Queuing is an inevitable feature of contemporary urban life. But we are no longer lining up only for viral pastries or the latest iPhone. Increasingly, people are lining up for toys. Take Jellycat and the chaos around its limited-edition launches, which regularly make headlines. And if you have not heard of Labubu, you have likely been offline for the past year.

In an era of polycrisis, polarization, and an obsession with staying productive, toys have emerged as an unexpected counterforce.

The resurgence of the toy industry began during the pandemic, when being stuck at home pushed people to find new ways to fill time. Some turned to sourdough baking. Others to puzzles and games. What started as a way to while away the hours became a more lasting shift.

Today, the global toy market is valued at roughly USD 120–122 billion in 2025, growing at an annual rate of 4–6% and expected to exceed USD 190 billion by 2033 (DojoBusiness, 2025; Research & Markets, 2025).

The primary driver of this growth is kidults: adults who purchase toys, games, and products traditionally aimed at children. Adults aged 18 and over have been the fastest-growing age group in the toy market, accounting for €742 million in spending over the past 12 months and roughly 18% of total toy sales (Circana, 2025). Paired with a broader shift toward spending more time offline, the rise of no-phone venues, and events centred on hobbies, the toy and game industry shows little sign of slowing down.

From sparking joy, curiosity, and creativity to supporting mental focus, coping with stress, and strengthening social ties, the benefits of play for well-being are extensive.

This is why the global toy industry, often underestimated as a children’s category, has become a useful mirror for some of the most human and forward-looking brand strategies of our time. It offers clear lessons for brands across sectors on how to stay relevant, human, and embedded in everyday life.

Lesson 1. Design products people identify with

In a context shaped by constant pressure to perform and optimize, toys offer a way to resist that logic and provide a tangible alternative to doomscrolling. One brand clearly leading the kidult trend is LEGO, which keeps audiences engaged through continuous innovation and timely collaborations such as Nike x LEGO World.

LEGO has also entered the corporate sphere through its Serious Play methodology, which replaces slides and whiteboards with hands-on thinking. These workshops aim to strengthen problem-solving, strategic thinking, empathy, and collaboration by engaging people physically rather than abstractly.

Play is not limited to physical products. Video games, often viewed sceptically, can also support well-being. Minecraft, for example, has been shown to aid spatial thinking and creativity among children (Slattery et al., 2024), while also improving adults’ ability to memorize and retain detail (Stark et al., 2021).

Toys also function as tools of identity expression and belonging. Licensed toys, in particular, are driving an adult collecting boom (License Global, 2025), with Pokémon, Hot Wheels, and LEGO ranking among eBay’s top ten most searched collectables in 2025.

Products inspired by Star Wars, Marvel, Disney, and Pokémon signal belonging to a shared cultural world. They allow people to recognize one another through common references and cultural knowledge.

What other brands can take from this is the ability to create offerings that go beyond utility and carry meaning, tapping into creativity, identity, and a sense of belonging.

Lesson 2. Use nostalgia to stay relevant

Much of today’s renewed interest in play is driven by a yearning for a simpler time, before algorithms dominated attention and leisure was inseparable from screen time.

Reintroducing familiar joys into adult life activates nostalgia: a pull toward personal and collective memory that fosters belonging and provides emotional comfort in an otherwise demanding world. This dynamic was one of the most pervasive consumer trends of 2025, and the toy industry has leaned into it. Retro-inspired products and reboots of established franchises like The Lion King or Super Mario Bros., alongside locally rooted characters such as the Netherlands’ Miffy and Finland’s Moomins, have gained broad, cross-generational appeal.

Psychological research shows that nostalgia strengthens social connectedness and helps people maintain continuity between past and present selves, offering emotional comfort in times of uncertainty.

A clear example of nostalgia-led experiential marketing is Airbnb bringing an iconic 1990s compact playset to life as a real-world stay, turning childhood fantasy into lived experience.

For other industries, the lesson is not to replicate the past, but to reactivate it emotionally. Nostalgia works when it evokes familiarity and reassurance rather than pure retrospection.

Lesson 3. Create a reason to gather

As being offline increasingly becomes a form of luxury, no-phone gatherings and analog leisure formats are gaining traction. These activities move away from individual screen time in favor of shared presence. Think puzzles, chess clubs, pub quizzes, bingo nights, and Dungeons and Dragons tournaments.

These formats bring peers together while also working across generations, often dissolving social hierarchies. They replace parallel scrolling with shared focus and participation.

This matters in a moment shaped by solitude. More than 60% of people report a weakened sense of community, and 74% of young adults say it has become harder to connect than before.

Brands can respond by designing real-life experiences that nurture togetherness rather than isolated consumption. Not more messaging. Not more channels. Just clear reasons to spend time together. In this context, connection, not communication, becomes the real growth engine.

Young V&A offers a strong reference point, creating interactive exhibitions and hands-on workshops that bring families and young people together to explore creativity and design, turning museum visits into shared experiences.

The key takeaway

The institutions winning kidults are not simply selling products. They are reimagining the relationship between brand, values, and experience by building products and services that reinforce identity and offer moments of joy, using nostalgia to provide emotional comfort and continuity, and creating reasons for people to come together in ways that support connection and well-being.