Joy

"We can't focus on what's going wrong. There's always a way to turn things around."

- Joy telling Sadness to have faith

Joy is the protagonist of the 2015 Disney/Pixar film Inside Out. She is one of the five emotions inside the mind of Riley Anderson. She is happy and joyful all the time, and is the leader or enthusiast of the group, hence her name. She is voiced by Amy Poehler.

Official Description

 * Joy's goal has always been to make sure Riley stays happy. She is lighthearted, optimistic and determined to find the fun in every situation. Joy sees challenges in Riley's life as opportunities, and the less happy moments as hiccups on the way back to something great. As long as Riley is happy, so is Joy.

Physical appearance

 * Joy / Yellow color (bright blue hair and a light chartreuse dress with an over-the-top vibe character).
 * She glows when she's excited (blue light).

Inside Out
Joy appears in the film as one of the five emotions in Riley Anderson's mind, she's the leader of the group.

When Riley was first born, Joy was the first ever emotion to be conjured up. She then walked towards the control panel, which consisted of only one button. The instant she pressed it, infant Riley began smiling. However, thirty-three seconds later, Riley began crying. Joy soon realizes that Sadness (the second emotion to come to Riley's mind) has arrived and has pressed the button. When Joy looks at her, Sadness introduces herself, and Joy awkwardly moves her aside to fix the situation.

She and the other emotions control Riley through her thoughts and mind. She seems to want to keep Riley happy and joyful and always has an important task for every emotion--except Sadness, who she mistreats (and the others do a little bit of the same).

Riley enjoys a happy, joyous life in Minnesota until Riley's father gets a brand new job in San Francisco, which causes Riley to become depressed and sentimental. To make things worse, everything has gone horribly wrong; the house is terrible and broken, the moving van won't arrive for another couple of weeks, and the food is awful.

Joy sees that Riley is becoming sad, depressed, and sentimental and wants her to still be happy and jolly. So, she does all she can to keep her as cheerful and joyous as she was back in Minnesota.

On Riley's first day of school, her first impression is horrible because during Riley's introduction, Sadness caused Riley to cry and made a sad memory. Since she doesn't want Riley to ever be sad, She tries getting rid of it. Sadness tries to pull the memory back, but Joy pulls back and this causes the two to get lost in Riley's mind, literally, they explore all of Riley's memories while trying to get home with help from Riley's old imaginary friend, Bing Bong.

Joy eventually learns to let Sadness do her job as she accepts Riley needs to be sad sometimes.

Disney INFINITY 3.0
Joy is set to appear in Disney INFINITY 's third installment as a playable character. However, she will not be voiced by Amy, as John Vignocchi explained that her agent said she was too busy.

Quotes

 * "These are Riley's memories, and they're mostly happy if you notice. Not to brag."
 * "But the really important ones are here. I don't want to get too technical but these are called Core Memories. Each one came from a super important moment in Riley's life, like when she first scored a goal. That was so amazing!"
 * "And each core memory powers a different aspect of Riley's personality. Like Hockey Island."
 * (Introducing Disgust) "This is Disgust, she basically keeps Riley from being poisoned. Physically and socially."
 * (Introducing Anger) "That's Anger, he cares very deeply about things being fair."
 * (Dancing) "I'm doing the happy dance! I'm not wearing any pants!"
 * "Five second rule!"
 * "Disgust, it's fine. It past the five second rule."
 * "It's a grape. It's not like we're eating broccoli...or boogers...or dog food."
 * "Fear, I don't think you can handle it. It's a scary movie."
 * (Gasp) "The song from the gum commercial!"

Trivia

 * According to Pete Docter, her appearance is based on that of a star.
 * This can be seen in Abstract Thought, as during the fourth stage, Joy and Sadness were reduced to a single shape and color - Joy was a yellow star and Sadness was a blue teardrop.
 * Joy is similar to Woody. They both have kids who they are extremely devoted to and don't want anyone else to be with them.
 * Joy is the second female protagonist in a Pixar movie, with the first being Merida from Brave.
 * There are several things that make Joy stand out from the other emotions:
 * She's the only emotion not wearing shoes or pants.
 * She's the only emotion that glows.
 * She's the only emotion whose hair and eye color isn't the same as her theme color.
 * Despite being happy and kind, she is reluctant to treat Sadness as an equal because she doesn't want Riley being sad, even when she needs to be.
 * Joy has a habit of talking to herself. This was shown when she was excited for Riley's first day of school.
 * Her favorite island is Goofball Island.
 * During the finale of World of Color Celebrate!, Joy is doing some tricks with Riley's memories on California Screamin, but the guests may not find her since the fountains are too tall and block the view of California Screamin.
 * Joy's appearance is somewhat similar to that of Marge Simpson's appearance from The Simpsons: both are yellow in color, they both have blue hair, and they both wear a light green dress.
 * Joy is also somewhat similar to Tinker Bell in that she sports pixie haircut (no pun intended), wears a green dress and that she glows. Also they both have whimsical, lighthearted element to their personalities.