Tech toys vs. old-school play: What parents get wrong

The latest Toy Story film shows how digital gadgets are changing the way kids interact— mostly in ways that surprise parents. Bonnie, the new owner of Woody and Buzz, doesn’t fall for the shiny Lilypad tablet at first. While other children around her zone out on glowing screens, she builds her own stories with physical toys. Her parents eventually cave and buy her the tablet, hoping it’ll help her fit in. But the device doesn’t create real connections—it just speeds up the process of rejection. Girls from Bonnie’s school bully her for playing with “old” toys, even though their own tablets won’t let them stop scrolling long enough to talk. The film flips the script on the usual “tech is evil” argument. Lilypad isn’t some demonic babysitter; it’s a tool that reflects the good and the bad of modern friendship. Kids today don’t just meet on playgrounds—they connect through apps designed for “safe” communication. Yet those platforms still let cruelty slip through. Studies suggest imaginative play helps kids handle stress, something the movie hammers home. But here’s the twist: Lilypad isn’t entirely useless. It accidentally helps Bonnie find Blaze, another girl who prefers crafts over endless scrolling. Without the tablet, they’d never have crossed paths.Real parenting isn’t about banning screens—it’s about guiding their use. Educational apps exist, after all. Some games grow with kids, teaching creativity and problem-solving over years. But the movie falls short in one big way. Lilypad’s options feel stuck in 2010, ignoring richer worlds like Minecraft that blur the line between toy and screen. If Bonnie could build digital forts instead of watching passive videos, maybe the story would feel fresher. Pixar’s been in the toy world for decades. They’ve dug deep into loneliness, existence, and even death. Now tablets are part of the franchise. But where do they go next? The heart of Toy Story was always about what toys mean to us—not how we play with them.