With the summer sun starting to shine and Disney’s live-action reimagining of Lilo & Stitch following close behind, we’re excited to share our favorite Stitch products for the season! From alien accessories and toys to tropical coffees, here are some fun Lilo & Stitch products to watch out for:

Stitch Cheese – Babybel

Snack on Stitch-themed Mini Babybel cheeses—coming soon! From July 21 to August 31, these limited-time cheesy delights will be available as a snack for any crazy activity. Conveniently wrapped in their signature red-wax coating, you can toss these into any picnic and bring Stitch in on the fun. With 4 grams of protein per serving and 100% real cheese, these Stitch Babybels will add a little mischief to your snack time. Just don’t forget to share!

Look for these on-the-go snacks in your local grocery store, beginning this July, or visit Babybel.com.

Summertime with 626 – Citizen

Click to purchase “A Stitch in Time” Watch

Click to purchase Stitch Eco-Drive Watch

Stick with Stitch all the time with CITIZEN’s Stitch-themed watches! With three different styles to pick from, you can choose your adventure’s tempo… and for those who love the sun, know that the Stitch Eco-Drive Watches harness the power of light to move the dial’s three hands! The island themed “A Stitch in Time” Watch features a smooth blue leather strap and a dial of plumerias—perfect for a tropical getaway. A second version of the Eco-Drive Stitch watch features a velvety pink dial. Or, keep an eye out for the “Stitch & Angel Together” Watch; it features a deep navy-blue backdrop for our favorite alien couple and a stainless-steel case.

The pink dial Stitch watch and the “A Stitch in Time” Watch are currently available online at the Disney Store; the “A Stitch in Time” Watch is also available at Trend-D at Disney Springs. In June, the “Stitch & Angel Together” Watch will be available throughout Disneyland and Walt Disney World Resorts, and online at the Disney Store.

Lilo & Stitch Disney Classics Top Flip Flops – Havaianas

Explore a warm beach with Stitch—in the perfect pair of flip flops! For those hot summer sands, Havaianas Disney Classics Top Flip Flops are perfect to keep your feet comfortable. The wider straps, bright colors, and Stitch’s smile make these the ultimate summer sandal. With multiple size options, you can match with the whole family—shop for men’s, women’s, and kid’s sizes to bring the 626 fun to you.

These flip flops are available for purchase at the official Havaianas website. For each size, check out these links: Men’s sizes, Women’s sizes, and Kid’s sizes.

Stitch Coconut Craze & Stitch Ohana Blend – Joffrey’s

Remember Stitch’s baby bottle full of coffee? With notes of coconut and crumbly graham cracker, Joffrey’s Stitch Coconut Craze is sure to delight anyone just as much that java delighted everyone’s favorite blue alien! But if you want a different taste of paradise, keep an eye out for Joffrey’s newest Ohana Blend; featuring classic island notes of creamy coconut and sweet pineapple, this medium roast coffee will transport you to a lively luau. Use it to energize all your tropical treks and travels… Just don’t destroy the whole city!

Visit joffrey’s.com to purchase Stitch Coconut Craze and Stitch Ohana Blend (available May 1).

Character Set – LEGO®

Click to purchase Angel

Click to purchase Stitch

Build your favorite aliens with new Lilo & Stitch LEGO sets! With Angel and Stitch’s movable ears, turning heads, and variety of props, they’re able to hit all the cutest poses. Accessorize Angel with butterflies and floating hearts for a sweet display or decorate Stitch with his ice cream cone and flower.

Stitch is now available on LEGO.com; Angel is available for pre-order, to ship on June 1.

Stitch Collection – Pandora

Keep the spirit of ‘Ohana close to you with the new Stitch and Angel Charms from Pandora. They’re also available as a matching set of stud earrings where Stitch and Angel are in crawling positions! If you prefer necklaces, the Stitch Collier Necklace featuring Stitch holding a clear cubic zirconia and a sterling silver chain could be your new best friend.

Speaking of friends: If friendship bracelets are your preference, the Stitch Snake Chain Bracelet symbolizes the alien’s strong bonds with his pals. For something more lowkey, the Stitch & Stone Ring is perfect with its black enamel detailing and clear Stitch silhouette.

Find all these items in person at Disney Parks; your nearest Pandora retail location; or online at pandora.net.

Ray-Ban | Disney Lilo & Stitch Optical & Sun Kids – Sunglass Hut

When your kids channel their inner Stitch during playtime, Sunglass Hut has got them covered from the bright summer sun. These Ray-Ban Lilo & Stitch Sun Kids and Lilo & Stitch Optical Kids feature lightweight bio-based frames and adorable Stitch prints. And no matter what chaos your kids are up to, the bio-rubber nose pads and temple injections will stay secure.

These Stitch-themed spectacles are available to purchase starting mid-May. Keep an eye out on Ray-Ban.com for the color options, including Ray-Ban Kids’ best-selling purple.

Stitch T-Shirt – GAP

Add that alien flair to your wardrobe with GAP’s Stitch T-Shirt. As part of their overall Lilo & Stitch collection, this comfortable blue tee will keep you cool through the summer.

Visit your local GAP store or find it online at GAP.com.

Many Moods Stitch Interactive Plush Toy – Just Play

Bring Stitch’s mischievous antics to life with this interactive plushie! Jiggle him around to see his reactions, or rock him for a nap to see him yawn and snore. With expressive, LCD-screen eyes and over 50+ sounds and reactions, the play possibilities are endless. Have fun hanging with Stitch and enjoying his alien antics all summer long!

Visit your local Walmart, or walmart.com, to purchase the Many Moods Stitch Interactive Plush Toy.

Disney’s Stitch and Angel Mini Backpack – Loungefly

Last but certainly not least, Loungefly’s Stitch and Angel Mini Backpack is the cutest gift for you and your favorite alien. Its iridescent detailing, 3D-cherry blossoms, and heart-shaped front pocket are sweet additions to the bag. Meanwhile, the padded strap, gold-colored metal hardware, and vegan leather add to the comfort—making it the right backpack for any date.

Visit Loungefly.com to purchase Disney’s Stitch and Angel Mini Backpack.

Which Stitch product was your favorite? Bring it with you to watch Disney’s Lilo & Stitch in theaters on May 23^rd, 2025!

By Christina Sturdivant Sani

[Excerpted from the Summer 2025 issue of Disney twenty-three. To enjoy this and upcoming issues of the publication, become a Gold Member today!]

When Disney released the animated film Lilo & Stitch in 2002, it created a “unicorn” in the Disney canon, according to Lilo & Stitch fan Jonathan Eirich. “First and foremost, you have Stitch—a whirlwind of terror wrapped in the cutest exterior imaginable,” Eirich, a producer on Disney’s Haunted Mansion (2023) and Aladdin (2019), tells Disney twenty-three. “It was a perfect storm to allow such a quirky, idiosyncratic story to get made—one that’s not about princesses or being perfect, but rather about real, deeply flawed characters discovering a found family.”

On May 23, Disney will release a reimagined live-action version of the film, which Eirich was excited to produce.

“In recent years, you could feel the fan fervor for [Stitch] building. I saw him everywhere out in the world, so you knew fan interest was there,” he says. “That comes with enormously high expectations to get it right… but I love that challenge.”

Set in Hawai‘i, the original film introduces us to Lilo, a little girl who’s being raised by her struggling older sister, Nani. Feeling lonely and dismissed by her peers, Lilo goes to an animal shelter where she adopts Stitch, whom she believes is a dog. In reality, Stitch is an alien creature programmed to cause chaos, and he’s on Earth trying to evade capture by an intergalactic police force.

While their journey is frenzied, Lilo and Stitch develop a close bond rooted in the Hawaiian concept of ‘ohana, which means family. All the while, Nani tries to quell the rambunctious duo and keep a stable job, after being threatened by a social worker who wants to transfer Lilo into foster care.

The right director for this remake needed “heart and humor in [their] filmmaking,” Eirich says, plus animation and visual effects experience to bring Stitch to life. He found that in Dean Fleischer Camp, whose film Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (2022) was nominated for an Academy Award^® for Best Animated Feature Film in 2023.

“In that film, you see this quirky, clever, and beloved character of Marcel make us laugh throughout—but more than anything, make us cry,” says Eirich, who had known Fleischer Camp for years and reconnected with him after the Oscar^® nomination. “His film was so deeply emotional, and that notion of dealing with loss and finding a family in Marcel was so directly applicable to what is at the core of Lilo & Stitch.”

“I basically make movies to try to make my dad cry in public, so Marcel… and Lilo & Stitch were perfect opportunities for that,” Fleischer Camp tells Disney twenty-three. In the animated Lilo & Stitch, he adds, “The sisters getting torn apart and the struggle that they’re going through is unusually terrestrial for a Disney movie.”

Remaking the sisters’ tale in live action called for even more depth of storytelling, he says. “Live action demands that you tell a real story and have real emotional stakes and that it’s grounded in people’s lived experience of how hard life can be.” Part of his job, he continues, was “trying to figure out the real-world version of what the original Lilo & Stitch did—and that was a fun challenge.”

As a director, that meant ignoring “the swirling chaos going on all around me and trying to put myself in the shoes of an audience member who’s going to see this movie two years later… and ask really basic questions like, ‘Does this joke make me laugh?’; ‘Do I empathize with this person’s struggle?’; ‘Is this storytelling clear?’—those basic things that seem really far off when you’re in a jungle in Hawai‘i… That’s my approach.”

One thing the filmmakers knew for sure: The movie would portray authentic Hawaiian culture. In addition to shooting the entire film in Hawai‘i, they hired screenwriter Chris Kekaniokalani Bright, “who is an extraordinary writer and also born and raised in Hawai‘i,” Eirich says, adding that Bright’s mother was the director of the choir that performed the music for the original film and for the reimagining.

Those touches of authenticity “are felt throughout,” Eirich says, thanks to Bright and “an army of consultants” including Lāiana Kanoa-Wong, Mandi Kaleilani Medeiros Scott, and Mark Keali‘i Ho‘omalu—who ensured that the music, dialogue, locations, and spirit of the film all felt true to the Hawaiian community.

The team was also strict about casting Hawaiian actresses for the lead roles, says Eirich, who calls the search for their Lilo “broad and relentless.” What was particularly challenging was auditioning girls between the ages of 8 to 10. “There is such an innocence to Lilo—she doesn’t understand why she does the things she does or why people around her don’t think she ‘fits in.’ The older the actor, the less of that innocence you saw, so we really started to zero in on 6-year-olds as the sweet-spot age,” he says. Not only did the actress have to resemble and embody Lilo, but she also had to memorize lines and have the endurance for a long feature film shoot, he adds.

Late in the process, they found an audition tape for Maia Kealoha, who says she has a lot in common with Lilo. “We love our culture, we love helping others, and we’re both—I guess you could say—spunky,” she tells Disney twenty-three.

Kealoha was an “absolute revelation,” Eirich says. Fleischer Camp agrees, calling her “an enthusiastic collaborator,” despite this being her very first acting role. “Maia was like… ‘I don’t know what moviemaking is, I don’t know what acting is, but I’m here to perform. What do I do?’” By the end of shooting, “she was such a pro,” Fleischer Camp says. “No ego about it and such a natural performer.”

Similarly, the casting team was impressed by Sydney Elizebeth Agudong, who plays Nani and “is a discovery in her own right,” Eirich says. For Agudong—who’s seen the original Lilo & Stitch “close to one hundred times”—playing Nani was “a creative dream,” she tells Disney twenty-three. “The wonderful thing about art and film is that nothing is set in stone—you prep, study, practice, experiment, and still the moment they call ‘action,’ the slate is clean, and you rediscover your character all over again in real time. And that’s when magic happens.”

By Cassandra Pinkney

“‘Ohana means family. Family means nobody gets left behind, or forgotten…” The release of the live-action reimagining of Lilo & Stitch means welcoming a new cast into the Disney family. While the film is filled with characters audiences know and love, it’s also set to introduce us to some new folks we can’t wait to meet!

Before you catch Lilo & Stitch in theaters beginning May 23, let’s take a look its all-star cast and learn about all the characters you’ll encounter in this “Hawaiian rollercoaster ride” of a film!

Lilo Pelekai (Maia Kealoha)

Lilo is a high-energy 6-year-old girl from Hawaii who loves hula and the music of Elvis Presley. When she’s not dancing along to her favorite songs, she often acts out in ways that get her into trouble and leave her feeling isolated from her classmates. Stitch, a mischievous fugitive alien, seemingly saves her from this loneliness when he becomes the friend she wishes on a star for. Beneath this rebellious streak, Lilo is a loving girl who cares about her family and wants nothing more than to find belonging.

Making her onscreen debut as the titular role of Lilo is up-and-coming actress Maia Kealoha, who relates to her character in a number of ways—including their shared love of hula dancing, music, and the ocean! Kealoha is proud of her heritage, hailing from the Big Island of Hawaii, and has a deep connection to her culture. We can’t wait to see Kealoha share that culture, and her undeniable charm, with audiences when the film premieres this summer.

Nani Pelekai (Sydney Elizebeth Agudong)

Caring for Lilo is her older sister, Nani Pelekai. Nani was once a straight-A student with dreams of becoming a marine biologist. Her life changed when she became Lilo’s guardian—now having to balance school with the demands of raising and providing for her rambunctious little sister. She loves Lilo dearly, but is often too busy to understand the wild musings of such an imaginative child.

Sydney Elizebeth Agudong brings Nani to life in Lilo & Stitch. Agudong was born and raised on the island of Kauai and pursued a career in entertainment after graduating high school. She has been cast as the lead in many projects, and has launched several of her own creative ventures—like serving as an executive producer on an upcoming independent film and writing music.

Mrs. Kekoa (Tia Carrere)

The live-action reimagining of Lilo & Stitch features characters from the 2002 animated film as well as new characters that audiences are sure to love. One such character is Mrs. Kekoa, a social service worker who checks in on Nani and Lilo. She sympathizes with Nani’s situation but is unnerved by the lack of attention given to Lilo. She acts as a mentor for Nani, giving her pointers on how to be a better role model to her sister while also holding her accountable when she messes up.

Tia Carrere has had a well-established career filled with many memorable roles, but Disney fans know her best as the original voice of Nani in Lilo & Stitch (2002). Born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, her acting career began after she was discovered at a grocery store. She has brought her Hawaiian heritage to many of creative pursuits—including her music career, for which she has won two Grammy® Awards.

Grand Councilwoman (voiced by Hannah Waddingham)

Grand Councilwoman is the leader of the United Galactic Federation, and a force to be reckoned with! She’s well-intentioned and reasonable, but firm in her desire to bring Stitch back to serve out the rest of his sentence. She has no tolerance for lawbreakers and sends Jumba (Zach Galifianakis) to Earth to find Stitch after he escapes.

Hannah Waddingham voices the Grand Councilwoman—a fitting role for the versatile stage, film, and television star.

Stitch (voiced by Chris Sanders)

There’s no Lilo & Stitch without everyone’s favorite alien, Stitch! Experiment 626, as he is also known as, is one of Jumba’s many outlawed genetic experiments. The short-tempered troublemaker has mischief in his DNA. It is because of these traits that Lilo takes a liking to Stitch and believes that he is the friend she wished for. As Lilo and Nani protect Stitch from being captured by the United Galactic Federation, Stitch learns the meaning of “‘ohana” and embraces the love he receives as part of the Pelekai family.

Chris Sanders is an important name to Disney fans. Not only has he been the definitive voice of Stitch for more than two decades, but he’s also worked behind the scenes on other beloved Disney films such as Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), Mulan (1998), and of course, co-directed and co-wrote 2002’s Lilo & Stitch! His prowess for creating memorable, heartwarming stories is evident in all his work, with this newest film being no exception.

Tūtũ (Amy Hill)

Tūtũ is a warm, friendly member of Nani and Lilo’s community. A constant presence throughout their lives, she is keenly aware of the struggles that the sisters have faced. She is similar to Mrs. Kekoa in this way, but that’s not the only thing these characters have in common…

Much like Mrs. Kekoa, Tūtũ is played by another member of the cast of the 2002 film, Amy Hill. Disney fans can spot Hill in the 2002 film as a fruit vendor named Mrs. Hasagawa—as well as in other Disney projects including Kim Possible, That’s So Raven, American Dragon: Jake Long, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), black-ish, Doogie Kameāloha, M.D., and more!

David Kawena (Kaipot Dudoit)

David Kawena is one of Nani’s coworkers at the hotel she works at. When he’s not entertaining tourists with his Fire Knife Dance, he loves to go to the beach and surf. He has a huge crush on Nani and his affection for her gives him a soft spot for her little sister, Lilo, and their new “dog,” Stitch, as well.

Hawaiian actor Kaipot Dudoit plays David, and he’s proud to be sharing his culture with audiences around the world in through this new film.

Cobra Bubbles (Courtney B. Vance)

Don’t let his last name fool you—Cobra Bubbles is not one to pop under pressure! Cobra Bubbles acts like a social worker assigned to the Pelekai family, but there’s more than meets the eye. He’s actually an undercover CIA agent who has made contact with the United Galactic Federation.

Bubbles is played by Courtney B. Vance, who’s made several appearances around the worlds of Disney—notably on ABC’s Scandal and Revenge, and he’ll soon appear as Zeus in the second season of Percy Jackson and the Olympians on Disney+.

Pleakley (Billy Magnussen)

Pleakley is an enthusiastic and eccentric agent with the United Galactic Federation. He accompanies Jumba on his mission to capture Stitch because he is an expert on Earth (or so he says). Pleakley is played by Billy Magnussen—an actor, writer, and producer who appeared in Disney’s Into the Woods (2014) and the live-action Aladdin (2019).

Jumba (Zach Galifianakis)

Jumba is the evil mastermind from the United Galactic Federation that is responsible for the creation of Stitch. He was arrested for his outlawed genetic experiments, but released on the condition that he would go to Earth to capture Stitch after he escaped. And if that was not punishment enough, Pleakley must go with him on this mission!

Actor, comedian, writer, and producer Zach Galifianakis brings his signature sense of humor to this role; around the worlds of Disney, he can also be seen in episodes of Only Murders in the Building, Bob’s Burgers, The Simpsons, and in The Muppets (2011).

With characters new and old and an all-star cast, you won’t want to miss Lilo & Stitch—only in theaters May 23.