special Feature - Toy Fair New York Review

An Englishman in New York

Toy World Publisher John Baulch reports from a rejuvenated Toy Fair New York – with the show back after an 18-month hiatus and ready to remind the toy community of why it has always been an important staple of the Toy Fair calendar.

This year marked a return to Q1 for Toy Fair New York, after a brief dalliance with moving the show to September in 2023 (which didn’t really catch on) and a gap year in 2024. There was even a fleeting moment when the show was scheduled to move from New York to New Orleans last year, but common sense prevailed, so we all returned once again to one of the world’s most vibrant and captivating cities.

Thankfully, our journey went without a hitch, unlike the poor passengers on one Virgin flight, which was cancelled due to engine failure. Some people ended up taking almost 27 hours to get to New York, including Midco’s Dave Middleton who had set off from Derby at 1.00 am to get to the airport. Buddy the Elf took less time to get to New York and he came from the North Pole!

I made it to the Big Apple in time to join the US toy community at the TOTY awards on Friday evening. The ceremony was as grand as ever, but there were plenty of surprises on the night: the awards are often dominated by the big guns, but not this time round. Sure, Lego, Mattel, Spin Master, Zuru and Hasbro each posted a category win, but this time round there were no multiple winners for the industry giants. Instead, the likes of Plus Plus, The Loyal Subjects and Solobo Toys beat off more established competitors, while it was a fantastic night for the UK & Ireland, with Innov8’s Deddy Bears winning Collectible of the Year and Wow! Stuff picking up both Tech Toy and the overall Toy of the Year awards for its iconic Real FX Stitch Puppetronic. I first saw Stitch hidden behind a curtain (who needs secret padlocked rooms?!) at the previous New York Toy Fair in September 2023 – what an incredible journey he’s had since then. Understandably Richard North was thrilled, nearly knocking me over as he threw his arms around me when we first caught up after the ceremony. That’s what it means to a ‘smaller player’ (and I say that in the nicest sense of the word) to win. On top of that, this was the first time a UK company had ever won the US Toy of the Year award and also picked up both the top UK and US awards in the same year – a truly phenomenal achievement.

The evening itself was hugely enjoyable: from watching the amazing double act of Alan Hassenfeld (attending his 60th New York Toy Fair!) and Neil Freedman presenting an award, to catching up with people I hadn’t seen for ages (including John Barbour, who had been invited by his former protégé Greg Ahearn, now president of the Toy Association). It was also touching to see a couple of Brits mentioned in the In Memoriam section (Clive Wooster and Ranjit Dhutti), alongside US luminaries including my good friend, Richard Gottlieb.

After this glamorous curtain raiser, the toy community moved on the next morning to the show itself. In the 18 months since the previous New York Toy Fair, there has been one significant change in the global toy show landscape – the growth of LA as a twice-yearly destination for many suppliers and buyers, not just from the US but from across the globe. Momentum had been building behind the LA trip for a few years, but it has exploded in the past 12 months, and September 2025 is expected to be the most widely attended fortnight so far.

So, as the show opened, the question that many people were asking was “where does the rise of LA leave New York - is there room for both events?” After all, trade shows aren’t cheap – and to companies which can throw open their showrooms, bring in some sandwiches and drinks and not leave their hometown, it must be a major expense to weigh up. Nuremberg has also become increasingly important for many of the big US players like Mattel, Hasbro, MGA, Moose, Jazwares and their ilk – all had a major presence in Germany again this year, and thankfully the majority were not holding back new launches until New York, as has often been the case in the past.

Having said that, FOMO has always been a massive factor in trade show participation, especially for the big guns. Not so much a case of ‘what will we get from going?’, more ‘what will people think if we’re not there?’

During the week of the show and across the following weeks, it was impossible to miss the many posts on LinkedIn proclaiming that Toy Fair New York is back. Generally speaking, I would concur with that. It was certainly the best New York event we’ve seen post-pandemic by some margin. According to the Toy Association, 21 of the top 25 US toy retailers were in attendance. That assertion seemed to be borne out by exhibitors: Target and Walmart were both in the building (some changes in the buying team at Target meant that many suppliers are still waiting for ’25 selections to be confirmed, while Walmart is already working on ‘26, with its first spring summer line review starting about now). Other exhibitors pointed out that while you need to see those two retailers away from the show anyway, the time spent with the likes of Five Below, Hot Topic, Meijer, Kroeger and the like in New York was invaluable.

While US retail presence at the show was strong, perhaps there were fewer international buyers in attendance than there used to be – I certainly didn’t see too many UK buyers in the aisles this time round. And in general, the show felt more geared up to the domestic US market than the international toy community. While there were distributors present, looking for new lines to represent, arguably there were not as many as might have been the case a few years ago – for some of those companies, LA has now become the place to source new distribution ranges, although numerous people suggested to me that the September LA trip remains far more important than April (and that’s six months away from the New York Toy Fair).

Inevitably, there was much talk about the growth of LA and the impact that will have on New York. There were a couple of notable absentees from the exhibitor list (especially MGA and Zuru), and it’s no great surprise that those two companies are very much in the ‘pro-LA’ camp. Conversely, there were plenty of companies with LA showrooms that were also showing in New York. Jazwares’ Jeremy Padawer wrote a lengthy, passionate LinkedIn post outlining why he believes New York is just as important as LA, while Smart Games’ Emile Kalis summed it up succinctly: “We signed a 3-year lease contract for an LA showroom, but I bet Toy Fair is more fun.”

New York is undoubtedly a more traditional trade show environment, with all the excitement, razzamatazz and energy that comes with the territory. Plus of course the award events, parties (the legendary Spin Master party returned, apparently bigger and better than ever), media circus, random meetings and general ‘buzz’ that a private showroom event will never deliver (nor, to be fair, is that its purpose).

Tens of thousands of products were on display in New York from around 850 exhibiting companies, including almost 250 emerging toy companies exhibiting at Toy Fair for the very first time. Nearly 1,000 global print, digital and broadcast journalists, plus an array of social media influencers and digital content creators were present. In that respect, Toy Fair New York truly feels like an event for everyone across the broader toy community.

So, can New York and LA live side by side and complement each other? I am coming round to the opinion that the answer is almost certainly yes. The Toy Association certainly believes that to be the case. When I asked Greg Ahearn what impact LA has had on New York, he was adamant that the two events serve completely different purposes. He admits LA “isn’t going away and is only going to get bigger” – but for those who thought that might spell the end for New York, this year’s show suggested those people who have been writing it off may have been doing so prematurely.

Unsurprisingly, the most frequent topic of conversation at the show was Trump’s tariffs. Just a few days before the show opened, the President had decided to increase the tariff on goods coming from China from 10% to 20%. If the original figure had been a concern for toy companies, the increased figure clearly represented a major threat to the stability and profitability of US toy suppliers and retailers.

After the show ended, the tariff situation continued to escalate: in recent weeks, all steel and aluminium imports to the US have been slapped with a 25% tariff. China has already retaliated to its tariff being doubled from 10% to 20%, while Canada and the EU have also both implemented retaliatory measures. The UK has chosen not to resort to reciprocal punitive tactics just yet, but who knows what could happen in this ever-evolving scenario.

One of the President’s advisors has also repeated the “no exemptions, no exclusions” policy – which will undoubtedly come as a disappointment to the Toy Association over in the US, as it gears up to present its case to the US government that toys should be exempted from the China tariff implementation. There is historic precedent for this, as toys were exempted the last time tariffs reared their ugly head in 2018. But will it be different this time round?

There is certainly a strong case for toys to be excluded, not least because increasing toy prices could potentially drive parents – especially those struggling to make ends meet as multiple costs soar in the US – towards cheap, potentially unsafe or counterfeit imports available on certain online platforms. Toys play a critical part in childhood development, so the tariffs will certainly do a disservice to children and parents. In addition, tariffs are surely going to be bad for small US businesses, will almost certainly cause unemployment and will impact the businesses and consumers doing the right thing, instead benefitting the ones potentially cutting corners. And, ultimately, it’s not as if toys have any geo-political significance.

The Toy Association is wasting no time, bringing in new chief policy officer Kathrin Belliveau (who spent 25 years at Hasbro) and hiring two separate outside groups – one in Florida with ties to the Trump administration and one in Washington DC – to start lobbying on behalf of the toy community. At the show, I asked Toy Association President Greg Ahearn how many other industries would be seeking exemptions, and he was honest: “All of them. But I believe that some deserve it more than others, and we’re one of those markets which should be excluded.”

The work to achieve that goal starts now. Good luck to all involved. While this is first and foremost a domestic US issue (for now), I have no doubt that it would have a substantial knock-on effect on the global toy market.

As for Toy Fair New York, next year’s event will take place from14th -17th February – finally taking the show back to its traditional timeslot after a few years away.