5. Inside Out

You can’t say “Take her to the moon for me” to most Pixar fans without them either falling to their knees and sobbing or shoving you away and telling you to shut the fuck up. Inside Out’s emotionally devastating moments are among the most memorable in Pixar’s portfolio, but the film also arguably marks Pixar’s most clever and effective use of the “secret life of X” formula that it’s been utilizing since the original Toy Story. The 2015 film follows a cast of “emotions” inside a young girl’s head who are doing the best they can to help her navigate this beautiful, sometimes miserable thing we call life. If you were to cut out all of the segments following the emotions, you’d still get an emotionally earnest story of a child struggling with the world around her. But what makes Inside Out so good is how it has a visual concept for just about every dumb thought and struggle we have in our heads. Imagination Land is a dumping ground for every creative or silly daydream you’ve ever had, your train of thought is a literal locomotive, and when you forget something, it disappears into a void, never to be seen again. Inside Out is full of so many brilliant nods like this that it somehow manages to build an incredible sense of place inside the human brain. — KS