Hey everybody! This past weekend (Feb. 22nd-25th) was one of my favorite annual events, something I look forward to every February...New York Toy Fair! For my whole teenage/adult life (until last year), I was at home getting all the live updates from my computer, constantly refreshing toy news sites/social media for the latest reveals; but for the second year in a row, I actually had the opportunity to attend NYTF as press! I've been following along with Toy Fair since I was a kid, so it was still so surreal to be there in person covering the event. Instead of searching the internet for all the Pixar toy updates, I can finally provide the news myself! And that's exactly what I've compiled here for all you like-minded fans.
For those of you who may not know, this event is held each year at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center and is only open to the toy trade– meaning toy industry professionals, retailers and press representatives. Last year (given that it was my first time attending and was kind of flying by the seat of my pants), I scheduled everything last minute and was a bit unorganized; but this year I had it all together with contacting PR for each company to schedule booth tours, had my professional business cards printed, arrived early to beat the check-in lines, etc. I learned a lot from my experience last time! Once again though, it was a whirlwind of a day. There was a lot to squeeze in (and a lot of toys to see) in only nine hours. I covered a lot of ground!
Before I get going on the coverage, I want to give a big shout out to my friends over at Mattel for receiving the "TOTY (Toy of the Year) Award" in the Action Figure category for their Toy Story 4 line of 7" figures released last year! This is a big achievement and probably one of the reasons the collection is continuing this year with so many new Toy Story/Pixar characters. I'm absolutely thrilled that the series is doing so well (selfishly, because that means us collectors get more of what we want ;)!
Below is a summary (by company) of all the latest and greatest Pixar merch I discovered while walking the show floor, some available now and some coming soon/later this year! I tried to find as much as I could, but I'm sure I didn't get to it all. And side note— if you missed all my updates on Instagram, you can check out my Toy Fair 2020 saved story (which includes many video updates not seen here).
Enjoy!
KIDS PREFERRED
I couple weeks ago, I posted on this adorable Toy Story baby soft book by the company Kids Preferred. At Toy Fair, I got to stop by their booth and meet the creators and artists behind the book in person! It was an honor to hear that they had read and enjoyed my review so much. I will be working with them more in the future! Below you can see their full current collection of Toy Story baby toys/plush (many coming out in celebration of Toy Story's 25th anniversary).
MONOGRAM INTERNATIONAL
I always love meeting up with my friends over at Monogram! They help me out with my reviews of any Pixar related key rings/bag clips that come out and have been so incredibly friendly and generous over the past year. Here's a glimpse at their Pixar blind bag series that just hit stores. I was gifted a case of these to review, so be sure to stay tuned for a detailed blog post soon!
PILLOW PETS
This was my first time meeting the folks over at Pillow Pets and we had a great time! They have a lot of cute Pixar inspired plush products that double as pillows. Check 'em out.
TRENDS
Poster, decals, stickers, activity kits and more...
FOLKMANIS PUPPETS
Cute Remy and Dug puppets! I first saw these at last year's D23 Expo.
MATTEL
Mattel was my main event and what I was most excited about! They did not disappoint and my mind was sufficiently blown. I hadn't seen any "spoilers" online before going in, so it was all such a big surprise. Check out all the AMAZING toys coming this year—from action figures to mini figures to collector's series figures and beyond!
And come on, these Pixar ball tables?? I'll take two for my house please.
Here's Mattel's new "Spotlight Series" (geared toward collectors). Only Buzz and Mr. Incredible were revealed at Toy Fair, but there will be more characters released in the fall! Aren't these amazing?
SO many more Toy Story "Minis" coming! The character selection is outstanding. I can't believe, for one, that we're getting Transitron from Toy Story of Terror!
And the "Minis" line is expanding to include characters representing every Pixar film!
Here are the upcoming figures as part of Mattel's above mentioned 7" action figure line! I'm still not over how awesome and extensive this collection is. I loved seeing that even Pixar's upcoming film Soul was included! I was totally hoping going in that that would be the case. The Merida figure will make many Brave fans happy as well!
The Toy Story alien "Pixar REMIX" collection is out of this world cute!! I can't wait to get my hands on some of these. Coming this spring.
Mattel will also be release a "Pixar Basic Plush" assortment featuring Onward characters (in stores now) and favorites like Dory and Nemo from Finding Nemo, Mike Wazowski from Monsters, Inc., Lotso from Toy Story 3, Bing Bong from Inside Out and more.
There's also a remote controlled "Hello Wall·E" animatronic figure coming in the fall as well!
THANK YOU MATTEL!! I had the time of my life.
FIGPIN
Look for my full reviews on all of FiGPiN's latest Pixar releases soon!
GENTLE GIANT
BEAST KINGDOM
FUNKO
DOMEZ
BUMKINS
So many cute Toy Story baby products! And yes, I'm 100% going to need some of this for Aidan...
KIDS EMBRACE
Well that about wraps everything up for this year! I'm so grateful for the time I was able to have there, the items I was able to see, the people I was able to meet and the professional contacts I was able to make. I was able to further my relationships with many companies and get my name out there a bit more, which was very encouraging for me. I'm also grateful for all the representatives from each company that took the time to give me tours.
I really hope you enjoyed this coverage. I would love to hear all your thoughts below! What are your favorite items? What are you looking forward to the most? Have you seen anything from NYTF that is Pixar that I didn't touch on here? Let me know down in the comments!
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