What Riley's Deep Dark Secret Is In Inside Out 2

Inside Out 2 ventures further into the depths of Riley's mind and uncovers her Deep Dark Secret. The 2024 animated coming-of-age film, directed by Kelsey Mann and written by Meg LeFauve and Dave Holstein, is a sequel to Pixar's hit 2015 movie and picks up one year after Inside Out's ending. Riley becomes a teenager in Inside Out 2, meaning that she hits puberty and experiences several new emotions, including Anxiety, Envy, and Embarrassment. However, when the new emotions move into headquarters, their ideas about what's best for Riley contradict Joy, Sadness, Fear, Disgust, and Anger's plans for their girl.

Although Pixar hasn't confirmed it, Inside Out 2's success indicates that the animation studio will produce more sequels (which will hopefully introduce more new emotions).

Soon after its premiere in June 2024, Inside Out 2 broke multiple box office records. Many anticipated that the Pixar sequel would perform well in theaters, but its actual showing exceeded all expectations. Inside Out 2's box office success led to it becoming the highest-grossing animated movie of all time. The success is a testament to the public's continued interest in Riley's story. Inside Out 2's story undoubtedly contributed to its success as it further explores the complexity of growing up (and, consequently, keeping secrets).

Riley's Deep Dark Secret Is That She Burned A Hole In The Rug

Inside Out 2's Post-Credits Scene Reveals Riley's Secret

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When Anxiety banishes Joy, Sadness, Fear, Disgust, and Anger from headquarters, the five emotions end up in Riley's memory vault in Inside Out 2. Anxiety thinks Joy is sabotaging Riley's experience at hockey camp, so, she gets rid of the problem. While Joy, Sadness, Fear, Disgust, and Anger are in the vault, they come across Bloofy and Pouchy (characters from a cartoon show Riley likes), Lance Slashblade (a video game character Riley has a crush on), and Deep Dark Secret. Unfortunately, the characters and the audience don't learn what Riley's Deep Dark Secret is until Inside Out 2's post-credits scene.

Inside Out 2 Cast Role Kensington Tallman Riley Amy Poehler Joy Phyllis Smith Sadness Lewis Black Anger Tony Hale Fear Liza Lapira Disgust Maya Hawke Anxiety Diane Lane Mom Ayo Edebiri Envy Adèle Exarchopoulos Ennui Paul Walter Embarrassment Kyle MacLachlan Dad Lilimar Val Ortiz Yvette Nicole Brown Coach Roberts Ron Funches Bloofy James Austin Johnson Pouchy Yong Yea Lance Slashblade Steve Purcell Deep Dark Secret

Joy returns to the memory vault during Inside Out 2's post-credits scene to break Deep Dark Secret free and to ask what Riley's most horrifying secret is. Deep Dark Secret informs the Inside Out 2 character that he embodies the memory of Riley burning a hole in the rug. The moment is rather anticlimactic as burning a hole in a rug isn't regarded as the juiciest of secrets. However, at least the Pixar sequel reveals what Riley's Deep Dark Secret is.

Why Riley's Deep Dark Secret Stays In The Vault

Riley's Deep Dark Secret Is A Locked Away Memory

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Bloofy, Pouchy, and Lance Slashblade escape the vault alongside Joy, Sadness, Fear, Disgust, and Anger in Inside Out 2 while Deep Dark Secret remains in the locked place. Deep Dark Secret probably decides to stay because, while menacing in appearance, he is quite timid. He is evidently very ashamed of the secret (just Like Riley is). So, Deep Dark Secret retreats into the vault because of his shame and doesn't resurface until the coming-of-age film's post-credits scenes.

Since some fans speculate that Riley is LGBTQ+ in the Inside Out movies, they thought that would be her biggest secret that she locks up in a vault.

When Deep Dark Secret tells Joy about the burning a hole in the rug memory during Inside Out 2's end credits, she is surprised. Joy expresses that she thought Riley's deepest and darkest secret would be the time she peed in the pool. After being reminded of yet another embarrassing moment in Riley's life, Deep Dark Secret starts crying and locks himself back into the vault. Hopefully, this isn't the last viewers have seen of Deep Dark Secret, though, and he'll return alongside new emotions in Inside Out 3.

Does Riley Have Another Deep Dark Secret?

Some Speculate That Riley's Has More Secrets After Inside Out 2

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As mentioned above, the truth behind Riley's Deep Dark Secret was a bit disappointing. Since some fans speculate that Riley is LGBTQ+ in the Inside Out movies, they thought that would be her biggest secret that she locks up in a vault. Even though that wasn't the case, Riley might have other Deep Dark Secrets lingering in the back of her mind that could reveal themselves in an Inside Out 2 sequel as the teenager continues growing up.

The Reveal Of Riley's Secret Is A Missed Opportunity

Pursuing The Possibility That Riley Was LGBTQ+ Would Have Been More Interesting

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There are many hints in Inside Out 2 that Riley is attracted to girls, specifically through her "crush" on Val. While it could be simply seen as an infatuation with an athlete who Riley looks up to, it does feel as though it is a romantic connection at times as well. This planted the possibility that Riley's secret in the movie was that she was LGBTQ+.

This could have provided a real LGBTQ+ story for Pixar to tackle, which is something the studio is overdue to try. Pixar has touted the fact that several of its movies have had gay characters, such as Lightyear and Onward but the studio has also been criticized for including these elements as mere background dressing rather than actually depicting an LGBTQ+ relationship in one of its movies.

Stream Inside Out 2 on Disney+.

Riley would be the perfect character to finally achieve this and her secret being that she was gay set up an interesting way to explore this. The fear of coming out and even admitting their true selves is a big struggle for a lot of members of the LGBTQ+ community. Seeing Riley deal with that in one of Inside Out's profound coming-of-age stories, along with how the emotions react, would have made for a beautiful approach.

The idea that this part of her is being kept as a secret she is not ready to acknowledge or share is the start of a compelling story. It was perhaps something that could have been saved for a possible (and likely Inside Out 3), but the reveal in the post-credit scene of Inside Out 2 takes away the possibility of connecting Riley's secret to this storyline.