- Joy, Sadness, and Bing Bong speed toward Headquarters on the Train of Thought—until it comes to an abrupt stop. Riley's asleep, and the train doesn't run when she's asleep.
- Sadness has a plan: They'll wake Riley up. Joy says that's ridiculous. Then she spots Dream Production Studios up ahead and says she has a great idea: They'll wake Riley up. (Where have we heard that one before…?)
- Dream Production Studios operates just like a regular movie studio—only these guys produce Riley's dreams.
- Sadness thinks they should scare her awake; that's what's worked in the past. Joy decides they should try to excite Riley awake—as in, make her so unbelievably happy that she wakes up.
- The crew at Dream Production has set up a scene that'll replay Riley's first day of school, starting when the teacher called on her to introduce herself to the class and it all went downhill from there.
- Mind Workers play the roles of her teacher and classmates, and a special reality distortion filter on the camera makes everything look like it's real to Riley.
- The Mind Workers start acting out the scene and broadcasting it live to Riley. It has the hallmarks of a typical stress dream, like teeth falling out and a lack of pants at school.
- Joy gives Bing Bong the Core Memories she's been carrying to hold on to, and tells him to guard them with his life.
- Then she and Sadness bust on to the dream set wearing a two-person dog costume; Joy's in the front; Sadness is in the back. They try to liven things up and make it a super-happy dream because Riley loves dogs.
- Joy's plan fails. Miserably. As they scurry around the classroom set, their dog costume rips apart—so in Riley's brain, it looks like an actual dog has been cut in half.
- Fear, who's on Dream Duty, is suitably freaked out.
- Bing Bong bursts in, and it's total chaos. Eventually the entire set gets torn down, and the production team realizes that Joy, Sadness, and Bing Bong are trying to wake Riley up. The Dream Director calls security, and they take Bing Bong away.
- Joy and Sadness go after Bing Bong, into the deep, dark caverns of the Subconscious. They see two security guards open a pair of giant doors, shove Bing Bong in, and close them back up.
- Joy and Sadness stake out the entrance, trying to figure out a way in, while the security guards argue over a hat. Joy and Sadness walk right up behind the guards and shake the doors. The guards mistake them for inhabitants of the Subconscious and toss them inside, too. Well, that was easy.
- Joy and Sadness start making their way through the Subconscious. It's dark and craggy, and they hear what sounds like the chatter of jungle birds echoing.
- Sadness says she's spooked, and we don't blame her: The Subconscious is where they keep Riley's darkest fears. The trees are made of broccoli, for example. A door opens up to reveal the basement stairs, and they have a near-miss with Grandma's vacuum cleaner.
- Terrifying.
- Joy and Sadness find Bing Bong trapped in a cage made out of balloons. It's perched atop the belly of a sleeping clown, Jangles. They break Bing Bong out, and all three of them make a break for it.
- Remembering that the train won't run if Riley's asleep, they wake up Jangles and lure him back to the classroom set at Dream Productions.
- Jangles crashes in and scares the snot out of Fear, and Riley wakes up. Because clowns. Are. Terrifying.
- Joy, Sadness, and Bingo run outside and jump on the Train of Thought, which is now up and running again. Full steam ahead!