Please note, there are some spoilers or at least implications thereof.

Don’t make a joke about coffee. Don’t make a joke about coffee.

That was the loop playing inside my head as I walked down the hall of the Team Disney building to interview Kyle MacLachlan. It was also a mantra of caution as he has most likely heard coffee jokes every single day since his character first became known for praising a "damn fine cup" on Twin Peaks 25 years ago. It was just too easy.

Besides, that’s not why I was there. Instead, we were set to talk about Pixar’s wonderful new film Inside Out. In it, MachLachlan voices the dad of the main character, 11-year-old Riley.

I walked in the room. There was coffee everywhere. I didn’t even acknowledge it.

We made our introductions, complimented each other’s shoes (who doesn’t love handsome footwear?) and started talking about our kids like dads are prone to do—specifically, how parenting influenced the way we viewed the movie.

MacLachlan, whose son is almost seven, said being a dad certainly helped inform his role, but he also learned a lot from the movie about the way kids’ emotions work as they get older.

“Now I know what to expect,” he said, laughing. “Having a child does have massive influence, particularly in this role, but in other things I’ve done as well. But in this case, we’re still in the 'joy' years. Other emotions will emerge here and there; you can see them coming, point them out. They’re very distinct and very clear. As he gets older they’ll get a little more complicated and more complex, I think, so I have that to look forward to.”

The actor also enjoyed having the freedom to make suggestions about his character to director Pete Docter, based on his own experiences as a parent, especially the goofy moments he shares with his son.

“That comes out of having a nature, for myself, of being basically silly anyway. I’m just made that way.”

In the film, most of the characters aside from Riley and her parents are the actual emotions in her head, including Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust and Sadness. Inside the mind, they find themselves vying for control and having a hard time working together.

As a parent, I found myself referencing that immediately after I saw the movie. One of my sons was having a fit and the first thing I told him was to get his finger off the anger button. MacLachlan laughed when I told him that and agreed the framework of the movie could be a great tool for parents to help kids identify their feelings.

“It’s a pretty good blueprint that they’ve created,” he said. “I think one of the more brilliant things about the film is that, once they set the premise up, then it begins to open up and unfold in ways you never expected, right?”

In the film, Riley gets upset when her family moves from Minnesota to San Francisco and she experiences the discomfort of very painful emotions for the first time. Tension builds as her parents refuse to see the changes in their daughter.

This made me think about how as parents we all go through a disconnect with that at some point. We tell our kids be happy, be happy, be happy. But it’s okay to let them experience other emotions.

“One of the themes is how we have to accept sadness and some of those emotions that are a little more difficult to become people... human beings.” MacLachlan said.

And now, it’s something he’s happy to work into his own repertoire as a dad, too.

“I grew up in a situation where some emotions were never revealed. It was never admitted by my parents. The beauty of having the parents be scared or sad in the movie... it helps to have the parents admit their emotions, too. So I was very glad to see that, and it’s something that I try to bring into my relationship with my son, the I’m scared, toos.”

Soon our time was up and we shook hands, gave our respective thanks, and I left the Disney lot in a hurry—it was an early dismissal day at my youngest son’s school. I can only assume that Kyle MacLachlan was knee-deep in his next interview, laughing politely at another coffee joke and enjoying every minute of it.

For an expanded version of this interview, check it out at Family Life on Earth.

Whit Honea is the author of The Parents’ Phrase Book and his personal website the Honea Express. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, two sons, and too many pets.