Pixar dives into the fraught emotional world of adolescence in its upcoming animated film Inside Out 2. For Blavity’s Shadow and Act, Sharronda Williams spoke with the creative crew of Inside Out 2, including filmmakers Kelsey Mann and Mark Nielsen about how they approached characterizing the emotions of a new freshman in high school.

The sequel to Inside Out continues Riley’s (Kensington Tallman) story, now a high schooler and hoping to make friends and fit in. Williams asked Mann and Nielsen what were the emotions they first felt when they entered the transition from middle school to high school. They both answered that anxiety was high on the list. In the film, that emotion is personified into new character Anxiety, played by Maya Hawke.

“I think in middle school and I’m just thinking about that time of life when all of a sudden you’re so much more aware of what people think of you and your place in the world and your fear of being alone and not having a group, and being isolated,” said Nielsen.

“A lot of us at this time are just worrying about fitting in and it’s totally at time when you’re going from middle school to high school, I remember that feeling of what’s it going to be like?” Mann added. “There are a lot of unknowns, and I think that’s why anxiety comes in. It’s like, ‘I don’t know what’s gonna happen and I’ve gotta…worry about it. But anxiety is all about…a perceived threat. It’s all about the future, it’s all about what could happen, what might happen…there are a lot of unknowns at that age.”

Watch the full video below, which includes interviews from key creatives like Evan Bonifacio (animation supervisor), Rebecca McVeigh (story artist), Adam Habib (DP, camera) and Maurissa Horwitz (lead editor). Inside Out 2 comes to theaters June 14.