Lawnmower- dies after running for 2 seconds

Carburetor is my guess also. I hate dealing with carbs. The fact it starts somewhat confirms it's getting spark but when is the last time you did a tune up. New spark plug and fresh air filter? Air and spark seem the easiest of the three. Fuel is where I lose my ability to diagnose.

What type of choke does it have? Honda has a wax choke that fails and has similar symptoms.

Is it gravity fed or does it have a fuel pump?

Is the fuel valve fully on?

Most small engines you can take the bowl off without removing the carburator. Sounds like yours has a stuck float. Take the bowl off, don't tear the bowl gasket, go ballistic with some carb cleaner on everything, reassemble.

Stuck floats are super common after extended storage. Some TCW3 in the fuel (1oz per 5 gallons) the last time you run it before storing will help prevent it.

Just running it with the cap off with diagnose that issue.

Carburetors are stupidly simple. For anyone who doesn't already know, spend some time researching how it works. That will make troubleshooting a Carbureted small engine easy.

I don't know why people think that just because it's non-ethanol gas, that it won't cause problems if left in the equipment for weeks or months on end. Even heavily treated with fuel stabilizer, the fuel that in the carburetor is exposed to air as is turning to varnish and going stale to the point of causing problems. Using non-e gas means you might avoid some of the corrosion issues with moisture getting pulled into the fuel and causing phase separation but you'll still have other issues. Best thing you can do is pull the float bowl, drain out all of the bad gas, refill with fresh, give it a shot of starter fluid, and hope it pulls enough fresh gas to flush out what's in the carb circuits. Don't go crazy with carb cleaners if you Toro is unfortunate enough to have one of the PoS B&S plastic carburetor engines, you will hurt them beyond easy repair.

Also, don't use Seafoam until you can get the engine to run on fresh gas and never use it as a fuel treatment in an engine that is going to sit. See people here all the time talk about using it and non-ethanol gas, which is dumb because alcohol (isopropyl) is a major ingredient in Seafoam.

Yes, you're right. Carbs are an easy system and the culprit of most small engine problems.

I have 11 machines that have carbureted small engines. I picked up an ultrasonic cleaner a year or two ago and it saves me some good time and hassle.

Pull your air filter off and try to crank it.

If it's running for a second then quits there is a chance it's isn't getting enough air.

Just something to check before you tear into the carb.

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Pull your air filter off and try to crank it.

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Our neighborhood is slowly transitioning with younger couples moving in. One guy asked me to help him with his Honda mower having the same issue as described by OP. I took his air filter cover off and that damn thing was clogged like I'd never seen one clogged before. He cuts his own grass but can't mechanic for shite.

You’ve gotten the most common problems advice.
Also check the oil level. Some small engines have a safety kill if your oil is low.