By Ted Mininni, Design Force Inc., President and Creative Director.
As a packaging design expert in the toy and entertainment industry, I have the opportunity to keep an eye on how the role of packaging changes. Today’s toy packaging is a strategic asset that enhances the retail brand experience by engaging consumers emotionally. Entering 2025, the industry is embracing innovation to meet consumer expectations and meet the needs of popular products in various categories. By focusing on emerging trends in structure and graphic design, brand owners and marketers can leverage their brand’s packaging to attract consumer attention and drive brand loyalty.
Let’s look at innovation and emerging trends to shape the look of today’s toy packaging and determine where this year is going.
Sustainability remains the center stage
Consumers’ ecological awareness drives toy brands to adopt innovative, sustainable packaging solutions. Sustainability is more than just an industry buzzword; it has become the core principle of all of us involved in packaging design for toy brands. This shift has led to innovation in external packaging materials, including materials we cannot see before purchasing the product.
For example, the Lego Group is converting from a single use of plastic to a paper-based material that is numbered according to instructions for step-by-step components. The company’s website says the unexpected benefit of using paper is that unpacking is more fun and that children enjoy the suspense of the suspense during the construction process. Follow the Lego Group’s leading edge, find more toy brands to get rid of traditional packaging materials while favoring recycling cardboard, paper-based alternatives and biodegradable substrates.
Sustainability is no longer just about using recyclable materials – it is also about completely rethinking the structure and design of toy packaging. Packaging that is still part of toys rather than to be discarded is becoming increasingly common. Fisher-Price’s Mega Bloks Big and Deluxe building bag is essentially a beautifully designed soft window box that doubles as a pull-in storage container, making cleaning and portability easy. More structural innovations are expected to integrate packaging into products and game modes.
Interactive packaging and enhanced unboxing experience
Most of us think that interactive packaging includes QR codes or uses AR capabilities. While these interactive features are becoming more common and doing a great job of bridging the gap between actual physical toys and digital engagement, creating multidimensional experiences for users, I’m actually happy to see an increase in structural innovation that improves the demolition experience by adding storytelling, which improves the unboxing experience.
Mattel’s Monster High Skeleton Secret Monster Monster Fashion Doll has an unboxing experience and requires “unlocking” the plastic inner packaging structure to “release” the doll’s key. Along the way, different rooms reveal new accessories. The final step lifts the doll above the structure and eventually becomes her display rack.
Zulu also takes interactive packaging and blind box unboxing experience to another level, while the Smasher Dino Island Gold Treasure Hunt. The toy is a golden plastic skull with mini dinosaurs popping up on top. The interactive eyeball of the skull changes color and says different phrases when pressed. The outer packaging is a shrink-wrapped label that tells children what they have in their skull. Once the shrink wrap is removed, the kids break the seal under the base and then “smash” the sides of the skull to open it up and send out all the good stuff and surprises. That’s when the fun begins. Children follow the treasure map and open up sand, mud and many other treasures, including sharks and dinosaurs, to build and fight.
Toy brands are clearly prioritizing unboxing experiences in consumer engagement, so I hope to see more interactive structures in a variety of materials that fill consumers with unexpected surprises when they discover what’s inside.
Enhance storytelling through structure “environment”
As toy packaging designers, we are constantly evolving our strategies to attract consumers amid the visual chaos of the toy sector. We all know that the power of storytelling emotionally connects consumers and creates a desire to inspire them to make purchase decisions. An emerging storytelling trend is to see packaging structures as an immersive, illustration environment for internal products.
Moose Toys’ Little Pets Cozy Dozys Jungle series Java Tiger package creates a jungle-themed cradle for interactive baby tigers. Java looked at home with a bold yellow cradle lined with lush leaves and a built-in handle. Spin Master’s Paw Patrol Rubble & Crew Mix’s hybrid truck packaging brings consumers into construction sites. The shape and illustration of the open platform frame structure looks like a spoon on the front loader. The bold orange and black palette trims the entire structure, constructing illustration scenes of mounds, cranes and orange architectural cones to tell exciting architectural adventures in visual form.
Looking to the future
With the future charges in the toy industry, packaging innovation will remain the core of consumer participation. By focusing on sustainability, interactivity, evolving unboxing experiences, and strong storytelling, toy brands can create packaging that attracts attention and aligns with today’s consumer sensitivities.
Versions of this feature were originally published in the 2025 Big Toy Book. Click here to read the full question! Want to receive a printed toy book? Click here to get subscription options!
Posts outside the box: Unlocking the future will appear on toy books.
