Bing Bong

"Take her to the moon for me, okay?"

- Bing Bong's last words before being forgotten

Bing Bong is the tritagonist from the 2015 Disney/Pixar film Inside Out. He is the imaginary friend of Riley Andersen that exists within her mind. He is voiced by Richard Kind.

Inside Out
Bing Bong was Riley's imaginary friend created during her early childhood. However, as Riley grew older, she stopped playing with him, leaving Bing Bong out of a job. Drifting around Long Term Memory unbeknownst to the other mental denizens, he collected happy memories he liked into a bottomless bag. He greatly missed the times he shared with Riley and was desperate to not be forgotten until one day when he is discovered by the misplaced emotions Joy and Sadness, who were accidentally ejected from Headquarters. Afraid of their sudden appearance, Bing Bong initially tried to run, but when Joy presents herself, he is thrilled to meet her. As the two need to return to Headquarters, Bing Bong, who has been forgotten for a long time, agrees to help them, more so when Joy tells him she will put him back in business when she gets back. He proposes that they take the Train of Thought that will lead them directly to Headquarters, and shows them the way.

Unfortunately, since he was created when Riley was a toddler, his naive nature impedes the duo from getting anywhere close to Headquarters. In fact, he leads them into danger in Abstract Thought. But when Bing Bong witnesses the demolition of the childish aspects in Imagination Land with his precious wagon thrown into the Memory Dump in the process, Bing Bong falls into deep melancholy. Joy tries to get him to stop being sad by making silly faces and doing childish things, but they don't work. When Sadness talks to him, she empathizes with him, and by getting him to express his sadness, she comforts him and inspires Bing Bong to bring them to the Train of Thought.

However, the train stops as Riley is asleep. Bing Bong, Joy and Sadness go to Dream Productions to wake up Riley through a dream, but instead inadvertently create chaos in it. Bing Bong shows himself to try to remind Riley of him, but he is arrested and thrown into the Subconscious. Joy and Sadness enter the Subconscious to rescue him and find him detained inside a balloon prison on top of the sleeping Jangles the Clown, one of Riley's worst fears. Joy frees him without waking the fear up, however they realize that Jangles is the only way to get Riley awake. The group reluctantly wake up Jangles and run quickly with the mad clown in hot pursuit, leading him back to Dream Productions which causes Riley to wake up in shock.

The three of them finally board the activated Train of Thought. However, it is quickly destroyed by the destruction of Honesty Island. Joy tries to leave Bing Bong and Sadness behind in hopes of making it back to Headquarters in time, but it is too late as the falling debris of Family Island crashes on Joy's location and falls into the Memory Dump, taking Joy and Bing Bong (who was trying to catch Joy from falling) with it. Inside the dump, Bing Bong finds out he is slowly fading and on the verge of disappearing forever and has lost all hope. To get the both of them out of the Memory Dump and save Riley's mind, Bing Bong and Joy try to use Bing Bong's wagon to blast out to the surface. No matter how hard they sing, the wagon falls short every time. Bing Bong, in a moment of self-realization, starts the rocket again and jumps off before it flies away, making the wagon lighter so that Joy can reach the top. As Joy looks and realizes what he has done, Bing Bong asks her if she could "take Riley to the moon for him," and fades into oblivion.

Quotes

 * "Welcome to Imagination Land!"
 * (realizing Mind Workers are confiscating his rocket wagon) "My rocket!"
 * (seeing his rocket wagon fall into the Memory Dump) "Riley can't be done with me."
 * (to Sadness, referencing his rocket) "It's all I had left of Riley."
 * "Hey Riley, it's me!"
 * (telling Joy she can't escape from the Memory Dump) "Don't you get it, Joy? We're stuck down here! We're forgotten!"
 * (to Joy, his last words) "Take her to the moon for me, okay?"

Trivia

 * The film was originally going to feature a whole slew of "imaginary friends", as characters from Riley's early childhood that were now refugees living in a place called "Hobo Camp". In addition to Bing Bong, these included Mrs. Scribbles, who was a stick figure, and "Corner Sun", who was literally a quarter of Sun as kids would draw in the corner of their drawings. Ultimately, this storyline was condensed to just Bing Bong.
 * He is the second Pixar hero to die and the first one who died onscreen, the first being Doc Hudson, who died off-screen.
 * After being asked why Bing Bong is made of cotton candy, Pete Docter simply stated, "I like cotton candy."
 * Bing Bong's illiteracy might come from the fact that Riley created him at a very young age.
 * His tail is very similar to the Cheshire Cat's tail from Alice in Wonderland.
 * Although he has faded away, it's quite possible that Riley still remembers him, according to The Bing Bong Book. At the end of that book, Bing Bong finds Storybook Land, where three Bing Bongs from books Riley wrote when she was younger appear to join him for tea.
 * While saying his last line "Take her to the moon for me, okay?" Richard Kind was crying.