Lyla in the Loop

Lyla in the Loop (stylized in all caps) is a children's animated television series created by Dave Peth. It revolves around the adventures of Lyla Loops, a seven-year-old Jamaican-American girl, and her family - her sidekick Stu, younger brother Luke, twin sisters Liana and Louisa, and parents Lydia and Louis. Episodes of Lyla in the Loop revolve around the Loops family using creative thinking and problem solving.

The show was greenlit in 2020, and production began in 2023. Creator Dave Peth based the show on the city of Philadelphia. Lyla in the Loop is produced by Mighty Picnic and Pipeline Studios using 2D software and premiered on February 5, 2024, on PBS Kids. The series also has a podcast called LylaÃ¢ÂÂs Loopcast which premiered on May 8, 2025.

Premise

The series centers on Lyla Loops (a 7-year-old young Jamaican-American girl), her sidekick Stu (a fuzzy blue hyrax-like creature), and the rest of the Loops family. The other Loops family members include Luke Loops (Lyla's 5-year-old younger brother), Liana Loops and Louisa Loops (Lyla's 12-year older twin sisters), Lydia Loops (Lyla's mother and Louis' wife) and Louis Loops (Lyla's father and Lydia's husband).

Lyla's family runs a local diner named Loops Lunch. According to Lyla, each adventure will introduce and explore foundational computational thinking concepts, leading to some comedic disasters and creative solutions, while helping others in their community.

Characters

Main

Lyla Loops (voiced by Liyou Abere): Lyla is a young Jamaican-American girl. She is 7 years old. She lives with her younger brother Luke, her sidekick Stu, her older sisters Liana and Louisa, her mother Lydia and her father Louis.
Stu (short for "Something Truly Unique"; vocal effects provided by Izzy Woodbury): Stu is a fuzzy blue hyrax-like alien and Lyla's sidekick whom Lyla named in the episode "When We Met Stu".
Luke Loops (voiced by Elijah Lindo): Luke is Lyla's younger brother. He is 5 years old.
Liana Loops (voiced by Eden Cupid): Liana is Lyla's older twin sister. She is 12 years old.
Louisa Loops (voiced by Shechinah Mpumlwana): Louisa is Lyla's other older twin sister. She has the same age as Liana (12 years old).
Lydia Loops (voiced by Morrissa Nicole): Lydia is Lyla's mother and Louis' wife. She is 40 years old.
Louis Loops (voiced by Joseph Motiki): Louis is Lyla's father and Lydia's husband. He is 38 years old.

Recurring

Everett Phan (also called "Ev" for short, voiced by Isaac Ng): Everett is Lyla's best friend of Vietnamese descent. He is 7 years old.
Thi Phan (also called "Miss Thi" in "The Case of the Mysterious Cake" and "Runaway Tarantula", voiced by Tea Nguyen): Thi is Everett's mother. She has the same age as Lydia (40 years old), and lives across the hall. She works at Phan's Hardware Store. She calls Everett "Evvy".
Kibbles Phan: Kibbles is Everett and Thi's pet cat. She lives with Everett and Thi.
Alejandra "Ale" Alvarez (voiced by Lynea Perez): Ale is Lyla and Everett's new friend of Hispanic descent. She is 7 years old.
Carlos Alvarez (voiced by Juan Romero): Carlos is Ale's older brother who likes to tap dance.
Santiago Alvarez (also called "Papi", voiced by Carlos Jimenez-Rauda): Santiago is Ale's father.
Jia (voiced by Kari Wong): Jia is a woman who works as an employee at Loops Lunch.
Emmaline (also known as Miss Emmaline, voiced by Yanna McIntosh): Emmaline is Lyla and Stu's friend.
Bidzill (voiced by Leo Hynes): Bidzill is a skateboarder.

Development

The series was greenlit in October 2020, under the working title of Liza Loops, and was developed as part of a $24 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education.

However, on January 16, 2023, during the Television Critics Association Press Tour, it was announced that PBS Kids would begin its production on the series, now titled Lyla in the Loop.

Episodes

Series overview

Soundtrack

The theme song in the show is performed by students at Fanny Jackson Coppin School in Philadelphia.

Original songs are performed by the characters in some episodes.

Broadcast

Lyla in the Loop premiered on February 5, 2024, on PBS Kids.

Each episode features two 11-minute stories, plus interstitial content. The interstitial content in between the two 11-minute stories in each episode feature Lyla and her family doing either steps to play or do something or singing a song.