Toys have long been part of the world of museum licensing — the latter a sector that has, overall, been expanding greatly in recent years — yet they remain a relatively small part of most institutions’ brand-extension efforts. That said, a number of high-profile deals have come to light this year in which leading museums and toy companies are collaborating on products for both kids and kidult collectors:
- Earlier this month, the Museum of Modern Art in New York and Mattel announced that they had forged a global, five-year partnership to develop limited toy collections through the latter’s direct-to-consumer design platform, Mattel Creations. The relationship, which is characterized as a global design partnership, is starting with a capsule collection of seven products set to release on November 11: a collectible Barbie doll inspired by Vincent van Gogh’s The Starry Night; Hot Wheels versions of the Jaguar E-Type Roadster and the Citroën DS 23 Sedan; a MoMA edition of Uno, featuring six works of art that complement the game’s color scheme and game play; a Magic Eight Ball with a look and nine inspirational phrases inspired by Alma Woodsey Thomas’ abstract painting Untitled; and two Little People Collector sets, one based on Salvador Dalí’s The Persistence of Memory and one of his self portraits, and the other by Claude Monet’s series of paintings of water lilies. The products are sold through the Mattel Creations website and the physical and online MoMA Design Store. As part of the deal, Mattel is also sponsoring MoMA’s Samuel and Ronnie Heyman Family Art Lab and its programs.
- New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met) paired with high-end wooden toy maker Hape Toys, in a deal announced in February, for a collection of early learning toys capturing some of the museum’s 1.5 million works of art from over 5,000 years of history. The collection, for infants and toddlers, pairs art appreciation with learning through play. Early products include an infant play mat and a maze based on the museum’s 17th century British textile The Tree of Life; a pull toy and a stacking toy featuring William, the faïence hippo from ancient Egypt’s Middle Kingdom and a mascot of sorts for the museum; block sets taking their cues from Van Gogh’s Wheat Field with Cypresses and Katsushika Hokusai’s The Great Wave off Kanagawa; activity blocks based on the museum’s building; and wooden puzzles, kaleidoscopes, and puzzle blocks tied to a variety of artworks.
- In January, Lego revealed its latest addition to the Lego Art program, Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, in conjunction with the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. The set, with 2,615 pieces, became available on March 1 with a suggested retail price of $199.99. This is the second Lego Art set featuring Van Gogh, with MoMA’s The Starry Night debuting in 2022 through the Lego Ideas platform. The Lego Art program, geared toward adults, launched in 2020 and has featured kits focused on Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe, Hokusai’s The Great Wave, Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, and Robert Indiana’s Love, via various licensors. A Lego installation, which debuted at the Van Gogh Museum before traveling to other institutions, is also part of the most recent partnership, along with lectures and other educational components.
- The Science Museum in London announced in August that it was pairing with Funtime Gifts for a collection of materials-science toys including slimes and slime kits, putties, and crystal growing kits. The products feature the Science Museum Group’s STEM badge, which identifies relevant educational toy and publishing products across the group’s roster of kids’ licensees. The Funtime kits are available in independent retailers as well as in Menkind, a 57-location chain of stores that sells gifts and gadgets for men.
There have been many other examples of museum-licensed toys in various configurations over the years, of course. To name just three: London’s Natural History Museum partnered with Jumbo Group’s Galt Toys for a Let’s Learn range of educational toys based on the natural world; The Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh paired with Open the Joy for Love and Forgiveness Boxes sold through Target stores; and The British Museum worked with Bluepiper Studio for Alice in Wonderland blind-box collectibles based on the original John Tenniel illustrations, sold in the Chinese market.
But this year has been particularly active on the museum-toy collaboration front. Perhaps more notably, whereas the bulk of licensed toy deals historically have leaned toward museums in the natural history, science, or children’s realms, the 2025 deals have focused on institutions that specialize in fine art—a departure from the norm.
A reminder that Raugust Communications’ monthly e-newsletter comes out tomorrow, October 21, 2025. The Licensing Topic of the Month takes a look at some unexpected retail collaborations, while the Datapoint research spotlight examines licensing activity in the denim apparel category. If you do not yet subscribe to this free publication, you can do so here.
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