Schwartz was born to a Jewish family in 1976 in Providence, Rhode Island, the son of Steve and Honey Schwartz. His parents were both toy inventors at Hasbro, working on the development of toys such as Transformers and My Little Pony, until they went on to start their own company. Schwartz grew up on the east side of Providence, Rhode Island with a younger brother, Danny, and a younger sister, Katie. Schwartz always had ambitions of being a writer since early childhood.