Seth Rogen and Anna Kendrick’s Babies makes its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival today, September 12, bringing Lauren Miller Rogen’s personal comedy about marriage, parenthood and family pressure to Toronto. The film follows a happily married couple, Aaron and Annie, who are in love but remain undecided about having children. Its story grew from Miller Rogen’s real-life experience caring for a friend’s toddler, while its emotional themes also connect with her and Seth Rogen’s long-standing Alzheimer’s advocacy. Before the premiere, Roadside Attractions and Vertical acquired the U.S. theatrical rights, making Babies the first U.S. acquisition of a world premiere from TIFF 2026.
The film’s unusual origin goes back to around 2015, when Lauren Miller Rogen and Seth Rogen spent a year helping care for their friend’s toddler. Rather than immediately turning those experiences into a screenplay, Miller Rogen let them remain in her mind for years. In 2021, she began secretly keeping a Notes document on her phone, recording the funny and chaotic moments of life with a toddler. After gathering ideas for four years, she wrote the screenplay in a concentrated burst between January and April 2025.
That long gestation helped shape a comedy that avoids a familiar romantic-comedy conflict. Aaron and Annie are not struggling to save their marriage or arguing over which partner wants children. They are a happy, stable couple who simply do not know what they want. Their uncertainty becomes harder to ignore as friends, expectations and the pressure of the biological clock surround them. Seth Rogen has said he was drawn to the project because it offered a chance to portray a modern marriage that Hollywood rarely shows with this kind of honesty.
The story also carries a more serious thread through Annie’s mother, whose worsening Alzheimer’s disease adds emotional weight to the comedy. For Lauren Miller Rogen, that element is deeply personal: she lost her mother and grandfather to Alzheimer’s. She and Seth Rogen have also spent years advocating for greater awareness, support and research, including through their charity Hilarity for Charity and congressional advocacy.
Babies also marks a major reunion for Seth Rogen and Anna Kendrick, who last appeared together in 2011’s 50/50. Kendrick has known the Rogens since that production, making her a natural choice for Annie, a character who needs humour, sarcasm and vulnerability without losing emotional maturity.
The TIFF connection extends beyond Babies. Seth Rogen and Lauren Miller Rogen are also associated with Tangles, an animated Alzheimer’s story that premiered at Cannes earlier this year and has its North American premiere at TIFF. The two projects create a notable festival connection around family, ageing and caregiving.
The film’s industry journey adds another layer to its festival arrival. Roadside Attractions and Vertical moved on the movie before audiences had seen it in Toronto, reflecting confidence in its accessible premise and ensemble. The cast also includes Issa Rae, Dan Stevens, Kate Berlant, Zach Cherry, Ed Helms, Ashley Park, Sharon Stone and David Strathairn, giving the central dilemma a broader ensemble setting. Rather than treating parenthood as an obvious destination, the film asks whether choosing uncertainty can itself be an honest part of adult life.
The Babies premiere also arrives during a strong period for Seth Rogen. Apple TV+’s The Studio earned 23 Emmy nominations and won 13 awards, including Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Lead Actor for Rogen.
With its personal origins, unusual marriage story and timely questions about parenthood, Babies arrives in Toronto as more than a conventional comedy. Its TIFF premiere gives Lauren Miller Rogen’s long-developing idea a public stage, while the film’s mix of humour and real-life experience offers audiences a thoughtful look at a decision that many couples face.
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