Remember when holiday shopping started with a very important research trip through the rainbow-colored doors of Toys “R” Us? To an 8-year-old, it was serious business: Santa needed to know exactly which toys to bring, of course. And inevitably, when the holidays rolled around, there was always a sneaking suspicion that the pogo stick-shaped present under the tree was the same one from aisle 20.
Now, those 8-year-olds have grown up, and Toys “R” Us wants them back. The retailer is planning to open 120 stores across the U.S. this holiday season, nine years after the company filed for bankruptcy and eventually closed all of the more than 800 stores nationwide. But the new aisles won’t just be for kids making wish lists; they’re also courting adults who buy LEGO sets, trading cards, and collectibles themselves.
The timing aligns with an uptick in toy sales: U.S. toy sales rose 17% in the first half of 2026, while sales of toys bought for adults climbed 25%, according to data by Circana. The question now is whether nostalgia can get those grown-up shoppers through the doors often enough to keep them open.
“Our customer base now extends well beyond kids and parents,” Jamie Uitdenhowen, the retailer’s executive VP at WHP Global, told Fortune in a statement. “Adults are increasingly buying toys, collectibles, and trading cards for themselves, and fandom has become an important part of the category.”
The kids grew up. So did their toy budget
Adults still have their inner child at heart—only now, they have their adult money. Things like the Sonny Angel craze, or Labubu collectors lining up for blind boxes are nothing new. LEGO, meanwhile, sells flower bouquets and elaborate display sets aimed at adults.
Toys “R” Us is trying to give those shoppers a familiar place to browse, even if the next must-have toy first caught their eye online.
“We’re not trying to recreate the Toys ‘R’ Us of the past,” Uitdenhowen said. The company plans to sell toys tied to popular characters and fandoms, with some stores featuring Creator Studios—spaces where toy brands and creators can film videos and unveil products, and host launch events. Fans can attend an event in the locations featuring these studios, while the videos reach people watching from the comfort of their home.
Think of Jellycat’s plush toys, which have been around since 1999, long before they became a social-media craze. But recently, the brand’s in-store experiences have shown how a trip to buy a toy can become an event worth filming and sharing. Toys “R” Us is betting the studios can make toy launches similarly shareable, both inside the store and online.
Geoffrey the Giraffe is back, but his stores are smaller
The Toys “R” Us shoppers remember isn’t what’s coming back, though. Gerald Storch, who led the chain from 2006 to 2013 and now runs a retail consulting firm, told Fortune he expects the new stores to be smaller and require less investment than the traditional locations he once ran. He compared them to pop-up kind of stores like the ones in malls and shopping centers.
Neil Saunders, managing director and retail analyst at GlobalData, told Fortune nostalgia is only part of what’s drawing adults back to toys. “People are looking more for those kinds of craft-based, quiet activities where they can just take a moment out and sort of disconnect from the noisy world.”
Saunders also said the old Toys “R” Us didn’t collapse simply because shoppers lost interest. In 2005, Bain Capital, KKR and real estate firm Vornado Realty Trust bought the chain in a $6.6 billion deal financed heavily with debt. By the time Toys “R” Us filed for bankruptcy in 2017, it was carrying more than $5 billion in debt. That left it with little financial room to adapt as shopping habits changed.
Still, Storch sees an advantage in a brand that people remember.
“The brand’s incredibly powerful,” Storch told Fortune, calling the expansion a “smart move.” But he cautioned against measuring the comeback by store count alone. By his estimate, 100 of the smaller stores might generate the sales volume of just a handful of traditional Toys “R” Us locations.
Toys “R” Us faces the challenge that parents shopping for their children still care about price and convenience. Saunders said that can send them to Amazon, Walmart or Target, where they can have toys delivered or pick them up alongside everything else on their shopping lists. The chain has to give families—and its newly grown-up fans—a reason to make a separate trip back into the rainbow-colored doors.
The expansion would bring Toys “R” Us to 160 standalone U.S. stores for the holidays. The company also said many of the new locations are expected to remain open well into 2027, though it will evaluate their performance and shoppers’ response.
As Storch put it, “I’m sure everyone will make an assessment after the holidays of how many of these stores will stay open.”
