A parenting and child development specialist has sued Walt Disney Co and its Pixar unit, accusing them of stealing from her the concept for their 2015 blockbuster movie, "Inside Out."
In a complaint filed on Monday in Los Angeles federal court, Denise Daniels said the animated film, featuring color-coded characters representing individual human emotions, mirrors a children's program called "The Moodsters" that she conceived and pitched to Disney every year from 2005 to 2009.
Daniels, who lives in Minnesota's Twin Cities area and has appeared on TV shows including "Today" and "Oprah," said she had an "implied-in-fact" contract with Disney requiring that she be paid from box office, DVD, Blu-Ray, iTunes and merchandise revenue from "Inside Out."