State of the Industry Q&A 2026: Steve Totzke, Mattel

Coming off our 80th anniversary in 2025, Mattel entered 2026 with strong momentum across our core brands and, importantly, with clarity on where we are focusing our efforts. Barbie, Hot Wheels, Fisher-Price, and UNO continue to anchor the portfolio because they consistently earn relevance through innovation, cultural connection, and global scale.

Across these brands, our approach has been disciplined: bigger ideas that travel globally, extend across categories, and build long-term franchises. That focus is reflected not only in our core businesses, but also in growth platforms like Mattel Brick Shop, a resurgent American Girl in its 40th anniversary year, and Mattel Creations, which expands our reach to adult fans.

Hot Wheels delivered its eighth consecutive year of growth in 2025, driven by innovation that broadens the brand’s reach without diluting its core. The Speed Snap track system makes play more accessible for younger consumers, while premium collaborations — from Formula 1 to Ferrari — continue to resonate with adult collectors, now the brand’s fastest-growing audience. At the same time, initiatives like Mattel Brick Shop allow fans to engage with the brand in new, creative ways.

UNO further extended its leadership as the world’s No. 1 card game (per Circana) by evolving from a tabletop staple into a social experience. Partnerships and events, such as the UNO Social Club pop-ups, reflect our strategy of meeting fans where play, culture, and community intersect.

Barbie continues to lead the cultural conversation by pairing relevance with purpose. Launches like the recent autistic Barbie doll demonstrate how the brand continues to evolve, deepening trust, broadening representation, and strengthening engagement across generations.

2026 represents one of our strongest entertainment slates in years, with global premieres for Masters of the Universe and Matchbox, alongside a robust lineup of licensed partner films.

We approach entertainment not as a standalone effort, but as a full-scale brand activation — aligning content, toys, consumer products, retail, and fan engagement into a coordinated launch strategy. This “event-to-evergreen” approach allows us to use cinematic moments to attract new fans while continuing to build franchises through sustained product innovation and year-round retail presence. We’ve applied this model successfully with partners like Toy Story, Moana, Wicked, and Minecraft, and we’re bringing the same discipline to 2026 with properties including DC and KPop Demon Hunters.

Innovation at Mattel is intentionally differentiated by audience, and that’s a competitive advantage. Few companies can credibly engage parents at their first point of trust with Fisher-Price while also creating highly sought-after products for adult collectors.

For Fisher-Price, innovation begins with deep parent insight. Families are looking for different play experiences, so we design across a spectrum from calm, non-electronic play to higher-energy engagement, while supporting a range of developmental needs. Fisher-Price is not just a preschool brand; it is foundational to the trust families place in Mattel.

With Little People, we are expanding play patterns while reinforcing what the brand does best. Licensed partnerships, including Disney Princess, Mickey Mouse, Toy Story, and  Super Mario, are used selectively to balance familiarity with freshness. At the same time,  Little People Collector extends the brand into adult fandom through culturally relevant collaborations.

Looking ahead, as recently announced at Spielwarenmesse, Thomas & Friends will enter a new era in 2026 that honors its heritage while modernizing the brand for today’s families, with elevated animation, a new play system, and reinvigorated storytelling across platforms.

Mattel Creations continues to be a key growth engine, engaging adult fans with limited-edition, culturally relevant products across brands such as Hot Wheels, Barbie, UNO, Little People, and more.

We continue to make progress on our strategic collaboration with OpenAI, with a clear focus on safe, age-appropriate experiences that enhance play rather than replace it. Becoming the first company to bring a branded character — Skeletor from Masters of the  Universe — to the Sora 2 platform reflects our willingness to explore new creative possibilities while maintaining the trust families have placed in Mattel for more than 80 years.

We see strong opportunities globally across both our owned IP and our Entertainment Partnerships business. Mattel continues to strengthen its position as a partner of choice for major studios and rights holders, supported by our global reach, creative capabilities,  and retail execution.

We also see meaningful opportunities to extend physical play into digital spaces through games, creator-driven platforms like Roblox and Fortnite, and progress toward our first self-published mobile titles. Across all of this, our focus remains on building franchises that can scale globally and engage fans wherever they choose to play.