According to former employees, the highly successful Pixar film Inside Out 2 could have looked very different. Disney, the parent company, had significant influence over the development of the main character, as the media giant did not want a homosexual character. The executives believed this would drastically reduce the film's potential earnings.

Former employees, who spoke to IGN, said they were instructed to "tone down" various scenes between the main character Riley and the character Val. Although the film did not include any storyline involving romantic feelings for Riley, sources claimed that the team had to do "a lot of extra work to make sure that no one would potentially see them as not straight." For example, lighting in several scenes had to be adjusted to make the relationship between the two "as platonic as possible."

Disney's fixation on removing any potential references to homosexuality reportedly stems from the disappointing results of the film Lightyear, a spin-off of the popular Toy Story series. That film featured a brief kiss between two female characters. Disney executives seemed to attribute the film’s underperformance solely to that kiss. According to employees, Pixar’s parent company has since become obsessed with erasing all possible references to homosexuality.

Disney's relationship with the LGBT+ community has been challenging overall. Although the company claims to support inclusion and acceptance of LGBT+ people, there has yet to be a story that fully revolves around a same-sex relationship. In 2022, a film with a gay protagonist was released: Strange World. However, a kiss between two same-sex characters was notably absent.