With a number of popular grassroots IPs in hand, TOP TOY is awaiting major results.
During the National Day holiday, long queues formed outside an old villa on Jiashan Road in Shanghai, where consumers often had to wait for one or two hours to enter the store.
What draws people there is a little girl with black hair, freckles all over her face and uneven choppy bangs — Yuyu, which fans prefer to call "Xiaoyu".
This original IP that rose to fame on Xiaohongshu teamed up with Parlid instant camera to create a themed space during the National Day holiday, launching co-branded film, imaging experiences and creative peripheral products.
Not far away on Fumin Road, another Xiaoyu themed store opened at the same time. On the second-floor balcony, a huge Xiaoyu figure leans out, overlooking the queuing crowd downstairs.
Yuyu pop-up store on Fumin Road, Shanghai, taken on the afternoon of October 6
The huge offline popularity of Xiaoyu is driven by TOP TOY, a subsidiary of MINISO.
At the end of 2025, TOP TOY invested in and took controlling stake of "Guangzhou Amphibole Group Art and Culture Co., Ltd.", the company that owns Xiaoyu.
Since then, Xiaoyu has achieved tens of millions of yuan in sales through pop-up stores in the atriums of shopping malls across multiple cities, and has successively launched co-branded products with brands including Huawei, CASETiFY, Nayuki and McDonald's, becoming a prominent case of commercialization for "amateur IPs".
But betting on Xiaoyu does not mean that TOP TOY has mastered the method of mass-producing hit products.
An IP industry investor close to MINISO told All Weather Tech under Wall Street CN that Xiaoyu's success has a clear operation method, but it also superimposes hard-to-replicate accidental factors such as market cycle, fan structure and product rhythm.
I
The "Grassroots Growth" of Xiaoyu
Different from traditional IPs that rely on centralized promotion from film, animation or commercial institutions, amateur IPs are usually initiated by individual creators, who first accumulate fans by continuously updating content and interacting with users on social platforms, and then gradually enter the commodity development and commercial operation system.
They may not have complete stories and worldviews, but they can establish long-term connections with fans through distinct images and emotional expressions.
In early 2025, the post-2000s creator "Patriarch of Amphibole Group" launched Xiaoyu on Xiaohongshu. This little girl with freckles, a red nose and irregular bangs appears in a series of illustrations about daily life, emotional expression and self-acceptance.
The creator keeps updating works and replying to comments, and Xiaoyu has gradually become an emotional sustenance in fans' daily lives. About three months later, Xiaoyu accumulated more than 50,000 fans, and exceeded 300,000 fans in less than a year.
The aforementioned IP industry investor told All Weather Tech that Xiaoyu did not rush to large-scale distribution in the early stage, and accumulated market feedback through shopping mall pop-ups, IP authorization and sales in specific channels, reducing the inventory risk of betting on a single IP prematurely.
"Its logic is that the IP becomes popular first, and then the goods come out, instead of making a large number of goods before the IP is recognized by consumers," he said.
In May 2025, Xiaoyu held its first offline exhibition at the gallery on the third floor of COSMO, a non-standard commercial space in Chengdu.
Due to the enthusiastic on-site response, COSMO later moved the exhibition to the first-floor atrium to hold a large-scale pop-up store, attracting a large number of fans and daigous, and the products were sold out many times.
Entering 2026, Xiaoyu's limited-time themed stores have been successively launched in core commercial complexes in Shanghai, Hangzhou, Beijing and other cities.
On April 10, the first pop-up store in East China at Wujiaochang Hopson One in Shanghai opened, and popular products were sold out in only five minutes. On the first day of the event, the overall passenger flow of the mall reached 110,000, and increased to 160,000 the next day, with a year-on-year increase of 10% and 29% respectively.
In June, Xiaoyu successively settled in Hangzhou Center and Beijing Chaoyang Hopson One. The daily average sales of the Hangzhou project exceeded 200,000 yuan, and the sales of the Beijing project exceeded 10 million yuan about one month after opening.
In addition to the operation rhythm, the consumption and communication habits of Xiaoyu's native fans also provide conditions for subsequent commercial expansion.
Another person close to TOP TOY told All Weather Tech that Xiaoyu's core consumers are mainly young women, many of whom are fashion bloggers, lifestyle KOLs and ordinary consumers who are keen on secondary creation.
They not only buy peripheral products, but also are used to hanging Xiaoyu on their bags, integrating it into their daily outfits, and then taking photos to share on social platforms. As a result, the spread of Xiaoyu no longer only depends on the creator's updates, but constantly appears in the life content of fans themselves.
The distinct fan portrait also creates conditions for Xiaoyu to expand brand cooperation.
In February 2026, Xiaoyu successively cooperated with MEDM and CASETiFY, entering the field of fashion clothing and digital accessories.
After that, co-branding gradually expanded to home furnishing, smart devices and mass catering, with partners including Huawei, Nayuki and McDonald's.
In the cooperation with McDonald's, McDonald's launched offline outfit interactions at 500 designated stores across the country. After consumers buy designated set meals, they can participate in the experience through colorful outfits, and then get Xiaoyu limited peripherals.
Through these cooperations, Xiaoyu connects a group of young consumers who are willing to actively spread content for cooperative brands, and at the same time leverages the marketing resources and retail channels of cooperative brands to enter consumption scenarios outside the original fan circle.
In more than half a year, Xiaoyu has completed more than ten cross-brand co-branding collaborations.
The aforementioned investor introduced that for new IPs whose popularity is still in the accumulation period, it is usually difficult to directly charge high fixed copyright fees for early authorization. Some cooperations often adopt the method of sales sharing or resource replacement, giving priority to winning the promotion resources and channel support of brands.
As its influence expands, the IP side will gradually have stronger bargaining power for authorization.
On September 25, Xiaoyu's "Beautiful Girl" series of plush blind boxes and peripherals were officially launched across all TOP TOY channels. Previously, some of Xiaoyu's products have been sold in individual stores, and this time the coverage is further expanded to the regular retail network.
Taken at TOP TOY Beijing Hopson One store
From limited-time themed stores and brand co-branding to full-channel distribution, Xiaoyu has begun to transfer the fan popularity accumulated in the early stage to larger-scale commodity supply and retail systems.
II
Opportunities Behind the Hit Product
The rise of Xiaoyu happened exactly when the trendy toy industry was experiencing a downward cycle and examining the cost of growth.
In the first half of 2026, Pop Mart's revenue increased by 23.8% year-on-year to 17.173 billion yuan, and the net profit attributable to owners of the parent company increased by 10.1% to 5.038 billion yuan, with the growth rate slowing down significantly.
At the same time, Pop Mart's inventory increased by 168.4% year-on-year, from 2.274 billion yuan at the end of June 2025 to 6.102 billion yuan; the inventory turnover days were greatly extended from 83 days in the same period of the previous year to 201 days.
The MINISO system also faces the pressure between growth and cost.
In the first half of this year, TOP TOY's revenue increased by 32.7% year-on-year to 985 million yuan, but the segment operating result turned from a profit of 51.03 million yuan in the same period of the previous year to a loss of 72.34 million yuan.
The IP royalty fee of parent company MINISO increased by nearly 48% year-on-year, and promotion and advertising expenses increased by about 46%.
Consumers are not no longer buying trendy toys, but as commodity development, marketing and channel investment continue to increase, the cost and risk of betting on new IPs are also rising.
Especially for new roles that lack a stable consumer base. Large-scale production in advance may create inventory burdens, while cautious stock preparation may miss the sales window, and it is difficult for enterprises to judge whether an image will become popular.
The aforementioned investor told All Weather Tech that in the first half of 2026, many trendy toy companies are still digesting the inventory accumulated before, and are more cautious about promoting new IPs. In addition, marketing resources are tightening and user attention is scattered, and some brands' willingness to sign a single new IP has decreased.
"The whole market is not short of goods in the first half of the year, but short of good IPs," he said.
It is in this cautious period when the industry dare not blindly invest money that Xiaoyu has stepped on a rare time window.
As an amateur IP that has accumulated native fans at the front end and been verified at low cost on social platforms, it just fills the market's thirst for fresh and high-quality IPs.
According to the aforementioned person close to TOP TOY who revealed to All Weather Tech, the company significantly increased its commercial investment in Xiaoyu in the second quarter of this year.
But if we dismantle TOP TOY's resource map at that time, we will find that Xiaoyu's explosive popularity is more like an "unexpected surprise" rather than a pre-planned and precise star-making assembly line.
In fact, TOP TOY's most core and largest-scale marketing resources this year are still invested in the more deterministic "celebrity endorsement".
In April this year, TOP TOY announced that Zhao Lusi would become the brand's first global spokesperson, and launched marketing around its IPs such as Nuomi'er. In May, the brand launched a Zhao Lusi support themed store in Bangkok;
In July, taking advantage of her Macau concert, the brand set up limited small cards, card exchange interactions and themed check-in activities, directing the attention of celebrity fans to trendy toy products and offline stores.
Leveraging celebrities is a standard action for trendy toy companies to buy "certainty" when hit products are difficult to predict.
Whether it is Wang Yibo and Qimengdao, Wang Junkai and JOTOYS, or Zhao Lusi and TOP TOY, the essence is to use the huge existing traffic of celebrities to underwrite the products.
This model is safe and replicable, but trendy toys are at best a transit carrier for traffic monetization.
In contrast, behind Xiaoyu's outbreak path is a certain irreproducibility.
If Xiaoyu's pop-up and co-branding model can be mass-produced in a formulaic way, trendy toy companies would not need to invest ceiling-level resources in celebrity marketing to seek a sense of security.
High-frequency pop-ups, starting from amateurs, cross-border co-branding, girl communities... These seemingly clear business paradigms are ultimately summaries derived from hindsight.
Just as Wang Ning, the founder of Pop Mart, once confessed that LABUBU's global popularity was completely unexpected — whether an IP can become a hit ultimately still has a "mystical" meaning.
III
One Hit Product Is Far From Enough
Xiaoyu adds a successful sample for TOP TOY, but for TOP TOY, which is still seeking independent listing, and the MINISO system, which is continuously expanding its IP retail layout, one or two hit products are far from enough.
In fact, TOP TOY has bet on far more than just Xiaoyu.
During the period from the first submission of the listing application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in September 2025 to the resubmission at the end of March 2026, TOP TOY continuously expanded its own IP reserve by holding original teams, establishing joint ventures and internal development.
In the equity structure disclosed in the prospectus, many IP-related enterprises including Dongguan Haichuang Culture, Dongguan Ouran Interesting, Shenzhen Cuntang Pocket, Guangzhou Amphibole Group Art and Culture, etc., are all 51% owned by TOP TOY, involving original characters such as Nuomi'er, Meme, Ninimo and Xiaoyu.
Among them, Nuomi'er's sales exceeded 200 million yuan in 2025. TOP TOY has launched multiple themed pop-up stores around it, and opened a themed store in Chongqing; characters such as Meme and FOFO also successively have independent themed stores.
In 2026, the company jointly developed the original IP SISI with Zhao Lusi, trying to cultivate new characters with the help of celebrity influence.
From integrating mature teams and investing in amateur creators to co-developing characters with celebrities, TOP TOY has tried different IP cultivation paths.
As of the end of June this year, the company has more than 30 self-owned IPs, but there are still a limited number of characters that have achieved outstanding sales results in public disclosures.
In the first half of this year, TOP TOY's revenue increased by 32.7% to 985 million yuan, but the segment operating result turned from a profit of 51.03 million yuan in the same period of the previous year to a loss of 72.34 million yuan.
The continuously expanding IP reserve still needs to be converted into sales and profits.
This issue is also placed in front of the parent company MINISO, except that the latter already has a larger-scale successful sample.
Recently, MINISO announced that the GMV of its self-owned artist IP YOYO in the first three quarters exceeded 1 billion yuan.
Since the launch of the first product in June 2025, YOYO has entered 53 countries and regions around the world, supported by the group's global store network and centralized marketing resources.
In the first half of this year, MINISO completed the renovation of 189 stores, and the store efficiency after renovation nearly doubled year-on-year; the global first store of Shanghai MINISO LAND achieved sales of over 100 million yuan nine months after opening, and the per-square-meter efficiency of the park-style stores is about twice that of ordinary stores.
Such large park-style stores are usually first operated directly by MINISO to verify the single-store profit model through 3 to 6 months of operation, and then find franchisees to take over.
Ye Guofu even proposed to make the sales of park-style stores in the same business district reach or even exceed that of Pop Mart. At present, MINISO has about 100 park-style stores in China, and the long-term plan is to reach 1,200 stores.
The image of YOYO has appeared in MINISO LAND Guangzhou First Store, and MINISO and TOP TOY also plan to layout flagship large stores in Sanlitun, Beijing, to further expand IP retail channels.
Ideally, large stores and original IPs can empower each other: stores provide exposure and sales channels for new roles, and successful original IPs in turn attract passenger flow and reduce dependence on external authorization.
However, there are still a limited number of self-owned IPs that can form a stable sales scale, and MINISO still needs to rely on external authorization to support product supply, which also means continuous cost investment.
In the first half