“This is the best toy fair we have ever had.”
Over the past few days, several people have echoed in my mind.
The Toy Fair this year in New York was a great show and I feel it’s strengthened in our universe. It is vibrant, positive, and full of the creativity and enthusiasm needed by the toy industry!
The road to get here is not easy – twists and turns, potholes and occasional obstacles – I praise the Toy Society and its hardworking team for returning the Toy Show to the “finale” of the Global Toy Show Tour every winter.
That’s the first sentence? I love hearing it from many mid-to-middle companies that have made a great show, written some orders and could one day become an industry giant.
(Re)Evolution and Reshaping
As a realist, I also have to admit that there is no situation of a certain size in life. Some companies will do big business in New York, while others won’t. This is any trade show, conference or live event.
Today’s Toy Fair is not the Toy Fair five years ago. No, it’s not a big “order writing” to show that it was, and people in the industry have known it for years. But there is nothing absolute: Javits wrote a lot of orders on Javits this week, but each business is different.
On the lower level, the founders of a new startup told me that their booth “was paid within the first hour of the show…we responded immediately.” Upstairs, C-suite executives from another company we all knew: “Our staff didn’t know how to write orders; it was all about the media.”
Toy Expo yes An important media event and a major stage in creating wonders and building hype for new product launches – companies of all sizes are taking advantage of this. New York remains the world’s media capital, which is why the Winter Toy Fair is still crucial.
While many of the products seen at the Toy Fair have been proven to be Spielwareenmesse retail buyers during the Los Angeles Fall Toy Preview, London’s Toy Fair and New York’s Toy Fair in New York, the Toy Fair in New York is a lift for curtain drops and embargoes to tell the world about the great new products in the gaming industry.
Combine it with powerful networking and educational programming opportunities – all with valuable jumps! – You do have an impossible event.
LA + NYC strength = a winning combination
As the saying goes, when it comes to the migration of the industry to Los Angeles, there is an elephant in the room, when people in daily life outside the toy industry appear in Los Angeles’ migration to Los Angeles. The key point that keeps missing is: Los Angeles is not a toy fair, nor a trade show.
Indeed, some players who once opened shops in New York chose to do their own things and lean into the presence of the Los Angeles showroom, but the toy industry flag is still firmly planted on both coasts (and Chicago’s “Third Coast”, but the conversation lasts once). Fully leveraging available opportunities can lead to huge wins while avoiding missing opportunities. I can tell you that some great toys and games have been left out in dozens of TV shows, numbers and prints highlighting the “Hotest Toys of 2025” simply because they aren’t shown in New York. It’s about finding the balance and determining what works best for each company. Again, there is nothing absolutely here, but I believe New York and Los Angeles are the best to work together.
Life is on the pulse of the game
As a leading media organization serving the toy industry and North American gaming business, Adventure Media & Events (AM&E), the team behind it Toy books, toy insiders, pop music insidersFunfluention, sweet suites and holidays are everywhere during the Toy Fair.
Installment payment this year Big toy book,start Toy BookVolume 41, Pop music insiderAt a booth, winter 2025 is a buzzing enthusiasm that welcomes guests to our first ever party at Funfluential Investment and features highlights of the endless TV tour of the toy insider, the inaugural Play of Play Awards of Toy Books proudly showcases the glowing screen.
This is a team of small American businesses that pushes over their weight classes every day to provide the absolute best coverage as we tell the story of the industry and do everything we can to help it grow and thrive in the B2B and B2C ecosystems.
While there are more trips coming, there is only one thing I can’t shake…
I can’t wait to return to New York on Valentine’s Day next year, so we can all live #ToyFairLife again!
The Toy Fair returns to New York City, February 14-16, 2026. For more information, visit toyfairny.com
