Dax Shepard Breaks Down Sabrina Carpenter’s Role in ‘Juno’ for His Daughter

Dax Shepard recently had to explain the meaning of Sabrina Carpenter‘s hit song “Juno” to his daughter.

On the March 17 episode of his “Armchair Expert” podcast, Shepard, 50, mentioned that he listens to Carpenter’s music with his 10-year-old daughter Delta during their car rides every morning. (Shepard also shares an 11-year-old daughter named Lincoln with wife Kristen Bell.)

While Shepard enjoys Carpenter’s single “Espresso,” which features the well-known lyric, “I’m working late, ‘cause I’m a singer,” Delta favors the song “Juno.”

“I don’t want to tell her it’s not my favorite since she loves it, but I can’t be dishonest either, so here we are. We’re navigating this together,” Shepard explained.

“She asked, ‘But do you know what Juno is?’ And I replied, ‘No…’ Then she said, ‘Well, it’s a movie,’ and I answered, ‘The movie Juno? Yes, I’m aware.’ She continued, ‘Yeah, it’s about a girl who gets pregnant,’” he shared. “I said, ‘That’s a little inappropriate.’ And she responded, ‘What’s inappropriate about wanting to have a baby with someone?’”

Shepard clarified to his daughter that the main character in the 2007 film Juno (portrayed by Elliot Page) is “a teenager” who was still “in high school” when she became pregnant. This revelation surprised Delta.

“And she said, ‘Oh, she’s in high school?’ She was aware of part of the Juno storyline, just not that the character was in high school,” Shepard recounted. “She framed it as, ‘Wait, what’s inappropriate about wanting to have a baby with someone you love?’ And I was like, ‘Actually, there’s nothing inappropriate about that, I’m just saying that ‘I wanna get pregnant in high school’ is kind of a cheeky, fun lyric. It’s a positive ‘nasty,’ I’m saying.”

Songwriter Amy Allen, who has worked with Carpenter on her albums Short n’ Sweet (2024) and Emails I Can’t Send (2022), confirmed exclusively to Us Weekly last year that “Juno” was indeed inspired by the teen-pregnancy film of the same name. She also stated that the concept was “entirely Sabrina’s idea.”

“I’m incredibly thankful to have her as a collaborator for moments like this, because being a pop songwriter, five years ago, if someone had pitched that concept, it might’ve been met with skepticism,” Allen told Us in December 2024.

“But because she’s so genuine and her artistry is so well-defined, the moment she started sharing her vision for that, I thought, ‘Oh, we’re all in on this, it’s going to be brilliant, fun, and genuine,’” she continued. “She’s such a bold innovator with ideas like that.”