How many core emotions are at the headquarters?

There are five core emotions at Headquarters in the original Inside Out: Joy, Sadness, Fear, Disgust, and Anger. They are personified characters who influence Riley Andersen’s thoughts, reactions, and behavior.

Headquarters is the control center inside Riley’s mind. The emotions operate a console that responds to what happens in her life, while memories are represented by glowing colored spheres. Joy tries to keep Riley positive, but the other emotions each serve a practical purpose: Fear helps identify danger, Disgust guards against unpleasant or socially risky situations, Anger reacts to unfairness, and Sadness helps Riley process loss and seek support.

A common mix-up comes from the sequel. Inside Out 2 introduces additional emotions, including Anxiety, Envy, Embarrassment, and Ennui, while also featuring Nostalgia. Those newer characters belong to Riley’s adolescent emotional world and do not change the answer for the first film’s Headquarters question.

The five-emotion setup was inspired partly by psychological ideas about basic emotions, but the movie’s lineup is a creative storytelling device rather than a complete scientific inventory. The film emphasizes that every emotion has a useful role.