TDmonthly - What Toy Manufacturers Can Learn From LEGO's Growth in 2026

In short

LEGO's official results point to a portfolio that serves children and adults, mixes homegrown themes with licensed ones, and is backed by retail execution and long-term investment in supply chain and sustainability.
SMART Play shows a two-tier hardware model: a complete All-in-One starter set and Compatible add-on sets that need the core brick. That is a stocking and packaging lesson as much as a technology lesson.
The company publishes its own list prices and, on Nov. 15, 2026, held those prices on LEGO.com for the SMART Play sets we checked. It has not published a SMART Play sales figure.

Toy manufacturers do not need to copy LEGO's scale to learn from how the company describes its own growth. The official record from 2024 through the first half of 2026, and the way SMART Play was built for retail, offer a few practical lessons.

1. Design for more than one age band, and say so. In its 2025 results, the LEGO Group said demand was high among both children and adults. In H1 2026, it said consumer sales rose 22% on a portfolio for "builders of all ages and interests." The adult-leaning Icons and Botanicals themes appeared among first-half bestsellers alongside Star Wars, Technic and Speed Champions. The lesson is not "only make collector sets." It is to keep a clear path for kids and a clear path for adult fans, and to report both as part of the same range.

2. Mix licenses with homegrown lines. LEGO's H1 2026 bestsellers were a blend of its own themes and entertainment IPs. The 2026 Pokémon line and the 2027 Star Wars 50th-anniversary, Super Mario and Sanrio plans, all officially announced, show licenses still being added with dated launch windows. Homegrown themes stayed on the bestseller list at the same time. For a smaller toy manufacturer, the useful idea is a balanced slate, not a single license bet.

3. If you add a connected feature, make the starter set obvious. LEGO SMART Play is screen-free and compatible with regular LEGO bricks, but the SMART Brick is sold only in All-in-One sets. Compatible sets need that brick to come alive. That is a merchandising rule as much as an engineering one: the package and the shelf have to tell the shopper what to buy first. Official play time is about 45 minutes per charge, so a charger in the starter set is part of the promise.

4. Be precise about price and about what you cannot yet measure. On Nov. 15, 2026, the official U.S. LEGO shop listed the Star Wars and Pokémon SMART Play sets we checked at full list price. The H1 2026 release does not include a SMART Play sales number, so that launch should not be dressed up with an invented result. Street prices at other retailers can differ; this series reports only prices confirmed on official pages.

5. Put supply chain and sustainability on the same calendar as product. LEGO's recent results show factory investment rising in the first half of 2026, and the 2027 roadmap includes a U.S. factory and distribution center, a Billund solar park, and a plan to finish converting packaging lines to paper-based bags. Those are multi-year projects, announced years ahead of opening. For any toy manufacturer selling into the U.S., that is the planning horizon to watch, not a single order cycle.