June 2, 2026
To infinity... and offline?
Toy Story 5 shows 'terror' of children's screen addiction, says Tom Hanks
Parents cheer, skeptics roll their eyes, and Disney gets roasted for fighting tablets
TLDR: Toy Story 5 turns screen addiction into the new big bad, with Tom Hanks saying the film taps into a very real fear for parents. Online, some people cheered the message, while others mocked Disney for acting like a noble screen-slayer after helping build the very media machine kids can’t escape.
Tom Hanks says Toy Story 5 is taking aim at one of modern parenting’s biggest nightmares: kids glued to screens. In the new film, Woody, Buzz and Jessie face off against Lilypad, a frog-like tablet that hypnotizes children, and Hanks says even seeing the blue phone glow in bedroom windows is enough to strike "terror in the heart." Tim Allen piled on with a painfully relatable dad story, saying his teenage daughter couldn’t sit through a full movie because she’s used to ultra-short social media clips. Add in a new Taylor Swift song, and yes, this sequel is already trying to win every corner of the internet at once.
But the real popcorn-worthy drama is in the comments. One camp nodded along hard, saying parents are waking up and pushing back on screen time, with one person claiming tablets at restaurants are way less common now than they were a few years ago. Another commenter went full disgusted-parent mode, raging about YouTube being overrun with bizarre potty-humor cartoons and “farting dinosaurs.” On the other side, skeptics accused everyone of screen-time panic and said a lot of the scary claims are overblown. And then came the sharpest jab of all: people openly laughing at Disney of all companies trying to position itself as the hero saving children from screens. One commenter compared it to seeing a mall shirt screaming “PUNK” in giant letters — fake rebellion, corporate edition. In other words: the toys may be terrified of Lilypad, but the internet is far more interested in roasting the messenger.
Key Points
- •Tom Hanks said *Toy Story 5* portrays concerns about children’s screen use and described the issue as frightening.
- •The film’s plot features Woody, Buzz and Jessie confronting a tablet character named Lilypad that captivates children.
- •Tim Allen said younger viewers are increasingly used to short-form content and may struggle to stay engaged with full-length films.
- •*Toy Story 5* brings back Tom Hanks, Tim Allen and Joan Cusack, while Greta Lee joins the cast as Lilypad.
- •The film is being released amid wider public debate about the effects of screen time and social media on children.