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Inside Out 2 may have delivered big at the box office and signaled what some are already calling a comeback for animation studio Pixar, but the movie was even more of a gift for Maya Hawke, who voices new character Anxiety in the feature: it was the chance to be part of something that personally impacted her the first time around.

“The first Inside Out movie changed my life,” Hawke told the crowd during her spotlight panel at C2E2 2024. “I don’t know if you guys felt this way, but I felt like it facilitated these conversations and knowing how to talk to people differently, and even seeing your own emotions differently — being like, ‘hey, actually, anger’s kind of got the wheel right now. Maybe give me five feet of space’ or whatever.”

Related: Poll: What's the best Pixar movie of all time?

The movies, she continued, offer “this way of seeing your feelings, not as you, but as these feelings that are maneuvering around your mind that you can kind of attempt to control sometimes, and be like, ‘Okay, wow, I’m not angry, anger’s got the wheel. Let me take some deep breaths, and see if I can, you know, bring joy back,’ or whatever. And that’s so cool.”

Getting to appear in something that means so much to her, like Inside Out — or Stranger Things, she pointed out — isn’t something she takes for granted. “It’s so cool to be that lucky,” she said.

Inside Out 2 is in theaters now. Buy tickets on Fandango or Atom Tickets.

You have your own list of the best Pixar movies, I’m sure; we came up with one ourselves, and we’re pretty sure that we’re right. Go check it out and let us know.