Joy (Inside Out)

"Do you ever look at someone and wonder, What is going on inside their head? Well, I know. I know Riley's head."

- Joy

Joy is the main protagonist, heroine and narrator of the 2015 Pixar film Inside Out. She is one of the five emotions inside the mind of Riley Andersen. As her name implies, she is eternally optimistic and appears to be happy all the time and thus could be the leader or enthusiast of the group, hence her name. She can sometimes be miserable about the important memories in Riley's mind, though.

She is voiced by Amy Poehler who also did the voice of Bessie Higgenbottom from The Mighty B.

History
Joy was the first emotion introduced inside Riley's mind during her childhood. When Riley grew up, she and the other emotions (Sadness, Disgust, Anger and Fear) have a gallery of orbs to use as memories. Eventually, she and the other emotions sometimes disagree whose emotion's turn it is to use to control Riley. When the inner core lost all Riley's memories, Joy and Sadness get out of the headquarters and have landed in a vast area.

While trying to find the orbs, she and Sadness get introduced to an imaginary character named Bing Bong who is good at helping her and Sadness. She, along with Sadness and Bing Bong are unable to reach back to the headquarters when Riley went to sleep. She, along with Sadness and Bing Bong go to Dream Productions to wake up Riley. However, many of the minds began taking them to Subconscious, where they led Jangles the Clown to Dream Productions to wake up Riley and power up the Long-Term Memory.

Joy is also very protective of keeping Sadness from touching the most important orbs Riley has in memory. When Family Island is crumbled, she, along with Bing Bong fall into the memory dump. Joy ends up releasing her stress on the most important orbs in which should be returned, but Bing Bong encourages her to not give up on hope. The two of them search for his wagon which had fallen into the dump earlier and use it to return to the surface of the mind, after two failed attempts, Joy manages to succeed in reaching the surface after Bing Bong sacrifices himself to lighten the weight of the wagon so that it manages to return to the surface. As Bing Bong fades away (dies), Joy uses the remains of Imagination Land and brings Sadness as well as the core memories back to the inner core in the headquarters after reaching it. Joy was supposed to save the day, but it was Sadness instead.

With Riley back home at San Francisco, Joy and Sadness began creating a new Family Island. When Riley adapts for a new life, Joy and the other emotions begin to work together coping with her new environment.

Similar Heroes

 * Abby Sciuto (NCIS)
 * Anna (Frozen)
 * Amethyst and Pearl (Steven Universe)
 * Anna Barnes-Leatherwood (A Million Ways To Die In The West)
 * Babs Bunny (Tiny Toon Adventures)
 * Dana (Wayside)
 * Dee Dee (Dexter's Laboratory)
 * Dory (Finding Nemo)
 * Dot, Wakko &amp; Yakko (Animaniacs)
 * Ducky (The Land Before Time)
 * Entrèe and Peri (Spliced!)
 * Gabrielle (Renée O'Connor) (Xena Warrior Princess)
 * Geoff and Owen (Total Drama)
 * Goofy and Mickey Mouse (Disney)
 * Jiminy Cricket (Pinocchio)
 * Jimmy Two-Shoes
 * Judy Hopps (Zootopia)
 * Little Miss Sunshine and Mr. Happy (The Mr. Men Show)
 * Louise (Bob's Burgers)
 * Lucy Wilde (Despicable Me)
 * Ludlow Lamonsoff and Q*bert (Pixels)
 * Mabel Pines (Gravity Falls)
 * Margaret Smith (Regular Show)
 * Michelangelo (TMNT Series)
 * Ned Flanders (The Simpsons)
 * Neil Sutherland (The Inbetweeners)
 * Olaf and Princess Anna (Frozen)
 * Pinkie Pie (My Little Pony Friendship is Magic)
 * Pinky (Animaniacs & Pinky And The Brain)
 * Private (Madagascar)
 * Rapunzel (Tangled)
 * Ruby Gloom (Ruby Gloom)
 * Serena (Pokémon)
 * SpongeBob SquarePants
 * Sonic the Hedgehog (Sonic The Hedgehog)
 * Stimpson J. Cat (Ren and Stimpy)
 * Tanya Mousekewitz (An American Tail)
 * Tigger (Winnie The Pooh)
 * Tinker Bell (Disney's Fairies) and (Peter Pan)
 * Yang Xiao Long (RWBY)

Trivia

 * Joy is the second main Pixar movie protagonist to be a heroine, the first being Princess Merida.