
Inside Out 2
More emotions, Merrier the story
EST V ACT domestic box office revenue
$526 – 608MM V $653MM
Mythosis universal quests used
3
Audience appeal
13.51 – 16.51%
Hidden potential
$760 – 840MM
Inside Out 2 is a struggle between old & new emotions for dominance and its fallout on Riley’s life. Pete Docter & Ronnie del Carmen explore 3 basic human desires of vindictiveness, selfishness & protection in the story. These primal motivations take turns to drive the plot forward. Mythosis uses 3 mythological tales to extract the plot structure of the movie.

1. The invisible plot structure of Inside Out 2
1A. The script of Inside Out 2 borrows 91% of its events from 3 mythological tales
Joy’s quest is driven by the desire to nurture & protect loved ones and mirrors the tale of Demeter from Greek mythology. Both Demeter & Joy attempt to save their abducted loved ones
Riley’s quest is driven by selfishness and mirrors the tale of Valmiki from Hindu mythology. Both Valmiki & Riley realize the adverse impact of their selfishness.
Anxiety’s quest is driven by the desire to confront offenders and mirrors the tale of Duryodhan from Hindu mythology. Both Duryodhan & Anxiety acquire unscrupulously and refuse to compromise leading to a disastrous outcome.
Sadness & Embarrassment have underdeveloped quests.
The quests of all other Emotions are subsumed in the quests of Joy & Anxiety.
NOTE: Detailed mirroring of each character’s primary quest to their respective mythological tales is in section “3A. Quests of characters and their mythological counterparts”
Mythosis plot structure
# 6,724
Tales interweaved
Demeter, Valmiki & Duryodhan
I. How does interweaving mythological tales lead to infinite story plots?
II. Can the pursuit of a Desire have more than one quest?
2. The potential of Inside Out 2's plot structure: $526-608MM
The interweaving of 32 mythological tales can generate a billion unique stories. By using these 32 tales, we can extract the plot structure of any story across various genres. Our study of blockbuster, hit, and flop plot structures led to the discovery of the Mythosis Code, a set of principles for creating compelling stories. The plot structure of a story is analyzed to see how well it adheres to these storytelling principles.
2A. Plot structure evaluation of Inside Out 2
- All Blockbusters have at least 3 universal quests. Inside Out 2 uses 3 universal quests of Family, Accumulation and Vengeance.
- In Blockbusters, each universal quest is mirrored by ONLY ONE character. Joy mirrors the quest of Family. Riley mirrors the universal quest of Accumulation whereas Anxiety mirrors the quest of Vengeance.
- Every Blockbuster character borrows at least 35% of the universal quest. Joy borrows 68% of events from the quest for Family. Riley borrows 42% from her universal quest whereas Anxiety borrows 40%.
- Blockbusters have a quest interweaving threshold of 0.5. Interweaving occurs when events of 2 quests occur simultaneously in the story. The quest interweaving score of Inside Out 2 is 0.33 and is below par.
An example of interweaving the quests of Joy & Anxiety:

2B. Box office revenue estimation of Inside Out 2
The plot structure of Inside Out 2 has 3 extremely powerful quests borrowed from three unique mythological tales. Even though the concept constrains all the quests from being interwoven, it doesn’t impact the cohesiveness of the story.
The Script Score measures a plot structure’s adherence to the four principles of Mythosis Code. We use the Script Score to estimate a movie’s audience appeal & revenues. Blockbuster plot structures have a score of at least 0.64 and appeal to 20% of the audiences.
Script Score
0.47
Audience appeal
13.51 – 16.51%
I. How is Mythosis Code used to estimate revenues?
II. Aren’t box-office revenues influenced by several factors beyond just the story plot?
3. The ideal plot structure of Inside Out 2
We have identified 32 mythological tales, the superset of all tales across cultures. The quests of these tales have also recurred over time periods. They represent human behaviours that are deeply embedded in our shared memories. Each tale is the richest expression of the pursuit of a human desire. The tales have a unique pattern of events spread over 5 major arcs.
Mapping a character’s quest to the relevant mythological tale reveals the gaps in their quest, if any. Plugging these gaps with the missing events deepens the character quest. The missing events also provide an opportunity for interweaving the various quests. These events strengthen the story and unlock its hidden potential.
3A.Quest of characters and their mythological counterparts
Quest 1: Joy mirrors the universal quest for Family
Joy’s desire for Family stems from the need to nurture and protect. The tale of Demeter from Greek mythology is the universal quest for Family.

Quest 2: Riley mirrors the universal quest for Accumulation
Riley’s desire for Accumulation stems from the need to collect & own. The tale of Valmiki from Hindu mythology has a robust expression in Dicken’s character of Scrooge which is the universal quest for Accumulation.

Quest 3: Anxiety mirrors the universal quest for Vengeance
Anxiety’s desire for Vengeance stems from the need to confront & punish offenders. The tale of Duryodhan from Hindu mythology is the universal quest for Vengeance.

3B.Gaps in the current plot structure
Unfortunately, the only gap in the plot structure, i.e. below par interweaving of quests, cannot be solved.
Since the Emotions trigger Riley’s actions and events in Riley’s life trigger the Emotions into action it is not possible to interweave Riley’s quest with either Joy or Anxiety.
3C.Unlocking the hidden potential
Since the above gap is not addressable, we looked for unexplored opportunities. The current plot structure has 2 underdeveloped quests of Sadness & Embarrassment. The interweaving score of quests can be improved by investing in underdeveloped quests.
For the ideal plot structure, we chose Embarrassment’s quest since it has more events than Sadness. Embarrassment’s underdeveloped quest is driven by fairness & justice and mirrors the tale of Prometheus from Greek mythology. Both Prometheus & Embarrassment are, a. trusted lieutenants b. who recognize the exploitation by their masters c. and protest d. which makes their masters vindictive e. resulting in them leading a rebellion.
The Mythosis plot structure for Inside Out is # 169,124. It interweaves the tales of Demeter, Valmiki, Duryodhan and Prometheus. It has the potential to generate revenues of $760 – 840MM in the domestic market.
Leveraging Mythosis Plot structure # 169,124 enhances current revenues by ~1.5X!
Tags: Prometheus, Duryodhan, Valmiki, Demeter, Idealism, Vengeance, Family, Accumulation, Meg LeFauve, Josh Cooley, Pete Docter, Ronnie del Carmen, Pixar Animation Studios, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, 2024