takeaways from New York Toy Fair 2026
Our very own Brinna Ball, Licensing Manager here at Born to License, represented the team at Toy Fair in New York last week. Even though Brinna was only in New York for three days, she made the most of her time there, having 17 meetings with licensors and attending the Licensing International Toy Fair party. Don’t worry - she still had time to build a LEGO flower or two.
While K-Pop Demon Hunters were undeniably the stars of the show this year, the floor at Toy Fair revealed to Brinna some interesting takeaways for the state of the licensing industry:
90’s Nostalgia is Here to Stay: The desire to turn the dial back a few decades still reigns supreme as Millennials and Gen Z hunt for the comfort of their childhoods.
A Strong Appetite for Foodie Culture: Sweet and Chibi-fied aesthetics are taking over the snack-to-toy pipeline. Seriously, food is everywhere!
Horror is Evergreen: This was Brinna’s biggest takeaway. From Michael Myers to the retro Leprechaun, horror has officially escaped the Halloween-only box. It’s no longer a seasonal trend; it’s a permanent lifestyle category in licensed products.
Brinna also attended the Sports Licensing Summit. Her takeaway there? If you want to get a sports license, you need to lean into authenticity. Any licensee looking to get into sports licensing needs to have a clear, interesting strategy that connects with both fans and players authentically. They need to lean into trends, figure out where the fans are, and meet them there.
If a licensee can do that, their licensing journey will be a slam dunk.
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