Stitch, the blue, pointy-eared, pug-like creature from Disney’s “Lilo & Stitch” franchise, is shaping up to be this year’s most popular toy – and it will be hard to ignore at Toy Fair this weekend, The Post has learned.
The largest toy trade show in North America kicks off on March 1 at the Javits Center in Midtown Manhattan. Hundreds of toy makers will be displaying their big bets for the upcoming season, including ZipString and anything having to do with dinosaurs and dragons, insiders said.
But to a remarkable degree this year, they’ll also be showing off their Stitch merch. The assortments will only grow in the coming months ahead of Disney’s Memorial Day release of a live-action/CGI remake of the original “Lilo & Stitch” movie from 2002, according to industry experts.
“Stitch is popping up all over the place in everything from collectible phone and gaming controller holders and slime,” said Toy Book editor-in-chief James Zahn. “Expect to see Stitch and friends all over the Javits Center.”
Momentum around the yipping, grimacing character has been building on social media over the past several months, including 2.7 million likes on TikTok for the movie trailer.
The buzz around Stitch was capped off with a viral, 30-second ad during the Super Bowl. The mischievous creature appeals to teens and tweens who are scooping up backpacks, water bottles and even bed sheets with its image, according to toy consultant Chris Byrne.
At least one Stitch item won Toy Book’s “Product of the Year” award in January, a $76 electronic “Disney Stitch Puppetronic” by RealFX.
Other hot items include ZipString, that makes a loop of string appear to float in the air, which was launched two years ago and got a “Shark Tank” investment.
It sold its 1 millionth unit by the end of the holiday season and is poised to announce new iterations of the product, sources tell The Post.
An FAO Schwarz rep at the Rockefeller Center store said ZipStrings were selling out “like crazy” over the holidays and were hard to keep in stock. Its popularity has inspired dozens of knockoffs from China, the rep said.
Byrne compared the demand for ZipString to the fidget spinner craze in 2017. Even though it’s been out for a while it’s “become a craze,” he added. Good Housekeeping named it “toy of the year,” in December 2024.
Another “toy to watch,” according to Zahn, is Loop Labs, a digital stage that comes with figurines of drummers, guitarists and vocalists that create and mix music. Loops Lab is app based, but screen-free and comes out of Tel Aviv.
It made its debut at the Nuremberg International Toy Fair in January and will be introduced in the US at Toy Fair on Saturday. It retails for $120 but is not available for purchase until later this year.
Elsewhere, dinosaurs and dragons are having a moment fueled by the upcoming movies How to Train your Dragon and Jurassic World Rebirth out this summer.
Mattel and Spin Master are expected to unveil “some incredible products” inspired by those franchises this weekend, Zahn added.
