY: Dolphin?
Bing Bong makes dolphin noises.
BING BONG: You gotta remember: when Riley was three, animals were all the rage. The cow goes moo. The horse goes neigh. That's all people talked about back then.
Since toddler Riley's imagination created him, Bing Bong's literally a product of the past, of a different period in Riley's life. C'mon, Shmoopers: What does the kitty say?
Quote #6
BING BONG: Take her to the moon for me. Okay?
Bing Bong gives this directive to Joy after he sacrifices himself so Joy can make it back to Headquarters and restore Riley's happiness. Back in the day, he and little Riley had big plans to take their "rocket ship" to the moon together. Now, stuck in the Memory Dump, Bing Bong fades from her memory permanently. (No, we're not crying. You're crying. Okay, maybe we teared up a little bit.)
Quote #7
RILEY: I know you don't want me to, but I miss home. I miss Minnesota. You need me to be happy, but I want my old friends, and my hockey team. I want to go home. Please don't be mad.
MOM: Sweetie.
DAD: We're not mad. You know what? I miss Minnesota, too. I miss the woods where we took hikes.
MOM: And the backyard where you used to play.
DAD: Spring Lake, where you learned to skate. Come here.
Dad gives Riley a big hug as she cries.
Opening up to her parents like this is a pretty big breakthrough for Riley, communication-wise. The fact that her parents are also missing the past in their own ways sends an important message to Riley that it's okay to be sad about awesome stuff you used to have, but don't have anymore. That cocktail of joy and sadness is called nostalgia, and it means our girl Riley's growing up.