It’s Monday, I’m Nithya Sudhir. I collect words, chase patterns, and write about whatever makes me curious.
Do you remember the good ol’ days?
It’s getting easier to.
Did you know that Mr. Potato Head made history in 1952 as the first toy marketed directly to children via television?
Yeah, and it sold over a million kits that year — kits containing only plastic facial parts which one had to pin onto a real potato.
Hasbro, the company who produced the toy and other famous ones like G.I. Joe, and My Little Pony, has always been synonymous with children’s toys.
However, in its second century, the company is moving away from its longtime target demographic towards a newly emerging customer.
CEO Chris Cocks refashioned the company to gets most of its sales from grownups, or—as Cocks calls them—“kidults.”
The Cambridge dictionary defines ‘Kidult’ as an adult who likes and buys things meant for children, such as toys, games, and comic books — and today, they drive 28% of global toy sales.
It’s Monday. Let’s get into it.
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The Rise of the Kidult
For most of human history, children played with whatever was around: sticks, stones, scraps of cloth tied into shapes.
After the Industrial Revolution, toys became a category of their own, mass-produced, age-branded, sold in stores, and making up a $123 billion in sales last year, driven mostly by kid-adults.
43% of US adults who say they bought a toy for themselves in the past year (Circana, via Retail Dive)
💡 Which kind of kidult are you?
I've got a Labubu, Squishmallow, or plush charm clipped to my bag right now!!
I look out for a specific seasonal drop every year (Advent calendars, holiday collections, birthday capsules).
I'm a cards-and-figures person, like Pokémon, trading cards, blind box minis
I'm a builder, LEGO, model kits, anything with instructions and a finished result!
When did this trend actually start?
We know that this trend started in 1964, when Vietnam veterans began collecting Hasbro's new G.I. Joe to reconnect with their Army days.
We also know that Star Wars launched in 1977 and licensing took over the industry.
The last five years, though, is where things sped up.
Lego introduced its first botanical collection in 2021 as part of its Lego Sets for Adults range.
Since then, The Toy Foundation, the industry's own philanthropic body, has run a category for kidult products, when it debuted as "Grown-Up Toy of the Year."
This year, the category got a rename to match the language everyone's actually using: Kidult Toy of the Year.
The 2026 winner, announced at February's TOTY, was the LEGO Game Boy set, built entirely for the generation that grew up playing the original.
"Pop toys," like Pop Mart's Labubu and Wakuku dolls, have gone from niche collectibles to lifestyle essentials for adults, especially millennials.
Labubu alone generated $418 million in global sales for Pop Mart in the first half of 2025.
Read our treatonomics issue to understand how tiny luxuries outsmart inflation.
Source: How Kidults are Driving Sales, Kadence
Why are Adults Buying Toys?
Stress-Relief
Nearly 80% of Gen Z and millennials describe themselves as burned out.
And under stress, people find comfort in symbolically returning to childhood. Hasbro's research found roughly one in seven now turn to arts and crafts specifically for stress relief. In fact, Pinterest Predicts has clocked a 140% surge in searches tied to 2000s-era toy nostalgia specifically.
Nostalgia is a powerful emotional force that evokes both positive and bittersweet feelings. 64% cited nostalgia for childhood as the number one reason they collect toys.
We’re seeing more and more companies announcing releases that evoke nostalgia for cultural touchstones of the '80s and '90s.
Last month, LEGO announced a 1,478-piece set recreating Mulder’s office, a UFO encounter, and other scenes from the ’90s series.
McDonald’s brought back Changeables.
For its 30th anniversary, Bandai partnered with CASETiFY on their first-ever custom-branded Tamagotchi device.
Source: Numerator
Safety and Emotional Regulation
For these grown-ups, buying a toy isn't just about chasing good memories.
Here are 3 other things happening in the body when adults play with, or simply hold, one.
Tactile Grounding
Squishing Play-Doh, arranging blocks, or stroking a plush toy gives the hands a repetitive, sensory task. This pulls attention away from abstract worries and towards texture, pressure, shape, and movement.
In one study, 75% of participants experienced lower cortisol after 45 minutes of art-making with materials including modelling clay.
Blooming and hatching collectibles, like Hasbro’s Blooms, a flower-making kit for creating "lifelike flowers", offers instant joyful surprises that brighten moods.
The Flow State
LEGO sets and craft kits offer clear goals, immediate feedback, and a challenge that grows with the user’s ability. These are conditions associated with flow, a state of deep absorption in which self-consciousness fades and time seems to pass differently.
Additionally, food-inspired plush, including macaron sets and gummy bear pendants blend whimsy with individual style.
Jellycat, Labubu and Squishmallows rely on exaggerated features such as large heads, round bodies and expressive faces. These resemble baby schema, the visual characteristics that attract attention and activate caregiving impulses.
In three experiments, people who viewed cute images subsequently performed attention-based tasks more carefully.
💡 “The future of the toy industry will be defined by how well brands adapt to a broader, more fluid definition of play,” — Frederique Tutt, global toys industry advisor at Circana.
Charm Offensive
Coach, a handbag company, has turned bag charms into a core growth driver.
Its dinosaur mascot Rexy became a plush charm popular enough to anchor a dedicated "Charm Playground" installation at Selfridges London.
In spring 2026, Coach partnered with Penguin Random House on readable miniature book charms, co-selected with Gen Z fans on TikTok, which sold out immediately.
Coach's revenue grew 25% in fiscal Q2 2026.
Coach is combining three kidult mechanics: cuteness, collectibility, and participation.
Charms turn a handbag into something customers can play with, personalize, and continually update. Each drop also creates a lower-priced entry into the brand and another reason to return.
The Kidult Cheat Sheet
Treat quality as non-negotiable. Kidults expect premium finishes, hidden details, and strong visual coherence, the same standard they'd apply to any adult purchase.
Design for display, not just use. Kidults display products, at home and at work, more than they actually use them. As Philippe Guinaudeau, CEO of BrandTrends Group, puts it: "The challenge is to produce items that are not merely purchased but are cherished and showcased."
Foster a community, not just a customer base. Online and offline spaces where people can show off what they've collected keep engagement going long after the purchase.
Revitalize a classic instead of inventing something new. Bringing back a beloved childhood format with modern materials or features does more emotional work than a brand-new product with no history behind it.
Make it playful. A satisfying unboxing sound, a hidden sticker under the flap, a build-your-own station in store — use your creativity, make it for the inner child.
Let’s think for a second that none of this is about the toy.
It's about, us adults, giving ourselves the permission to have something uncomplicated in a week that wasn't. If a $30 vinyl figure gets someone there, I'm not arguing they've lost the plot.
What do you think?
Let me know in your replies!
Until next week,
Nithya
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