parents use – After “Toy Story 5” hit theaters on June 19, families in New Jersey gathered for a screen-time discussion—using the movie’s storyline about a tablet called Lilypad to spark conversations about childhood, free play, and the growing pressure to balance technolog
On a Monday evening in Cranford, dozens of families crowded into a dark theater around a 40-foot screen—then sat with their phones glowing in their hands.
The film on the screen was “Toy Story 5,” which hit theaters June 19. The storyline follows Woody and Buzz as their latest enemy isn’t a villain or a rival toy—it’s something millions of parents recognize instantly. As the movie shifts into a world where a new tablet can play games. answer questions at lightning speed. and communicate through a chat platform called “The Pond. ” the audience fidgets. whispers. and settles back in as if bracing for a familiar fight.
“We’re here because it’s the topic that’s on everyone’s mind,” said Blair Maloney, a mom who brought her 6-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter to the showing. “Something like this can bring it to the surface and get people talking about it.”
The screening and discussion were organized by the Balance Project. a nonprofit that aims to help kids balance independence with mindful technology usage. Nearly 60 elementary school families attended a screening in Cranford, and the group also hosted one in Arlington, Virginia. More events are planned for next week in Shrewsbury and Highlands, New Jersey.
A tablet takes over the plot—and parents watch closely
In the movie, viewers are introduced to Lilypad about 15 minutes into the film. It’s not just entertainment in the story; it’s portrayed as a doorway to rapid answers, constant interaction, and an online social world.
Bonnie—who became the toys’ owner at the end of “Toy Story 3”—is immediately pulled in. The more time she spends with the device, the more withdrawn she becomes, even as she appears connected to more friends online. Jessie, with Woody and Buzz, tries to redirect Bonnie toward real-world connections.
There’s a moment during the movie when Jessie befriends a gang of tech toys. including a low-tech potty-training product named Smarty Pants. along with GPS and camera devices called Atlas and Snappy. In the Cranford theater. 8-year-old Molly Moscatiello turned to her mother—who founded the Balance Project—and asked. in effect. what this could mean for the real world.
“See, you can use it as a tool,” her mother said, gesturing toward the screen.
Screen time anxiety is no longer just about TV
After the screening, adults continued to talk while children ran through the lobby. Phones came out again almost immediately, the way they do after any family outing—except this time the movie had handed parents a new storyline to measure against their own routines.
Experts say “Toy Story 5” lands because it matches the reality parents are facing. Kathy Hirsh-Pasek. a professor of psychology at Temple University whose research examines the role of play. praised the film for portraying technology at a time when the screen debate is shifting earlier than many families expected.
The concerns echo a May advisory from the U.S. surgeon general’s office that warned screen use now begins in infancy. Researchers and advocates also point to “iPad babies”—toddlers seen glued to screens at restaurants. grocery stores. or on airplanes—and to the growing scrutiny around chatbot companions following high-profile lawsuits involving children’s mental health.
A 2025 Pew Research report found that 62% of toddlers under 2 watch YouTube, up from 45% in 2020. It also found that YouTube use rises to 84% in children ages 2 to 4. Pew reported that while nine in 10 parents say kids 12 and younger watch TV. 68% say their children use a tablet and 61% say they use a smartphone. About one in 10 parents said their 5 to 12-year-old has used an AI chatbot like ChatGPT or Gemini.
Hirsh-Pasek framed the film as a chance to pressure-test family habits.
“‘Toy Story’ is a wake up (call) for parents,” she said. “My hope is that the nostalgia parents have for this and the beautiful way in which it’s displayed in the movie will help us realize that we’re losing more than we’re gaining.”
But not everyone thinks the movie’s ending helps
Still, the discussion after “Toy Story 5” isn’t one-note. Some clinicians and parent advocates say the film’s conclusion blunts its own message.
In the end, Lily is portrayed as misguided and misunderstood rather than evil. Woody even remarks that Lily is “one of us.”
New-York based licensed clinical psychologist Shara M. Brofman said she would have preferred a harsher ending—more in line with how the movie’s villains are handled in “The Lion King” and “Sleeping Beauty.” She said the film simplifies Lily’s arc into a bad-to-good transformation.
“It sounds like the bad guy turned out to, in fact, not be so bad after all,” Brofman said. “Children who are younger didn’t understand the nuances and the negative sort of critical commentary that adults might have understood the movie was making on cyberbullying and mental health.”
She also pointed to a tension that showed up in the real world even as the film warned against technology. Brofman cited the irony that a movie about the harms of technology would promote tech products.
Belkin is selling a Lilypad-themed iPad case, and LeapFrog toys released a tablet-style Lilypad device for ages 3 to 5, with a description advertising that kids can “stay connected with Jessie, Buzz, Woody and the Tech Trio by texting them using emojis and preset messages.”
Brofman said the marketing “definitely sort of glosses over, if not erases,” the film’s commentary about harm to cognitive, social, and emotional development and mental health.
Nicki Petrossi, a low-tech parent advocate who runs the “Scrolling 2 Death” podcast, raised similar concerns. In a June 21 video, Petrossi said she found Lily’s morality unrealistic.
“I have a little bit of a problem with the LilyPad having. like. a self-reflection moment and sacrificing herself for Bonnie’s happiness. ” Petrossi shared in the Instagram post. “That’s just not how these devices work, or the people that make them. They are seeking our children’s attention above everything else.”.
In the theater, the debate keeps moving after the credits
When the movie ended, families didn’t just file out. Some stopped for pictures with life-size Woody and Andy. Others leaned into the conversations the film had sparked.
For Jamie Knight, the moment felt personal in more ways than one. Knight watched the first “Toy Story” in theaters when it premiered in 1995, and now sits beside her own children. Knight co-founded the Scotch Plains-Fanwood community of the Balance Project with Maloney in January.
Knight said she couldn’t shake a line from the film.
“There’s a moment where Jessie says, ‘These devices, they make them grow up too fast,’ and that really resonated,” she said. “Childhood is so short to begin with, let’s not make it any shorter.”
Her 6-year-old daughter Brooke said her favorite character was Lily, while another child, Mae—Maloney’s 5-year-old daughter—liked the frog and pulled on a Jessie toy she brought, prompting a “Yee-haw!”
Ten-year-old Taylor Lewandowski said the film’s themes of technology mattered to her because some of her friends are on Roblox “all the time.” She’s only allowed to use the family iPad on weekends, a rule she sometimes finds frustrating.
After all the talk about tablets. she returned to something simpler: she was thinking about Rosie. a plush koala she used to play with constantly. A few years ago. Rosie felt like a best friend—climbing onto the chandelier. sitting on her desk when Taylor got home from school. Lately, Rosie has been left untouched in a pile of toys.
After watching “Toy Story 5,” Taylor said she plans to bring her back out.
For the families in Cranford and beyond, the movie has done something ordinary movie screens rarely do: it turned a common parenting challenge—how to live with technology without losing childhood—into a conversation that starts immediately, and doesn’t end when the lights come back on.
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