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A train of thought runs through Inside Out. Seriously, there's an actual train chugging through the candy-colored mindscape of an 11-year-old girl, an ingenious new frontier for Pixar's brand of magic and Disney's magical brand.

Inside Out is the animation leaders' most ambitiously original project since Up, a relief after a five-year streak of sequels and Brave. This one ranks among their finest, certainly the most intellectually challenging in the way it makes abstracts so relatable to anyone, young and old. It thinks, therefore it is.

The girl is Riley (voice of Kaitlyn Dias), a typical PG preteen growing up in Minneapolis, lots of friends, loves playing hockey. Then her father (Kyle MacLachlan) takes a job in San Francisco, uprooting Riley and her mom (Diane Lane).

Inside Out offers a wildly imaginative peek at the way Riley's mind is wired, and the way it occasionally short-circuits. Her thoughts are guided by a mission control room of immature emotions led by Joy (Amy Poehler), whose goal is to ensure Riley experiences happiness all the time. It's all she can do to keep Fear (Bill Hader), Anger (Lewis Black), Disgust (Mindy Kaling) and especially Sadness (Phyllis Smith) from spoiling Riley's day.

But this San Francisco situation even worries Joy.

From that premise, co-directors Pete Docter and Ronaldo Del Carmen brilliantly illustrate Riley's cognitive processes, and by extension our own. This is an immensely relatable movie, bound to transcend theaters as a parent's tool for handling kids ("Now, don't be Anger." "What would Fear do?") and a Psych I term paper topic.

Inside Out combines the best elements of Docter's previous Pixar hits: the emotional tug of Up, and the way Monsters Inc. invented fantasy details explaining noises in the closet. Here, memories are color-coded to the emotion, either filed long-term or soon forgotten. Some are core memories, events that formed Riley's personality, the theme park foundations Joy can't allow to crumble.

The surprises are plentiful and seamlessly connected, as Joy and, grudgingly, Sadness trek through Riley's mind in search of core memories, from her dreamland movie studio to her depths of fear. Poehler and Smith are funny but the movie's breakout toy is Bing Bong, Riley's imaginary friend, voiced by Richard Kind.

No spoilers here, but Kind's line readings and Bing Bong's character arc are among the most endearing in Pixar's canon. Inside Out has plenty of smarts; Bing Bong is one for the heart.

Same goes for the superb short Lava shown before Inside Out. It's the story of a lonely volcano singing a lovely tiki torch song, asking the gods to "please send me someone to lava." They do, but not exactly as hoped.

Prediction No. 1: Lava is your Oscar winner for animated shorts next spring. Prediction No. 2: The song becomes the first Academy Award nominee ever from a short film. Toss in the sure-to-be nominated marvels of Inside Out and moviegoers might be seeing another triple crown this weekend.