Toy Story 5 Introduces New Character Lilypad Replacing Original Toy Etch

6 days ago 17

Bullseye and Jessie looking scared in Toy Story 5

Published Feb 25, 2026, 8:45 PM EST

After joining Screen Rant in January 2025, Guy became a Senior Features Writer in March of the same year, and now specializes in features about classic TV shows. With several years' experience writing for and editing TV, film and music publications, his areas of expertise include a wide range of genres, from comedies, animated series, and crime dramas, to Westerns and political thrillers.

Toy Story 5 has introduced a major new character into the fray, giving Woody, Buzz, Jessie and the rest of the gang something entirely different to think about. The movie’s trailer reveals that Buzz and Jessie’s owner, Bonnie has just been gifted a brand-new smart tablet toy called Lilypad, whose arrival threatens their futures once again.

While some Toy Story characters are returning with different voice actors for this fifth feature-length installment of the landmark animated franchise, Lilypad’s introduction marks the replacement of an original franchise character altogether. Now that there’s a new smart screen in Bonnie’s room, we won’t be seeing Andy’s old mechanical art canvas Etch make a comeback anytime soon.

Plenty more real-life toys could appear in Toy Story 5, but this character based on the drawing tool first given to kids back in 1960 is now ancient history. When Woody famously reassured his friends that no one was getting replaced back in the original Toy Story, he couldn’t possibly have imagined Etch’s replacement would be an AI-driven computer tablet.

Toy Story 5’s Main New Character Is The Smart Tablet Lilypad

As Toy Story 5’s dark movie trailer alludes to, the franchise’s beloved band of toys are confronted with the same existential crisis that keeps millions of people in the real world up at night. The threat posed to our well-being and livelihoods by automation, AI technology, excessive screentime, and even computer surveillance, are all embodied in Bonnie's new toy, Lilypad.

A fictional smart tablet designed for young children to play with, Lilypad gives Bonnie more artificially-generated fun than her other toys could ever dream of competing with. She also gets her owner hooked on screentime, all while mining endless amounts of data, telling Jessie ominously, “I’m always listening.”

Lilypad Is The First Screen-Based Toy In The Franchise Since Etch

Lilypad’s introduction to the franchise immediately brings to mind a real product that once took pride of place in Andy’s bedroom. In the first two Toy Story movies, one of the toys Woody and Buzz could rely on for support the most was Etch, an iteration of the real-world mechanical art canvas toy Etch-a-Sketch.

The Etch-a-Sketch was invented by the French toymaker André Cassagnes in the 1950s, and was first released on the market in 1960 by the Ohio Art Company. Its role in the original Toy Story movie actually led to a revival in its popularity, 35 years later.

In Toy Story and Toy Story 2, the fact that Etch’s main feature is a screen makes them an especially useful asset to Woody and Buzz whenever they need to visualize a plan or idea. Now, in Toy Story 5, Lilypad has come to take Etch’s place, becoming the first screen-based toy since the initial sequel film to feature in the franchise.

Etch Played A Key Role In Toy Story & Toy Story 2

Etch a Sketch Welcome Home Andy sign from Toy Story 2

The fact that Toy Story 5 will repeat the same basic plot as previous installments of the franchise is already widely known, and is even acknowledged in a joke during the movie’s trailer. It won't be any surprise, then, to see Lilypad doing some of the very same things that Etch did back in the first two movies.

The mechanical screen character was used to draw quick sketches of Woody’s initial antagonists in each movie, Buzz Lightyear and Al from Al’s Toy Barn. What’s more, Etch allowed Buzz and the others to rescue Woody in Toy Story 2, by drawing a map where Al’s shop was located.

Alas, those were simpler times. What Etch could render on a mechanical canvas in the 1990s, Lilypad can now create from scratch in Toy Story 5. One of the franchise’s oldest toys has been well and truly replaced.