Kidults Now Take 31% of UK Toy Spend

Adults aged 12 and over bought £1.2bn of toys in the twelve months to June 2025, which Circana puts at 31% of total UK toy spend, or a pound in every three. The commercial briefs coming out of the sector still read as though a parent is the buyer and a child is the user.

Key Takeaways

• Kidult purchases grew 10% across 2025 while toys for under-12s grew 4%, on data presented by Circana and the BTHA at Toy Fair in January 2026.
• The UK toy market reached £3.9bn in 2025, up 6%, its first return to growth in five years.
• Licensed product now accounts for 38% of total toy sales, with licensing up 16% year on year, so licensing fluency has moved from useful to structural in a commercial brief.
• 43% of UK adults bought a toy for themselves or another adult in the year to July 2025, rising to 76% among 18 to 34 year olds.
• Toy Fair runs 19 to 21 January 2027 at Olympia London, which sets the hiring clock for the whole year, because briefs written after April rarely have anyone in post for peak.

The Buyer Changed and the Brief Did Not

A toy commercial role used to need one consumer insight: what a parent will buy for a child, at what price, in what aisle. The person who reads a third of the market now buys for themselves.

That is a different commercial skill. Adult toy purchasing runs on nostalgia, fandom and collectability, and it converts through channels a traditional toy brand manager may never have owned, including direct to consumer, creator partnerships and limited drops. Melissa Symonds, Executive Director of UK Toys at Circana, described adults as “embracing it as a form of self-care, nostalgia and fandom”, which is not a brief a grid of parent focus groups will answer.

Collectibles sit at 17% of spend, worth £262m, and account for 22% of all toys sold. The average toy price is £12.37, up 5%. Those two facts together describe a market where volume comes cheap and value comes from repeat purchase into a collection, and the person managing that profit and loss needs to understand series mechanics, not just a seasonal promotional calendar.

What does a kidult brief need that a children’s brief does not?

Direct to consumer ownership and community management, evidenced rather than claimed. Ask which adult product line the candidate owned, how they sequenced releases across a year, and what happened to repeat purchase rate. Someone who has run an adult collectible line will answer on drop cadence and secondary market behaviour. Someone who has run a children’s line will answer on retail listings and Christmas.

Where the Growth Actually Sits

Six of eleven supercategories grew in 2025, and the winners are specific enough to shape a job specification.

Building sets led for a second consecutive year at plus 25%. Action figures and accessories rose 16%, games and puzzles 15%, collectibles 12% and vehicles 8%. Entertainment driven product moved hardest of all, with video game linked toys up 47% and racing the fastest growing entertainment segment at plus 193%. Film driven toys grew 11% and now make up 16% of all toy sales.

That spread tells you where the hireable experience lives, and where it does not. A candidate whose entire record sits in preschool or traditional plush is competing for a shrinking slice of the brief pool. A candidate who has worked an entertainment property through a launch window is competing for the part of the market that grew by double digits.

The commercial core still has to be there underneath, and that is where most shortlists fall over. Campaign delivery is common and brand profit and loss ownership is not, which is the same pattern that shows up across the sector when you test how real revenue ownership gets evidenced rather than taken on trust.

Why the Hiring Window Closes in April

Toy Fair sets the calendar. The 2027 edition runs 19 to 21 January 2027 at Olympia London, and the ranges shown there are what buyers list for the following autumn and winter.

That produces a hard sequence. Ranges are seen in January, listings are negotiated through spring, and product has to be marketed into a Q4 that Circana measures at 23% of annual sales, worth £0.9bn, with December alone taking 21% of annual UK toy sales, as much as January through April combined.

Against that, UK average time to hire has reached eight weeks, up from just under five weeks a year earlier, and closer to nine weeks at larger organisations, on a Totaljobs survey of 900 HR leaders. Add notice periods of one to three months and the arithmetic is unforgiving. A brief signed off in February puts someone in post around May, with a full run at peak. A brief signed off in June puts someone in post in September, learning the range while the season is already live.

When should a toy business start a commercial search?

In February, immediately after Toy Fair, for anyone who needs to influence the autumn and winter plan. The brief is clearest at that moment, because the range is known and the listings fight is about to start. Waiting until the listings are confirmed feels more certain and costs the hire its first peak, and how the brief is written at that stage decides whether the shortlist fits.

The Licensed Share Rewrites the Job Specification

Licensed product is 38% of total toy sales and licensing grew 16% in 2025. At that share, licensing is no longer a specialism sitting next to the brand team. It is most of the portfolio.

Kerri Atherton, Head of Public Affairs at the BTHA, called the 2025 result “a pivotal moment for the UK toy industry after many challenging years”. The hiring consequence of that moment is that a commercial candidate now needs to work inside licensor approval cycles: style guides, approval submissions, royalty reporting and launch windows dictated by a studio release rather than by the brand’s own plan.

That is a learnable skill and a slow one to learn, which is why it belongs in the brief as a requirement rather than in the interview as a surprise. If the portfolio is majority licensed, say so in the first paragraph of the specification, and price accordingly.

Pay context is worth having before that conversation. Generalist advertised salary data from Adzuna puts all-sector generalist brand manager averages at UK £45,000 to £55,000 against generalist London averages of £50,000 to £60,000. Toy-specific benchmarks remain based on live advertised evidence rather than published sector surveys.

The December Problem Runs Backwards

Everyone in the sector plans for the Q4 surge. Fewer plan for what January does to the team.

A business that concentrates 21% of its annual sales in December asks its commercial people for a compressed, high pressure quarter, then arrives in January with the next range to list and a team that has just finished a sprint. That is where avoidable attrition happens, and it lands precisely when Toy Fair needs the same people at their sharpest.

The fix is structural rather than cultural. Build the January workload on the assumption that the team is depleted, and settle the retention question before peak rather than after it, which is the argument set out in this guide to retention in consumer products. What candidates now weigh when they decide whether to stay or move has also shifted, and the five demands showing up in consumer product hiring is the shorter version of that conversation.

What to Put in a Toy Commercial Brief

Four things decide whether the shortlist is usable.

The split of the portfolio between licensed and owned brand, stated as a percentage. At a market average of 38% licensed, this single line sorts candidates faster than any competency list.

Whether the role owns adult product, children’s product, or both. The 31% kidult share means adult lines are now a named responsibility rather than an afterthought, and the two consumers need different commercial instincts.

Which categories the role actually touches, since building sets at plus 25% and preschool are not the same job market.

The peak expectation in plain terms, including what the Q4 quarter looks like and what January asks for. Candidates who can handle it will take the job anyway. Candidates who cannot will withdraw at offer stage, in July, with no time to restart.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much of the UK toy market do adults account for?

Adults aged 12 and over spent £1.2bn on toys in the twelve months to June 2025, which Circana puts at 31% of total UK toy spend. Kidult purchases then grew 10% across 2025 against 4% growth in toys for under-12s, so the share is still rising.

Is the UK toy market growing?

Yes. The market reached £3.9bn in 2025, up 6% on 2024, which the BTHA and Circana confirmed as the first return to growth in five years. Six of eleven supercategories grew, led by building sets at plus 25% and action figures at plus 16%.

When should toy businesses hire commercial staff?

February and March, straight after Toy Fair, which runs 19 to 21 January 2027 at Olympia London. UK average time to hire is eight weeks and notice periods add one to three months, so a brief opened after April will not have anyone in post with time to influence the autumn and winter plan.

How important is licensing experience in toy recruitment?

Licensed product accounts for 38% of total toy sales and licensing grew 16% in 2025, so for most portfolios it is a core requirement rather than a bonus. Candidates need working experience of licensor approval cycles, style guides and royalty reporting, not just awareness that licensing exists.

What does the kidult trend mean for toy marketing roles?

The role now needs a second consumer. Adult buyers convert through direct to consumer channels, creator partnerships and limited drops rather than through the parent and child retail route, and 43% of UK adults bought a toy for themselves or another adult in the year to July 2025, rising to 76% of 18 to 34 year olds.

About the Author

This guide was written by the Advocate Group consumer products recruitment team, specialist recruiters who place brand managers, commercial leads and licensing specialists across UK toys, entertainment properties and licensed consumer goods. The team maps concentrated buying markets, benchmarks consumer product salaries and advises employers on reaching the passive, high-performing candidates who never reach a job board.

Hiring commercial talent into a toy portfolio

Our FMCG and consumer goods recruitment team maps toy and licensed product commercial candidates against your actual portfolio split, so the shortlist matches the range rather than the job title.