See how the record-breaking Inside Out 2 hits the 15 Save the Cat! story beats.

Screenplay by: Meg LeFauve and Dave Holstein

Story by: Kelsey Mann and Meg LeFauve

Directed by: Kelsey Mann

Genre: Rites of Passage (A universal life problem; a wrong way to attack the problem that involves avoiding pain; an acceptance that the Hero herself must change and not the world around her)

Opening Image: We hear the familiar tinkly piano notes of the original film and anticipate a gentle glisser into a continuation of the emotional story we all loved—but this is not 2015 and Riley Andersen’s not a cute little kid anymore. The music changes to a high-energy pulse, bright lights flood a hockey rink, and 13-year old Riley (Kensington Tallman) wraps her hockey stick with a determined look as our old pals Joy, Sadness, Fear, Anger, and Disgust jump into action.

Set-Up: In Riley’s thesis world, Joy (Amy Poehler) reintroduces the core emotions and fills us in on all the changes “our girl” has gone through in the past year: growing out of all her clothes, getting braces, finding two new best friends, graduating from middle school. Joy assures us that Riley’s Personality Islands are intact, although Family Island has shrunk considerably in comparison to Friendship Island, the true mark of almost-teenhood.

We also discover that Riley’s memories are now creating a Belief System, where all of Riley’s opinions and beliefs combine to develop her Sense of Self. Joy humble-brags that this is their masterpiece and she’s not going to let anything change it; in fact, she’s developed a new “Super High-Tech Riley Protection System,” where sad or uncomfortable memories and feelings are loaded into a machine and catapulted to the back of Riley’s mind.

Joy figures that Riley is going to need this help, as she and her pals Bree (Sumayyah Nuriddin-Green) and Grace (Grace Lu) have been invited to join Coach Roberts’ (Yvette Nicole Brown) hockey camp, which is basically an audition for the high school team, the Firehawks.

Theme Stated: Joy takes Sadness (Phyllis Smith) down the elevator to see the Belief System, where memories are deposited and grow into shining strands that represent each concept that Riley currently believes. Joy plucks her favorite one and we hear Riley’s voice, “I’m a good person.” Keeping Riley a good person will be Joy’s goal throughout this film, and we happily anticipate a duel between Joy and a new nemesis that will add some nuance to Riley’s journey—but who’s man/woman/emotion enough to pry Riley’s personality from Joy’s relentlessly positive hands?

Catalyst: The core emotions are snoozing when they hear a quiet beeping from Riley’s console. As they sleepily troop down to look down at the mysterious new button—“Puberty”—it starts wailing like a four-alarm, brand-new-stage-of-life fire.

Debate: The core emotions freak out as suddenly there are innumerable things that need fixing and Joy tries to catapult “Puberty” to the back of Riley’s mind. Not only does that not work, a huge wrecking ball smashes through the Headquarters window and Mind Workers enter to demo a new console. The core emotions try to program it as usual, but Riley has an overly dramatic reaction to every button they push, signaling to her parents that yes, “Puberty” has indeed arrived and it ain’t pretty.

But, hey, at least she’s got her best friends—oh, nope, turns out that Bree and Grace have been assigned to a different school in the fall, so Riley’s going to high school alone. By the time they reach hockey camp, Riley is a jittery mess. Enter: Anxiety (Maya Hawke), an adorable little orange ball of stress who is kinda like Fear (Tony Hale), except he protects Riley from the scary stuff she can see while Anxiety protects her from the scary stuff she can’t see.

Anxiety welcomes in Envy (Ayo Edebiri), Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser) and the hilarious Ennui (Adèle Exarchopoulos), the new emotions wreaking havoc as Riley tries to have a conversation with the ridiculously cool team captain of the Firehawks, Val Ortiz (Lilimar Hernandez.)

Break into Two: Anxiety ousts Joy and takes control of the console and Riley decides to join Val and her friends, leaving Bree and Grace behind.

Fun & Games: Riley tentatively explores this antithesis world where being a good person doesn’t matter nearly as much as being part of the “in” group. Anxiety uses Joy’s “Super High-Tech Riley Protection System” to launch Riley’s Sense of Self to the back of her mind, then tests out a new belief: “If I make the Firehawks team, I won’t be alone.” Joy protests against this sketchy upside-down world hypothesis and Anxiety forces the core emotions into The Vault, where secrets and suppressed emotions are kept.

Riley’s Deep Dark Secret is never stated (hmmm, saving it for Inside Out 3, perhaps?), but the core emotions do get to meet Bloofy, a character from Riley’s favorite childhood TV show, and Pouchy, his magical fanny pack. In a clever “Dora’s backpack”-inspired moment, Pouchy offers a tomato, a frog, or a stick of dynamite to get them out of the Vault. They go on a mission to rescue Riley’s Sense of Self and bring it back to Headquarters, but Anxiety has been hard at work making sure that Riley is thinking through every possible way to secure a place on the Firehawks.

Anxiety commands the desk-bound mind workers in Imagination to come up with the most horrifying scenarios so that Riley can be ready for anything, causing her to have a racing mind and legit insomnia.

B Story: While Joy and Anxiety duke it out for the A Story, Riley’s fraught relationships with her BFFs, Bree and Grace, and HNFF(Hopefully New Forever Friend) Val, shape her emotional journey of self-discovery and foundational beliefs.

Midpoint: It’s a true Joy-constructed (read: yay, happy ending!) false victory as the core emotions invade Imagination with all sorts of perkily unnuanced scenarios, causing the mind workers to revolt against Anxiety. Joy and her team are certain they’ve won and ride the giant balloons of Future Career Possibilities on their way back to Headquarters.

Bad Guys Close In: As soon as the core emotions leave the Imagination office, Anxiety and Envy cook up their winning strategy: they give Riley the idea to sneak into Coach’s office and see what she’s written about Riley’s chances to make the team in her secret red notebook. Without her Sense of Self helping Riley to discard the notion of breaking and entering, she complies, only to see the words: “Riley Andersen—not ready yet.”

Riley is distraught and a Brainstorm ensues, knocking the core emotions off their balloon ride and bringing forth some genuinely dark thoughts to Riley’s mind, including the Big Idea to score three goals in the scrimmage, no matter who she has to knock down on the ice. She doesn’t sleep the entire night and goes into the scrimmage exhausted, anxious, and single-mindedly bent on her mission.

Meanwhile, Joy and the core emotions finally make it to the back of Riley’s mind and find her Sense of Self.

All Is Lost: Anxiety is stunned when Riley’s “I’m a good person” is joined by a new Negative Sense of Self, “I’m not good enough!” This isn’t what she intended to happen! Freaked out, Anxiety breaks the Recall Tube, destroying the core emotions’ only way back to Headquarters.

Dark Night of the Soul: Left on top of a pile of terrible memories, Joy weeps, unable to beat Anxiety; she utters the genuinely heartbreaking words, “Maybe this is what happens when you grow up… you feel less joy.”

Break into Three: The core emotions have no other choice; they’re going to have to call on Pouchy to give them an idea of how to get back to Headquarters.

Finale: Joy gathers the team (the core emotions, plus all of Pouchy’s dynamite) and executes the plan: they’re going to blow up the back of the mind (so to speak) and ride an avalanche of bad memories back to Headquarters. While Riley is manically skating and hogging the puck to score goals, she knocks Grace down and gets sent to the penalty box, where she is overwhelmed by bad memories and thoughts and has a full-fledged panic attack. Anxiety has succumbed to the “frozen” part of Fight/Flight/Freeze and Joy fights to enter the visual whirlwind of the panic attack.

As she tries to persuade Anxiety to let Riley go, Joy realizes that she tried to control Riley just as much as Anxiety did, so in a high tower surprise, Joy takes a huge risk and removes the “I’m a good person” belief, letting Riley’s Sense of Self develop organically. In a beautiful synthesis moment, Riley feels a crazy mix of emotions and beliefs; sometimes she’s a good person, sometimes she’s not; she makes good decisions and bad decisions; occasionally selfish and striving to be kind; and all she can do is… do her best.

All the emotions come together into a group hug and Riley apologizes to Bree and Grace for her behavior. They forgive her and as she takes a deep, cleansing breath and steps back out onto the ice, Joy is recalled to the console; Riley feels joy again at the simple act of playing hockey.

Final Image: It’s freshman year of high school and as Riley waits to find out if she made the Firehawks, the emotions celebrate their new give-and-take at the console (including putting Anxiety in a massage chair when she gets too worked up). We end on a quiet moment, in direct contrast to the hyper Opening Image, as we see Riley get the text about the team; her happy face tells us all we need to know. Mission accomplished, Sense of Self intact.