Joy

* Canon
* Parody
* reImagined

As she appears in *Inside Out*

Joy, listening to the singular emotion who she puts up with the nonsense of, who is herself.

## Character information

### Full name

* Joy (original)
* See Cast of *Inside Out* for foreign counterparts

### Born

On the same day as Riley AndersenRiley's Headquarters

### Personality

Gleeful, carefree and often doesn't realize that some of her ideas are actually maligned

### Allies

* Riley Andersen and her outside world allies
* Her co-workers (usually)
* Bing Bong

### Enemies

* Riley Andersen's outside world enemies
* Sadness (beginning of movie)
* Most Mind Workers

*This is not an authoritative source on the subject, only intended to highlight details relevant to the Inside Out parody universe. For more detailed information, see Joy on the Disney Wiki.*
*This article is about Riley Andersen's Joy. For the general concept of Joy as an emotion, see Emotions#Joy.*

*“Joy loves Riley more than anything and has been her lead emotion since day one. She's lighthearted; a big fan of laughter, chocolate cake, and spinning until you get crazy dizzy and fall over. She sees life's challenges as opportunities, and the sad bits as hiccups on the way back to something great. Hope and optimism dictate all of her decisions, and Joy works twice as hard as anyone else to make this happen. She just wants Riley to be happy. After all, isn't that the point of life?”*
―Official description of Joy on the Disney website
**Joy** is the protagonist of *Inside Out*. In the lead position among Riley Andersen's emotions, she is respected for the most part, but unknown to her, her leadership has been actively harmful towards Riley. It takes a departure from Headquarters, together with Sadness (who Joy often used to mistreat), for Joy to realize the truth.

## Biography

Joy was born on the same day as Riley. Initially, she and Sadness both struggled to become Riley's lead emotion, but within a few years, Joy emerged victorious and has been controlling Riley, giving emotions other than Sadness their roles.

From then on, Joy holds a tight grip on Riley's mind, up until she and Sadness are exiled. When they return, however, Joy has had major realizations about Sadness, and thus, gives her a proper role which leads to her being accepted in Riley's mind later on.

## Personality

Joy is everything one may think of that is related to fun. Especially in Riley's earliest days, she would not pass up an opportunity to goof around or otherwise have an exciting day. This, however, is often to the exclusion of other emotions, especially Sadness, whether intentionally or unintentionally. By the end of the movie, Joy still holds this demeanor, but now, she gives other emotions an opportunity to shine as well.

Joy has had little to no major conflicts with Anger, Fear or Disgust, her other coworkers, other than not seeing Riley's move in the same way, as the four (including Sadness) initially only wanted to paint it in a negative light. Nevertheless, during the exile, these other emotions miss Joy much more than Sadness.

## Trivia

* Early in the development of *Inside Out*, various different emotions were considered, all of whom were given human names. Joy is the only emotion to have retained her human name and make it into the final version.
* Joy's original VA (and therefore, the stand-in for the voice of Theresa May in parodies featuring her), Amy Poehler, is known for parodying other politicians, most notably Hillary Clinton, on *Saturday Night Live*.

## Gallery

Official promotion on the Disney website.This is such a haunting photo. Whatever you think about Joy's record as the leader of Riley's mind, it's impossible not to feel sorry for her as an emotion.
## Appearances

* *Inside Out*:
	+ Riley, Age Zero (dialogue)
	+ Joy and her Coworkers (dialogue)
	+ Riley's Memories and Islands of Personality (dialogue)
	+ Riley's Life Montage (dialogue)
	+ The Big Move (dialogue)
	+ The New House (dialogue)
	+ The Time Outside (dialogue)
	+ Joy vs. Sadness (dialogue)
	+ Before Riley is informed (dialogue)
	+ Riley is informed (dialogue)
	+ Joy vs. Dream Productions (dialogue)
	+ Joy Dancing Scene (dialogue)
	+ Joy plans (dialogue)
	+ The Walk to School (dialogue)
	+ Breakdown at Class (dialogue)
	+ The Journey to Long-Term Memory (dialogue)
	+ Assessing the Damage (dialogue)
	+ Dinner Table Scene (mention)
	+ Back to the Quarters (dialogue)
	+ Hiking through the Maze (dialogue)
	+ The Forgetters (dialogue)
	+ The Forgetters (outro) (dialogue)
	+ Friendship Island Post-Mortem (dialogue)
	+ Meeting Bing Bong (dialogue)
	+ Reminiscing Riley and Bing Bong (dialogue)
	+ The Journey (dialogue)
	+ Abstract Thought Activation (dialogue)
	+ A Mayoral Tour (dialogue)
	+ Sometimes, Loss is Important (dialogue)
	+ A Studio in the Mind (dialogue)
	+ Riley's Nightmare (dialogue)
	+ A Sudden Interruption (dialogue)
	+ Following the Guards (dialogue)
	+ Riley's Darkest Fears (dialogue)
	+ Freeing Bing Bong and Jangles (dialogue)
	+ Waking Up in Cold Sweat (dialogue)
	+ Discussion on the Train (dialogue)
	+ Joy Gets the News (dialogue)
	+ An Act of Desperation (dialogue)
	+ All Hope Lost (dialogue)
	+ Memories Long Lost (dialogue)
	+ The Purpose of Sadness (dialogue)
	+ Making it Upwards (dialogue)
	+ Onset of Depression for Sadness (dialogue)
	+ Joy's Absolutely Crazy Retrieval (dialogue)
	+ Breaking the Window (physical)
	+ Undoing the Damage (dialogue)
	+ Revealing What You've Done (physical)
	+ Upgrades (dialogue)
	+ Parent/Daughter Bonding (dialogue)
	+ Playing for the Foghorns (dialogue)
* Deleted scenes:
	+ Riley Grows Up (dialogue)
	+ Joy's Decline (dialogue)
	+ Misdirection (dialogue)
	+ Construction (dialogue)
* DVD extras:
	+ *Riley's First Date?* (dialogue)
	+ *Mind Candy* (physical)
	+ *Quick Thinking* (dialogue)
	+ *We Should Cry* (dialogue)
	+ *Shoes of Doom* (dialogue)
	+ *My Bad* (dialogue)
	+ *Five Second Rule* (dialogue)
	+ *Meet Joy* (physical)
* Supplementary books:
	+ *Inside Out: Driven by Emotions* (dialogue)
* Video games:
	+ *Inside Out: Thought Bubbles* (dialogue)
	+ *Disney Infinity: 3.0 Edition* (dialogue)

## Joy

As she appears in *Inside Out* parodies

Joy, listening to the singular emotion who she puts up with the nonsense of, who is herself.

## Character information

### Full name

Радость Владимировна Ульянова
*Radost' Vladimirovna Ul'yanova*

### Aliases

* Onionhead
* Bliss (in *Rachel Andersen's Mental Companions*)
* Joke language translations:
	+ *Esperanto:* Ĝojo
	+ *Newspeak:* Unsad
	+ *Cars:* Headlight
	+ *Yesn't:* Sadnessn't

### Born

On the same day as Riley AndersenRiley's Headquarters

### Occupation / Rank

Riley Andersen's lead emotion (rivaling with Anger)

### Personality

Brutally honest, doesn't value any other opinion as much as her own, speaks everything on her mind

### Allies

* Riley Andersen and her outside world allies
* Her co-workers (usually)
* Bing Bong

### Enemies

* Riley Andersen's outside world enemies
* Sadness
* The Forgetters
* Anger (occasionally)
* The letter H

## Parody relevance information

### Role(s)

* Main planner
* The iron fist clenching Riley's mind
* Most frequently expresses her disdain with things, though still looking at the bright side

### Parody counterparts

* Adolf Hitler (*Downfall* parodies) (as the main planner and alleged dictator)

*“Joy is just like her role models! Perhaps even worse. [...] Best said, she has her iron fist on Riley's Mind World and her coworkers.”*
―Natali, her VA, describing her own character
In *Inside Out* parodies, **Joy** is the principal character. She usually serves as Riley Andersen's lead emotion, meaning that her plans usually have an effect not just on her surroundings, but also on the way Riley behaves and is perceived in the outside world. However, in many cases, she might plan without a regard for Riley.

## Biography

*“Unfortunately, though, the emotions' workplace is a dictatorship led by Joy, who, as it would seem, has learned absolutely nothing from the fall of the Soviet Union.”*
―The description for the main *Andersen's Mind* series
In parodies, Joy struggles with her leadership a lot more than in canon. While many videos of *Andersen's Mind*, the main series, were never released, a pair of parodies tying into the plot, entitled Joy's Leadership in Jeopardy, show that her ideas, especially regarding Sadness, are absolutely not welcome in Headquarters; in canon, these ideas were neither extreme nor dismissed by the other emotions.

## Personality

*“So! Getting rid of Sadness by permanently locating her outside Headquarters. This is a plan which, if executed, will have absolutely no effect on Riley's behavior.”*
―No, seriously, this is what Joy sounds like, all the time.
In parodies, Joy's depiction as the leader of Riley's emotions is exaggerated to the point where she is referred to as a dictator, even in-universe. To this extent, she is self-assured and has various controversial ideas. Though, unlike other dictators, who are generally publicly covert with regards to what they are doing, Joy is brutally honest, willing to discuss plans targeted to other emotions while those emotions are present.

The best relationship Joy has in parodies is that with Bing Bong, Riley's imaginary friend. Through unknown means, in The Emotions play Kerbal Space Program, Bing Bong was resurrected. He and Joy thus became great friends, to the annoyance of every other emotion. Out of the emotions, her best relationships are with Fear, her plan henchman and rumored romantic interest, and Disgust, her yes-man and Joseph Goebbels counterpart who, while Joy is present, agrees with her no matter what.

In comparison to that, her relationships with Sadness and Anger are rather unfriendly. As in *Inside Out*, Joy sees little value in Sadness; however, unlike *Inside Out*, Joy seems to have never realized Sadness's true purpose, and continues to belittle her. While Sadness objects to this, she is almost universally ignored, both by Joy and by the other emotions.

Anger, on the other hand, is the main opposition to Joy. While she upholds her plans as being all good with no ill side-effects, Anger sees them for what they truly are, and is also able to perceive their failure. Therefore, he often takes over as a leader in Joy's absence.

Contrary to canon Joy, who has only used "Team Happy" to refer to Riley's emotions as a whole, parody Joy uses the qualifier "Happy" as a proper noun a lot more, including "Happy Land" in sample clips in Andersen's Mind - Trailer 2: Behind the Scenes and "Happy Sea" (named by Fear, though due to largely involving happy memories, created by Joy) in Riley Andersen vs. the Angry German Kid.

## Notes

1. ↑ As revealed in Andersen's Mind - #3: What Makes Riley Riley at 3:14. Cyrillic spelling from the cast listing.
2. ↑ Derogatory nickname used by both Anger and Disgust.

## References

1. ↑ Andersen's Mind - Trailer 2: Behind the Scenes at 2:14
2. ↑ Joy plans to get rid of Sadness at 0:12

## Gallery

Who presses "upgrade" on Hitler and what were they expecting?

## Joy

As she appears in *Inside Out reImagined*

## Character information

### Born

On the same day as Riley AndersenRiley's Headquarters

### Personality

Self-important and a devious planner, all in the name of happiness and a bright future

### Allies

* Riley Andersen and her outside world allies

### It's complicated

* Her co-workers (keeps a good, if tense, relationship with them)

*“Joy was slowly getting anxious. She desperately wanted Riley to just… leap from the seat and run across the plane until she got to the airport, and then run across the airport until she got outside and greeted the open air of Shanghai, and then run across Shanghai until she got to her new home, and then run some more, just for good measure. To Joy, China was the biggest playground that Riley could get, with lots and lots of land to explore and more than a billion friends to make — quite literally.”*
―From Chapter 3: "Navigation through Language and Smoke"
In *Inside Out reImagined*, **Joy** is given a significant character makeover. Contrary to the canon demeanor of glee and excitement and overt disdain as seen in parodies, *reImagined* Joy harbors rather strong feelings about how Riley Andersen's mind should be run and is willing to enforce them to the best of her abilities.

## Appearance

*“Her long, flowing waves of blue hair [...] flow[ed] to her mid-back like a river of happiness.

[...] For her bedtime, Joy was dressed in a lime one-piece bathing suit, decorated with light blue, disparate bursts and very thin, intersecting black lines. Indeed, this was perfectly fine while she slept, as she wouldn’t want to get more things wet than necessary. However, at work, Joy was a commander, leading Riley to a bright and fulfilling future and helping the other emotions do the same, and couldn’t afford to look like a little girl about to go on summer vacation — not that the emotions really had a concept of summer vacation, the outside world notwithstanding.

Luckily, her usual work outfit was right there, on a hanger put up on a nail in one of the walls, in lime much like her bathing suit. It was an outfit well-suited for a military general; while the pants weren’t too different from ones a human would wear, the overcoat had lots of decorations, including pockets, buttons, shoulder pads and, most prominently, a badge on the right side of the chest. The badge looked rather simple: a blue bordure, encircling a black-on-white stylized smiley face. There weren’t really any shoes to go with it; Joy usually went to work barefoot, and preferred it that way. In addition, the bathing suit doubled as underwear, and taking it off in order to put something else on was unnecessary and even silly.”*
―From Chapter 1: "The Big Flight"
## Personality

*“And that’s why the most difficult part falls onto me. And yet, I do get tired — a lot! And that’s why I have you — you’re always someone I can talk to, and you will listen, and none of it will ever matter.”*
―Joy, to Sadness, in Chapter 4: "The New Apartment"
In *reImagined*, much attention is given to Joy's character. For the most part, she holds the same core values as her canon and parody counterparts; namely, that Riley should be happy, and find a reason for happiness if she can, at all times. However, it appears that over the years, this approach, especially when considering her coworkers, has tired her.

Joy's relationship with Sadness in *reImagined* is completely unique to the fic. Whereas either canon or parody Joy would mistreat Sadness for the sake of mistreatment, *reImagined* Joy sees that in the end, in a world of happiness, there's not really a place for her, and tries her best to find her a purpose different from operating the console. However, darker thoughts, such as getting rid of Sadness altogether, are seriously considered by Joy as well.