When we were young, our imaginations would lead us to befriend the teddy bear sitting on our bedside. But Pixar has always dug a little deeper. Over its history, the animation studio has journeyed through countless imaginative tales, to make toys, bugs, monsters, and even cars our friendliest companions. Their next destination? Emotions.

Disney-Pixar’s Inside Out brought audiences to take a look into our inner universe. Characters representing Joy, Sadness, Disgust, Anger and Fear are the pilots of 11-year-old Riley’s emotions, with roles of making the little girl’s life “happy – which is not easy at all.”

After Riley’s family moves to a new city, her life is thrown into chaos with the hardships that come from adjusting to a new neighborhood. (It’s like move-in day during Wildcat Welcome, but amplified by the emotions of a pubescent preteen.) The anxiety coming from the thought that we might not be happy in the a environment attacks us, and is amplified when happy memories of the past float around in the mind. This is expressed by Sadness touching one of Riley’s core memories, which makes the memory turn blue and become a “sad” one. Joy, alway the eager, playful leader of the group, freaks out at the thought that Riley could ever feel sad, leading to the misadventures that Joy and Sadness have as they travel through Riley’s brain.

But, as directors Pete Docter and Ronnie del Carmen make viewers realize, there’s more to our complex emotions than always being happy. By the end of the film, Joy learns to appreciate the role of Sadness in controlling Riley’s emotions, and they start to work together to help her grow. At the same time, Riley opens up and for the first time and honestly talks with her family about what she misses from her hometown, about her “sad” memories.

And thus it brings us this pleasant message: stop trying to suppress “bad” and embrace your feelings, because numbing sadness is numbing joy. This simple lesson that the emotions each serve a different, valuable function touched millions of audiences worldwide, ranking the film Pixar’s second biggest critical success (behind only Toy Story 3), earning a 98% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. As one of the very few movies where human emotions are actually the subject matter, the film provided academia with invaluable material. Dr. Elisabeth Guthrie, a child psychiatrist at Columbia University Medical Center, told Newsweekthat the film “was helpful for helping kids identify their feelings and start a dialogue about it.”

Finally, a film where parents “escorting” their children to the theaters actually get to reflect on themselves!