China's booming trendy toy market has invigorated the entire industry, driving significant improvements from manufacturing to creative design.
Once known as the global hub for childhood toy production, Dongguan City, south China's Guangdong Province, has recently gained fame as the hometown of a rising star in the designer toy world - a doll named Laura.
Inside a bustling factory there, toys are being produced at a rapid pace.
Zheng Bo, founder of ToyCity, the company behind Laura, said he spent decades in contract manufacturing before launching his own brand.
Laura is not just a single toy but a series of designs, each crafted to appeal to different fan communities.
In 2024 alone, over 10 million units of Laura were sold, marking a shift for ToyCity from a traditional manufacturer to a storyteller.
"To survive, production is a must. To thrive, you need your own brand. The upgrade depends on real-world conditions," Zheng said, acknowledging the challenges of hiring new talent and managing high design and development costs.
Looking ahead, Zheng is expanding beyond Laura, releasing new lines of designer toys. Yet, he remains focused on sustainability.
"Trendy toys may be popular, but what really sustains the trend? We can learn from other successful stories. Designer toy IPs often speak to niche communities, but with low stickiness. For an IP to last, it needs continuous content updates. Just look at Disney, their characters have lived on through stories for nearly 100 years," he said.
China has rapidly emerged as a major player in the global designer toy market, now accounting for nearly a quarter of its value.
According to the 2024 Report on China's Pop Toy and Animation and Comic Industries, the sector is worth about 10.5 billion U.S. dollars, representing 23.53 percent of the global market.
This booming market has sparked a surge in new businesses.
Data from Tianyancha Pro, a professional data provider, shows over 50,000 active companies related to trendy toys in China, with around 3,100 new registrations in 2025 alone.
Brands are now striving to reach beyond core collectors by infusing their toys with stories and cultural significance.
One example is Motor Nuclear, a robot-themed "mecha" brand that draws inspiration from Chinese traditional culture.
"This character (Ao Bing) comes from The Creation of the Gods, a mythological novel from the Ming Dynasty. We kept key features, like the dragon head right here," said Chen Qiang, a designer at Motor Nuclear.
The brand has created a new universe where heroes from different myths collide, proving that storytelling adds depth to toys and fuels fan passion.
China's trendy toy boom transforms industry with storytelling, design innovation
