Pixar’s blockbuster Inside Out 2 is being described as a toxic workplace by former employees after the film became the highest-grossing animated film of all time.
The film, starring Amy Poehler and Maya Hawke as Joy and Anxiety, has grossed a whopping $1.67 billion at the box office. However, film staffers say the success of the film has cost them their health and finances.
According to a new report from IGN10 former Pixar employees have exposed the alleged “crushing 24/7 workload” that goes into making a movie a success for the struggling studio. Their efforts were never rewarded after they were fired. They are now ineligible for a bonus on the film.
The workers allege they were “abandoned” by Pixar, a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, after it laid off 175 employees, or 14 percent of its workforce, in May during “the biggest crisis year in the studio’s history.”
It was said that Pixar was determined to make the film a success, as they feared the studio would go bankrupt after years without a major success.
Pixar’s blockbuster Inside Out 2 has been described as a toxic workplace by former employees after the film became the highest-grossing animated film of all time
A source said that ‘everyone felt pressure’, adding: ‘Even now, I think, people still feel that pressure of, ‘Oh my God, we did it. We did it.’
Inside Out was said to have been ‘poorly managed’, leading to a greater number of ‘last minute’ changes, requiring tools to be ‘developed on the fly’.
A source said the animators worked seven days a week for “a month or two”, adding: “A ridiculous amount of production staff, people being thrown into jobs they’d never done before… It was awful.”
A Pixar executive told the publication that the ending of Inside Out 2 was “no different than many of the studio’s other films.”
They worked long hours, were paid overtime and given time off in return, but sources say the strict demands and production structure left everyone exhausted.
Sources claimed the studio is “too dependent” on Chief Creative Officer Pete Docter – to the extent that “you can’t do anything without Pete. Literally nothing.”
The film, starring Amy Poehler and Maya Hawke as Joy and Anxiety respectively, has grossed an impressive $1.67 billion at the box office, but the cast claims the film’s success has come at the cost of their health and finances.
Sources claimed the studio is “overly dependent” on Chief Creative Officer Pete Docter – to the extent that “you can’t do anything without Pete. Literally nothing.”
Multiple sources also claim that Pixar wanted to make Inside Out 2 “less gay” following the box office success of 2022’s Lightyear, which featured a same-sex kiss and was banned or censored in many countries. Sources claim the scene was blamed for the film’s failure.
One former employee said, “The internal culture at Pixar is really rough right now. There’s just an incredible amount of people who are like, ‘I can’t do this anymore.’”
Several sources also claim that Pixar was on a mission to make Inside Out 2 “less gay” following the box office success of the 2022 film Lightyear.
The film featured a same-sex kiss and was banned or censored in many countries. According to sources, the scene was the cause of the film’s failure.
It was claimed that the film was edited in many areas, with the changes being “ramped up” in September 2023, after the WGA strike had ended and just nine months before the film’s release date. “Special care” was taken to make the relationship between lead character Riley and supporting character Val seem as platonic as possible.
It was claimed that there were editso the lighting and tone of certain scenes were adjusted to remove any trace of “romantic chemistry”; a source said: “[it was] “They just go through a lot of extra work to make sure no one sees them as straight.”
Employees were informed that layoffs would take place in January 2023. Disney announced a “strategic realignment” in May of that year, which would involve 7,000 layoffs across the company. In June 2023, 75 employees were laid off.
In May 2024, just weeks before the release of Inside Out 2, layoffs began again. It was the largest staff reduction in the company’s history.
Another source said I felt like I was being told by HR that the bonus was only for active employees, like I was being f**ked by Disney.
Doctor told Ankle bracelet earlier this month about the layoffs: ‘That was another thing that made this year really weird’ – saying the selection was a result of Pixar moving away from streaming-only projects
“Unfortunately, Disney has now gotten to the point where they realize, you know what? The amount of money we have to spend to deliver the quality that we deliver, it doesn’t make sense.”
Former employees criticized the studio for its “out of touch” celebration of the film’s success, while those who had worked on it had been fired. They said: “It’s like seeing an ex with a movie star, basically. It’s like, ‘I’m happy for you, but why?’
They said the delayed Elio feature, originally scheduled for release in March 2024 and later pushed back to June 2025, had caused the same issues, leaving staff ‘working insanely hard to get Elio cured.’
Workers were ‘crying’ about the lack of bonuses. They said: ‘We work all year for that bonus’. Another source said: ‘At least 95% of the people who have been laid off are financially broke at the moment.’
Another said, “We work all year for that bonus. That’s part of what makes working at Pixar worth it… we depend on that.”
Another source said he felt like Disney gave a f**k when HR told him the bonus was only for active employees.
Sources said the bonus was crucial because Pixar’s base pay for many positions is “considered low” for Emeryville, CA, where it is based. Employees who spoke to the publication praised the company’s health and mental health benefits
Pixar employees are also not affiliated with The Animation Guild (TAG) and Pixar is currently still ‘non-union and without union rates’.
They added that executives “are acting in a fear-based manner… to maintain their own power in their own jobs. So I think morale is really low because people no longer trust that they are being led with their best interests in mind.”
DailyMail.com has contacted representatives for Disney and Pixar for comment.
In June, Inside Out 2 surpassed Disney’s 2019 film Frozen II ($1.45 billion) in global box office revenue
Disney Animation’s Frozen II grossed $1.451 billion worldwide upon its release in November 2019. According to Disney Animation figures, the film grossed $477 million domestically and $972 million internationally at the box office. Cash register Mojo.
After Inside Out 2 took the top spot, Frozen II now ranks as the second highest-grossing animated film of all time, according to THR.
They said the delayed feature Elio, originally scheduled for release in March 2024 and later delayed to June 2025, had suffered the same issues, causing staff to work “insane hours to fix Elio”.
It follows in 2023’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie with $1.36 billion; 2013’s Frozen with $1.27 billion; 2018’s Incredibles 2 with $1.24 billion; 2015’s Minions with $1.15 billion; 2019’s Toy Story 4 with $1.07 billion; 2017’s Despicable Me 3 with $1.03 billion; and 2016’s Finding Dory with $1 billion.
Inside Out 2 is the 13th highest-grossing film in history, surpassing 2023 blockbuster Barbie ($1.44 billion) on Monday. It is also the highest-grossing film since it hit theaters last summer.
The film became Pixar’s highest-grossing film ever at the worldwide box office earlier this month, unadjusted for inflation, when it surpassed the global gross of Incredibles 2.
The massive success of Inside Out 2, the highest-grossing film of the year so far, is a boost for Pixar and Disney after a string of underwhelming films including 2022’s Lightyear , 2022’s Strange World and 2023’s Elemental .
Inside Out 2 is directed by Kelsey Mann and stars Ayo Edebiri, Kensington Tallman, Liza Lapira, Tony Hale, Lewis Black, Phyllis Smith, Lilimar, and Grace Lu.
The film’s story revolves around the emotions of a 13-year-old girl named Riley (Tallman), who is dealing with a new set of emotions as she enters puberty and enters high school.
The emotions depicted in the original film (joy, sadness, fear, anger and disgust) are now joined by new emotions including anxiety, envy, shame, boredom and nostalgia.