Inside Out might seem like an unlikely choice for Kingdom Hearts 4 at first. The movie is about the personification of emotions and functions in the human brain of a teenage girl going through intense changes in her life while her Joy aims to keep her happy. The art style of Inside Out alone seems contradictory to what KH is aiming to do going forward, but what it offers may end up being beneficial to Square Enix, Disney, and the fans.

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Inside Out in KH4 Could Follow Toy Story in KH3

While the Disney worlds are an obvious integral part to the KH series’ gameplay, loyal fans are well aware that these worlds don’t actually impact the overall story that much. Many of the larger plot-lines in Kingdom Hearts can stand up on their own without the adventures of Sora, Donald, and Goofy in Nightmare Before Christmas, Beauty and the Beast, and so on. There’s only a select few of these worlds that do anything beyond act as fun side adventures as the Trinity Trio find their answers. Toy Story’s part in KH3 is the same way.

However, the events in the Toy Box world shouldn’t be overlooked. Unlike most Kingdom Hearts worlds, Toy Box features an original story where Woody, Buzz, Hamm, Rex, and a few aliens and toy soldiers are trapped in a fake world away from their owner, Andy. As the toys team up with Sora and company to find the answers, Xehanort pulls strings behind the scenes to make them doubt each other, aiming to have darkness form in the wake of the negative emotions. While darkness and light being swayed by one’s emotions isn’t exclusive to just KH3’s Toy Story world, it uses it in ways that Inside Out’s basic premise, if used correctly in KH4, could expand on further. It makes one wonder what would happen to the emotions inside someone’s head if the person they were within fell to darkness.

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Kingdom Hearts 4 Could Tie-In To Inside Out 2

How the Disney worlds fit in and play out in one Kingdom Hearts title to the next is important to the players. However, just how its properties are used in KH, and what the company gains from it, is important to Disney. If one looks at the series from a business perspective, then it can be easily understood that since the hit RPG series began, the games were advertising for its IPs. One of the biggest examples of this is the fact that Big Hero Six was announced to be featured as a world in KH3 before the movie had been out for a year.

When looking at possible Disney worlds as advertisements, then Inside Out feels even more likely as an option for Kingdom Hearts 4, as Inside Out 2 has recently been announced for a 2024 release. While it’s unlikely that KH4 will feature an Inside Out 2 world specifically is, one based on the first movie could feature themes and elements used in the movie before it releases as an Easter Egg in hindsight. Not only does this work great to advertise the sequel, but it also would serve as a great homage to Pixar’s early Easter Eggs that sometimes referenced movies in development.

Despite how much Inside Out looks to be too cartoony for the new “unreality” theme that KH4 seems to be aiming for, there’s plenty of potential in a world for it as long as it’s handled with the right execution. It would be rather interesting to see Sora, Donald, and Goofy turned into personified emotions to fit in within someone’s brain, and that’s only the surface of what fun things Kingdom Hearts could do with Inside Out. Bing Bong, Riley’s imaginary friend, could be saved by Sora and company, going on more adventures as a Summon. This is just one example of what can be done with a world based on the series.

Though how well the world works relies on how it’s handled. If used incorrectly, fans will be able to see that the movie was adapted into Kingdom Hearts purely for the sake of marketing. This was a main concern and criticism from series loyalists regarding Frozen’s inclusion in KH3, and the game as a whole had questionable execution with a lot of its concepts according to some fans. Since no Disney worlds are known for KH4 right now, fans will need to wait to see more to understand just what the game aims to achieve with its Disney half.

Kingdom Hearts 4 is currently in development.

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