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After four years marked by mostly middling-quality sequels, animation studio Pixar finally returns to form with the delightfully imaginative “Inside Out,” an original story that explores the nature of emotion. The film balances two very different plots. On a macro level, the story focuses on a young girl named Riley (Kaitlyn Dias) who must adjust to the challenges of life in a new city after moving from Minnesota to San Francisco. But the majority of the film takes place inside of Riley’s mind at the microscopic scale, exploring the interactions between five anthropomorphized feelings that control her actions: the golden, relentlessly optimistic Joy (Amy Poehler), the blue, Eeyore-like Sadness (Phyllis Smith), the red, literally explosive Anger (Lewis Black), the purple, perpetually paranoid Fear (Bill Hader), and the green, casually cool Disgust (Mindy Kaling). From inside a quite literal Headquarters, the five emotions collectively oversee Riley’s life—managing everything from dream production to long-term memory conversion.

Screenplay writers Meg LeFauve, Josh Cooley, and Peter Docter (who directed as well as wrote) push the boundaries of imagination with the incredibly colorful world inside Riley’s head: memories are stored as swirling, color-coded orbs in large, sprawling bookshelves that resemble folded brain tissue, a literal train of thought travels throughout the mind, and fading memories are dumped into a dark abyss where they are forgotten forever. Core memories—those fundamental to Riley’s identity—are stored in a special location at Headquarters, and they each provide power to an island that represents a different personality facet, such as honesty.

When a conflict between Joy and Sadness results in the inadvertent loss of both emotions and several core memories deep in the recesses of Riley’s mind, the emotions must work together to restore Riley back to normal. What follows is a literal mindtrip through Riley’s head—through the infinite mazes of Long Term Memory, the unbounded chaos of Imagination Land, and the Hollywood-like studios of Dream Productions. The film is carried by compelling voice performances from Poehler and Smith, whose characters serve as obvious foils symbolizing the two sides of the emotional spectrum. Joy strongly resembles Poehler’s character Leslie Knope from “Parks and Recreation,” and her controlling, emphatic cheerfulness constantly seeks to marginalize the seemingly superfluous Sadness.

Through the lens of emotion, the film emphasizes the value of change—the audience sees Joy struggle to reconcile the existence of Sadness and futilely hold onto happy memories of the past, but ultimately even she must accept that things will be different after the move. Happy memories of playing hockey in Minnesota can also become sad memories of a former home without ruining the memory’s significance. It is a simple lesson, but one that is presented with tenderness and nuance.

At times capable of evoking a profound sense of childlike wonder and loss, “Inside Out” does what Pixar does best—and the result is a thoughtful coming-of-age film that will leave children wide-eyed and adults wistful.