"It was horrendous" — Laid-off Pixar employees open up about not being able to benefit from Inside Out 2’s record-shattering success

Former Pixar employees who were laid off have expressed their profound disappointment and frustration regarding their inability to share in the monumental success of Pixar's latest blockbuster, Inside Out 2.

On September 16, 2024, American video game and entertainment media website IGN published a report with ten former employees of a film studio that alleged working conditions of Inside Out 2 as "horrendous."

"Ridiculous amounts of production workers, just people being tossed into jobs they'd never really done before… It was horrendous," one employee revealed.

The statements came after the sequel to 2015's Inside Out, which was released worldwide in June 2024, became the highest-grossing animated movie of all time, with $1.6 billion at the box office, as per Screenrant. Despite the massive success, the company laid off many employees in the following months.

Pixar Animation Studios is a highly acclaimed American film studio known for pioneering computer animation work. Based in Emeryville, California, it has made several famous movies, including Toy Story, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Up, Inside Out, and Coco.

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Former Pixar workers speak out about missing out on Inside Out 2's record-breaking success

On Monday, IGN published a report detailing discussions with former Pixar employees, revealing that their experiences during the production of Inside Out 2 were among the most challenging of their careers. One former employee shared that the team worked seven days a week for several months to ensure the film's success.

"I think for a month or two, the animators were working seven days a week," one shared.

As per the IGN report, they contacted ten former employees who discussed how laying off impacted their financial conditions and how they did not gain from the film's success. Also, some discussed the internal culture of the American film studio, calling it "rough."

"I would venture that at least 95% of the people that got laid off are financially f*cked right now," one more shared.

Another said,

"The internal culture of Pixar right now is really rough."

Some of the employees suggested that laying off day was like a "funeral" to them, and the sounds of crying and weeping will stay with them for quite a long time. The studio laid off 175 employees, or 14% of its workforce, in May 2024.

"The day that the layoffs happened was like a funeral. There was weeping and crying in the atrium," one said.

Another shared,

"It was rushed work, paranoid work, paranoid leadership, mixed messaging. You're just working 24/7. And so after a while, your body just starts breaking down."

One former employee said,

"There is just an incredible amount of people who are like, "I can't do this anymore.""

According to the report, the studio's excessive work schedule happened because three of the studio's movies, including Soul, Luca, and Turning Red, were released directly on Disney+ due to COVID-19. Later, in 2022, movies started getting released in theaters again, and under Pixar, Lightyear did well, but Elemental was a drastic failure, as per Screenrant.

Therefore, Inside Out 2 was considered Pixar's savior in such circumstances. According to Screenrant, some sources claimed that Inside Out 2 was "an all-hands-on-deck studio emergency" and "a life or death situation" for the studio.

As per Screenrant, Disney has declined to comment on IGN's report. However, a high-ranking officer at the film studio has challenged the former employees' claims regarding their difficult working conditions during the production of Inside Out 2. The officer has suggested that the intense workload described by the employees is not unique to Inside Out 2 but is common across many of Pixar's projects.

Pixar has yet to comment on the situation.

According to Forbes, Inside Out 2 was this summer's biggest hit. The animated movie, released on June 10, 2024, worldwide grossed about $650 million from domestic theatres and $1.6 billion, according to Box Office Mojo data.