Is AI + trendy collectibles a huge opportunity or just a conceptual bubble?

If you like "Toy Story", then you'll have the chance to become "friends" with Woody and Buzz Lightyear, sharing everything.

Recently, Lesen Robot released an AI trendy toy plan to launch thousands of IPs in the next three years. Currently, the company has obtained character licenses for many classic IPs such as "WALL - E", "Toy Story", "Despicable Me", "How to Train Your Dragon", and "Kung Fu Panda".

The toy industry is getting hotter with the arrival of AI. According to an incomplete statistics by TOP Jun, since 2025, there have been at least 10 financing events in the domestic AI toy sector, with the highest amount reaching 200 million yuan.

According to the "White Paper on the Consumption Trend of AI Toys", the scale of the Chinese AI toy market will exceed 10 billion yuan around 2030, with a compound annual growth rate of over 70%. And the trendy toy market, which is already in a trillion - yuan track, is also being pushed to a new crossroads in this AI hurricane.

AI is creating a hurricane in the trendy toy industry

When traditional trendy toys are integrated with AI technologies such as voice recognition and language processing, a new species is born - AI trendy toys, which not only have the high - value appearance of trendy toys but also can achieve human - machine interaction functions and emotional companionship.

At the user level, AI trendy toys mainly target children and young people aged 18 - 35 as the core audience. Of course, the elderly group also has a certain market. For different manufacturers, some focus on voice interaction, visual interaction, or tactile interaction, while others integrate multi - modal interactions such as voice, vision, touch, and somatosensory.

For example, LOVOT and Ropet are typical representatives of visual and tactile interaction. LOVOT is from Japan. Although this product can't speak (in human language), it can make subtle reactions to human actions such as touching and hugging, and will make a "cooing" sound in combination with emotional fluctuations during interaction. The starting price of 29,800 yuan determines LOVOT's high - end market positioning and luxury label.

Ropet, which became popular at the CES 2025 conference, is an AI machine cute pet developed by Mengyou Intelligence. It can infer human emotions by recognizing actions, languages, and facial expressions and make corresponding feedback. Maintaining a body temperature of about 37 degrees gives it a bit of the soul of a carbon - based creature. Its price is around 2,000 yuan, which is more accessible than LOVOT.

Products with multi - modal interaction such as Fuzozo, Meng UU, BubblePal, and Xiaopa AI are positioned for the mass market and have all chosen to be in the form of plush toys.

Fuzozo is an AI trendy toy of the cultivation system specially created by Luobo Intelligence for Generation Z. It has a furry hanging - bag appearance and comes in 5 colors according to different personalities. It can not only be "fed" like a pet but also has a "touch - to - socialize" function. Meng UU has a similar positioning to Fuzozo. It is an AI pet incubated by UBTECH, a humanoid robot manufacturer. It can chat and remember users' preferences, and can gradually develop a unique personality during communication. The selling price of both products is 399 yuan.

Picture/Internet, Fuzozo

Xiaopa AI and BubblePal mainly focus on children's companionship. Xiaopa AI is the first intelligent derivative of the original IP "Teacher Pa" under TOYCITY, with three core functions of emotional companionship, intelligent interaction, and trendy toy collection, and is sold at around 800 yuan. BubblePal is from Haivivi. It has more than 30 built - in interactive roles, supports role - playing and multi - language conversations. It was initially priced at 399 yuan and then adjusted to 499 yuan.

Picture/Internet, BubblePal

From a R & D perspective, AI trendy toys are mainly divided into two categories. One is original IPs that are launched as AI trendy toy products, such as LOVOT and Fuzozo; the other is AI - version products based on existing IPs, similar to Xiaopa AI, Tom Cat AI Children's Companion Robot, and AI products of various film and television IP characters.

"Hot" is the current situation of AI trendy toys. According to data from Tianyancha Professional Edition, as of September 2025, there are more than 13.477 million toy - related enterprises in operation or existence in China. Among them, about 2.635 million new related enterprises were registered in 2025 alone.

In addition to technology companies and manufacturers competing to seize the market, capital is also flocking in. According to an incomplete statistics by TOP Jun based on public data, since the beginning of 2025, there have been at least 10 financing events in the AI toy sector. Among them, Haivivi and X - ORIGIN - AI, which focus on the children's market, have raised 200 million yuan and 100 million yuan respectively; Luobo Intelligence, targeting the young female market, completed an angel - round financing, and Mengyou Intelligence completed a tens - of - millions - yuan Series A1 financing.

Picture/Incomplete statistics by TOP Jun based on public data

Domestic Internet giants are also accelerating their layout. For example, Baidu Smart Cloud has built a dual - intelligent central nervous system of "left brain" and "right brain" for AI toys based on large - model technology; JD.com has opened its "Possessed Intelligence" platform Joyinside to AI manufacturers; ByteDance has customized an AI toy "Eye - catching Package" internally.

It can be said that 2025 is the first year of the explosion of AI trendy toys.

Real needs and false satisfaction, AI companionship should not stay on the surface

Whether in the high - end market or the mass market, AI trendy toys are aimed at the keyword "companionship". The "Report on the Lifestyle of Young People" released in 2025 shows that 99.9% of the respondents said they were willing to consume for emotional value, and 56% of them chose "emotional support" services.

This survey data is also confirmed by sales. LOVOT has opened a flagship store in Shanghai after crossing the ocean, and its global cumulative sales have exceeded 15,000 units; Fuzozo's first - round pre - sales during the 618 promotion exceeded 1,000 orders in just 10 minutes; the cumulative sales of BubblePal, which was launched in July, have exceeded 250,000 units; FoloToy also revealed in an interview that its sales in the first quarter of 2025 were close to the 20,000 + units sold throughout last year.

The core function of AI trendy toys in the children's market is "learning companionship", while the application scenarios in the adult market are more diverse. On social platforms, many people have shared their lives after having AI trendy toys. Some use them as companions during overtime work, some as travel buddies, and some as emotional outlets.

Picture/Internet, users sharing traveling with AI trendy toys

Of course, there are also complaints. Among them, the AI - like nature of human - machine dialogue, expensive payment for poor service, product homogenization, and short battery life have become the main points of users' complaints.

It is worth noting that currently, most AI trendy toys adopt the "hardware purchase + subscription payment" model. That is to say, you need to keep recharging for your digital buddy. For example, LOVOT charges a monthly service fee of 880 yuan (you need to pay more than 70,000 yuan at once if you want to buy out the machine and service fees); Meng UU is free in the first year, and the annual card is priced at 99 yuan; Fuzozo can be used for free for 80 days, and the subsequent subscription is 10 yuan per week, which amounts to 520 yuan a year.

TOP Jun also conducted a small - scale survey among people aged 18 - 35 on their acceptance of current AI trendy toys.

"The feelings from animals are real, but code is always just code. The responses from AI are always formulaic and fake." Lianzhu, who lives alone in Shenzhen, has a pet cat. After sending the cat back to her hometown for recuperation due to illness last year, she returned to living alone. When talking about AI pets, she said that code cannot replace real emotions and she would not consider buying AI products.

"It mainly depends on the pricing. The functions of these products are relatively weak now, and the pricing is on the high side." Xueshan in Beijing said that he would buy if the price is reasonable and it can meet his emotional needs, but would not consider it if the price is too high.

"Current AI trendy toys still stay on the surface. The dialogue has a strong AI flavor and cannot achieve real companionship. If something like Jarvis that can really facilitate life comes out in the future, I will consider buying it." Sanfeng said.

Zhang Zaizou, who has been collecting Pop Mart trendy toys, also said that he would not buy the AI version if Pop Mart launched one because it has no real collection value. Just like changing your phone when Apple launches a new model, you won't collect the whole series at once.

A 6 - year - old mother, Ruo, said that she currently does not consider buying AI toys for her child. Even the Tmall Genie and Xiaomi AI Speaker at home are rarely used. She believes that she should participate in her child's emotional companionship and growth.

It can be seen that there is a certain market demand for AI companionship, and the accelerated entry of capital has also made this sector hot. However, the products currently quickly replicated based on large AI models obviously cannot impress more consumers.

Conclusion:

AI trendy toys are products of the times. Whether they can grow into a super - popular trend remains to be seen. However, it is certain that the development of AI has had multi - dimensional impacts on trendy toys, existing IPs, and even advertising and marketing.

On the one hand, AI has given the trendy toy industry a new form of expression. From children's companionship to the emotional satisfaction of young people, AI has activated another market demand for trendy toys. However, it should be noted that the core of AI trendy toys is to meet "emotional companionship". AI is just a means. Making companionship truly come true, iterating service capabilities and user experience are the fundamentals for achieving long - term business. On the other hand, it can extend the life cycle of existing IPs. For example, well - known film and television IPs and virtual IPs can expand a new life cycle through the form of AI + trendy toys, which can not only bring new fun to the audience but also enable the IPs to play a greater value.

From a broader perspective, AI + trendy toys can also become an innovative way of brand advertising. Brands can carry out IP co - branding and other cooperation through this form to expand customer bases and make the brand more youthful.

TOP Jun will continue to follow when a LABUBU - like success will emerge in this sector.

This article is from the WeChat official account "TopMarketing" (ID: TMarketing), and the author is TOP Jun. It is published by 36Kr with authorization.