Produce small puppet (5)
I believe the answer is:
spawn
'produce' is the definition.
(to spawn is to produce offspring)
'small puppet' is the wordplay.
'small' becomes 's' (abbreviation - e.g. clothes size).
'puppet' becomes 'pawn' (both can mean someone manipulated by others).
's'+'pawn'='SPAWN'
(Other definitions for spawn that I've seen before include "Give rise to; fish egg" , "Produce" , "Deposit mass of eggs" , "Give rise to; frogs' eggs" , "Eggs deposited by amphibians" .)