Joy (Inside Out)

Joy is the protagonist of the 2015 Disney/Pixar feature film Inside Out. She is the personification of happiness, and the oldest emotion within the mind of Riley Andersen. Like all emotions, Joy lives in Headquarters and uses a control panel to influence Riley's actions. Other Joys exist within other characters' minds.
==Personality==
As the embodiment of happiness, Joy is perky, optimistic, and unabashedly fun-loving. During the events of Inside Out, she is initially controlling and strays into , wanting Riley to remain happy no matter what and preventing the other emotions from influencing her. It is implied that she lives vicariously through Riley. Joy is also somewhat manipulative, talking down to others with white lies and compliance games to get them to do what she wants. During their adventure, Joy comes to regret her treatment of Sadness and .
==History==
===Inside Out===
Joy forms shortly after Riley's birth, followed by Sadness after about 33 seconds. Wanting Riley to keep feeling happy, Joy struggles with Sadness over the control panel. Over the following years, Joy continues to unintentionally mistreat Sadness to limit her influence, not understanding Sadness's purpose or compulsion to intervene. Though Joy does understand why Fear, Disgust, and Anger exist, she tries to keep them in check as well.
When Riley moves house, Joy tries to prevent a sad core memory from taking root in Riley's personality. She and Sadness struggle over the memory, and accidentally eject themselves and all of the core memories from Headquarters. Joy tries to return so that Riley can feel happy again, while the remaining emotions fail to fill in for her.
In Riley's Long Term Memory, Joy meets and teams up with an old imaginary friend, Bing Bong. She later fails to cheer Bing Bong up, acting silly and trying to distract him. Joy still believes that Sadness will only make him feel worse, and is confused to see her comfort him by listening and commiserating.
The group detours to Dream Productions to wake up Riley so that they can keep riding the Train of Thought to Headquarters. Joy is ecstatic to meet the dream actress Rainbow Unicorn. Joy's interference with Riley's dreams results in Bing Bong being imprisoned in the Subconscious. She and Sadness break him out, as well as Riley's deepest fear, Jangles the Clown, who they use to wake Riley up.
After the Train of Thought derails, Joy and Bing Bong fall into the Memory Dump, where they are at risk of fading away as they are forgotten. Joy loses hope and starts crying as she reflects on her time with Riley. While wiping a tear off of a memory, it rewinds, and Joy is surprised to see it change emotion: when Riley showed her sadness, her loved ones came to help, turning the memory from sad to joyful. Joy finally understands Sadness's purpose.
Resolving to escape the Memory Dump, Joy thinks to use Bing Bong's wagon rocket. After Bing Bong sacrifies himself so that she can make it, she promises to take Riley to the moon for him.
Joy finds Sadness, who runs away from her inconsolably as Joy has made her feel worthless. Joy uses her knowledge of Imagination Land to intercept Sadness and launch them towards Headquarters.
Once inside, Joy learns that Riley is running away. Instead of trying to fix the situation herself, Joy convinces Sadness to remove the idea from Riley's head and save her. After Riley returns to the new house, Joy lets Sadness sadden the core memories to allow Riley to process her homesickness. Joy and Sadness then use the control panel together, creating a new core memory with both of their emotions combined.
==Profiles and statistics==
===Official description===
Joy's goal has always been to make sure Riley stays joyful. She is lighthearted, optimistic and determined to find the fun in every situation. Joy sees challenges in Riley's life as opportunities and the less happy moments as hiccups on the way back to something great. As long as Riley is happy, so is Joy.Pixar's 'Inside Out' Official Character Descriptions
==Fanon appearances==
*Warriors of the Universe
*SEGA Racers!: She rides a brain-inspired vehicle, filled with stickers from other Pixar characters.
==References==
Category:Non-fanon characters
Category:3rd Party Characters
Category:Females