Screens to Shelves: Why Licensed Toys are Winning – and Nerdly’s here to cover it all!

If there was ever any doubt that pop culture drives play, the UK toy market has just obliterated it. Off the back of a monster year at the box office: with juggernauts like Minecraft, Lilo & Stitch and Jurassic World pulling crowds, film-linked toys now make up 16% of the entire UK toy market. That’s not a blip. That’s a signal flare.

And it goes way beyond cinema. Streaming hits like Stranger Things and The Traitors, alongside evergreen video-game powerhouses such as Fortnite, have pushed licensed toys to a staggering 38% of all toy sales. In other words: entertainment-led play isn’t a trend, it’s the backbone of the market heading into 2026.

This is exactly the sweet spot Nerdly lives in. We don’t just cover toys – we cover the films, shows, games, fandoms and nostalgia loops that create demand in the first place. From blockbuster franchises and cult favourites to trading cards, collectibles and shelf-ready merch, this is our world.

Kids may still account for roughly two-thirds of toy spending, but adults are no longer sitting on the sidelines. A survey by Circana shows 76% of 18–34-year-olds bought a toy for themselves or another adult in the past year, whether for nostalgia, collecting, or good old-fashioned shared fun. That collector-friendly, fandom-driven crossover? That’s our bread and butter.

And the pipeline isn’t slowing down. With Toy Story 5 and Super Mario 2 on the horizon, licensed launches will continue shaping what lands in toy aisles well into next year. Many of those lines have debuted at Toy Fair at Olympia, London, today.

As Circana’s Melissa Symonds sums it up, shared entertainment is turning screen moments into play moments – and that’s exactly why Nerdly is perfectly positioned to cover it all. Because when fandom drives toys, and toys feed fandom, that’s not just news… that’s us.