The insides of our heads have been given color, voices and a name. Based inside the mind of an 11-year-old, Headquarters is home to the five emotions working the control room inside Riley’s head as she experiences some life changing events. Directed by Pete Docter and produced by Jonas Rivera, Inside Out takes you into a delightfully original and emotional animation.

Describing Doctor as a real artist, Bill Hader says, “It’s one of the most beautiful films I’ve ever seen, you know. It’s an expression of him. He saw his daughter going through this thing and said ‘wow what’s going on with that’ and it just came out of him in this way. That’s what’s so great about Pixar is that they trust their vision.” Docter explains that personal life experiences are what inspire their stories to be “put up on the screen. I don’t think there’s been anything that’s impacted me as strongly as having been a parent. So that experience just continues to inspire and challenge and move us in ways that everybody can resonate with.”

The emotions, which represent the voices in our head, are brought to life by a comedic ensemble voice cast. Amy Poehler is Joy, Bill Hader is Fear, Mindy Kaling is Disgust, Lewis Black is Anger, and Phyllis Smith is Sadness. On choosing the emotions, “We did a lot of research and that’s where this came from. There is no consensus up on scientists about how many emotions there actually are. Some say three. Some say 170… We arrived at five, mainly because it’s a nice odd number,” comments Docter.

Both Docter and Rivera, who’ve been at Pixar for over twenty years, share their passion for animation. The two have worked in Monsters, Toy Story and Up. Rivera says, “It is always about character and emotion and that feeling.” They admit that while they don’t sit around consciously thinking what their next big movie is going to be, their strategy is simply thinking, “What do we want to see? What did we love seeing when we were kids? What do we want to take our families to? What are we going to be proud of? Let’s aim for that,” adds Rivera.

Each character has a certain individuality that is unlikely to be imagined being played by anyone other than the chosen ensemble. On voicing Disgust, Mindy Kaling admits, “She kinda says the things I say on a really bad day. The things I want to say but then don’t say.” Lewis Black, whose sarcastic and cynical comedy appeals greatly to his character, clears up, “The use of the f-word does not represent Disney or Pixar.” He continues between laughs, “My family argued all the time. That’s what we did. That was the way we expressed love and it’s always been so many that kind of anger has always been a part of me.” Seeing the script and immediately knowing the project would be a winner, Amy Poehler jumped at the chance of joining the cast as Joy. “I think she just likes kinda living in the moment. I maybe like to think that I do that too. But I aspire to be more like Joy and I think that the characters in the film get all the range of emotions.” On fueling her character, Sadness, Phyllis Smith admits it was her insecurities “that Pete was able to clean out of me.” Bill Hader confessed he was the one chasing Pixar. “I’m a giant fan and so I say, ‘can I please take a tour?’ And I went around and I met Pete and Jonas,” the two spent time at the studios of SNL and as a result welcomed Hader to the studios of Pixar, where his character Disgust came to life.

“Pixar doesn’t patronize their young audience and they don’t underestimate the intelligence of their audience,” expresses Amy Poehler. Both the animation and imagination put into making this film is fascinating. Though in a different way, the film resonates to both adults and children. Poehler adds, “I love that age girl, the girl that Riley is. That moment before, you know you’ve been through the snake pit. Where you’re just like all possibility and really open phased and just ready for everything. And boys are the same way too. It’s just that great time. I feel like as an adult you’re just trying to always get back to. It’s like magic hour.”

Rated PG, Disney Pixar’s Inside Out opens in theaters June 19^th.

For the traditional short film released with Pixar films, Inside Out is introduced by a sweet emotional Hawaii inspired musical, performed by Napua Greig and Kuana Torres Kahele. Written and directed by James Ford Murphy, Lava tells the story of Uku, a lonely volcano who sees everyone in love and hopes someday he too will have someone to “lava”. Murphy says his inspiration for the film was born twenty-five years ago. “My wife and I honeymooned on The Big Island in Hawaii and ever since that trip I’ve been in love with tropical islands, active volcanoes, and Hawaiian music.” As his inspiration for the film evolved, he learned about an underwater volcano called Lo’ihi. “I found out that Lo’ihi is actually an underwater volcano just off the coast of The Big Island that’s estimated to reach the surface and join the big island in the next 10,000 to 100,000 years.” He explains, “right around the time I’m contemplating all this my sister Molly is getting married for the first time at the age of 43, and as my sister stood up there in the alter I thought about how happy she was and how long she waited for this very special day.” It was then when the story found its full meaning.

The soundtrack is available now on iTunes.