It’s only September, but the world’s toymakers and designers are converging on El Segundo this week for an industry conference to decide on the hottest toys for next year.
The city has long been a hub for the toy industry as companies like to set up shop in the shadow of Mattel, the maker of Barbie. This week, the industry opened a new tower of toys, an office complex featuring 65 showrooms for toy companies to showcase their products and discuss design with their wholesale customers.
In his toy-filled suite with sprawling views of the commercial neighborhood near LAX, Italian toy maker Matteo Sarnari prepared for the coming fall onslaught of professional buyers he hopes will buy his wares in bulk.
Sarnari is a business developer for educational toy creator Clementoni, which was established in a small Italian village in 1963 and recently established a U.S. division to move into the American market.
“Of course, this is the most important market in the world,” Sarnari said, 41 times bigger than the Italian market where Clementoni sells educational toys. “The opportunity here is huge.”
The company has licenses to make “Harry Potter” and “Stranger Things”-themed puzzles, joining its line of board games, science toys and musical toys for small children.
Clementoni’s El Segundo beachhead is the new Toy Building, which was opened on Monday by the Toy Assn., a trade group for U.S. toy companies.
While the February Toy Fair in New York is the industry’s largest annual event, the El Segundo toy showroom building is the only one in the country that operates year-round.
Los Angeles is a major hub of the U.S. toy industry, said Toy Assn. President Greg Ahearn. Many toy companies are headquartered or have a significant presence here.
Among the big players are Chatsworth-based MGA Entertainment, the company behind Bratz and L.O.L. Surprise! dolls, Canadian toy and entertainment company Spin Master and Santa Monica’s Jakks Pacific, a maker of licensed toys such as Sonic the Hedgehog.
The headquarters of industry giant Mattel is a short walk from the Toy Building and looms large in the views from the renovated 1970s office building in a neighborhood that used to house more aerospace companies.
As aerospace has scaled back since the end of the Cold War, El Segundo has emerged as a hub for many creative businesses, including toys.
The city is “incredibly convenient” to the toy industry and people who do business with them, Ahearn said, because it’s near Los Angeles International Airport and multiple large and small toy companies are located there. Among them are the U.S. office of Moose Toys, an Australian maker of collectible mini-figures.
“El Segundo represents the greatest concentration of toy manufacturers in the U.S.,” he said.
Toys are a huge business — the industry generated $42 billion in sales in the U.S. last year. Sales remained flat compared with the previous year.
The opening of the Toy Building coincides with the annual fall preview of toys manufacturers hope will be on Christmas wish lists the following year, he said. “That’s how far ahead our industry works.”
At the fall preview, retailers and licensors of toys such as Paramount, Universal and Disney join others in the toy business to “descend on Los Angeles to actually see product that is going to be available for holiday 2026,” Ahearn said.
Licensed toys are a huge category, he said, as big entertainment providers serve up branded fare such as Star Wars action figures, SpongeBob SquarePants plush toys and Paw Patrol toddler tricycles.
Even online media personalities such as MrBeast and Ms. Rachel have toy lines.
“All of them usually have some level of toy licensing and merchandising that is available to consumers as part of their plan,” Ahearn said.
The Toy Building’s four floors were designed to serve as a “mini convention center” for the industry operating year-round, said Nelson Algaze, chief executive of SAA Interiors + Architecture, which created the space.
It has 65 showrooms and is so far home to such brands as Crayola, Funko and Hasbro. Each floor has about 20,000 square feet and most of the showrooms are between 625 and 2,500 square feet. The showrooms are nearly 70% leased.
Although it has lounges and meeting rooms, the Toy Building also has an element of secrecy not typically associated with a convention facility as some toymakers keep their products hidden from the competition with barriers that prevent passersby from seeing inside.
Photography is mostly forbidden.
More directly looming over the industry is the fallout from President Trump’s tariffs on imported goods, which are expected to drive up the cost of toys.
In April, the Toy Assn. urged the U.S. government to grant an immediate reprieve from tariffs on toys imported from China to keep them on retail shelves and available for the holiday season.
“As we move into the critical holiday season, there is now some trepidation with what the impact of tariffs is ultimately going to be,” Ahearn said.
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