Toy Story 5: Papa John's, Kellogg's, and My First 24 Hours in LA

Toy Story 5 is taking over - and this episode breaks down exactly why from a licensing perspective.

In this episode of Born to License, I’m coming to you from Los Angeles (new home!) after moving from Brazil - and diving straight into one of the biggest licensing moments of the year.

From airports to retail stores to immersive brand activations, Toy Story 5 is everywhere. I predicted earlier this year that it would be the biggest licensing hit of 2026… and now we’re seeing it play out in real time.

This episode is a bit different - I didn’t just analyze this trend… I lived it.

🔍 What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• Why Toy Story 5 is dominating licensing in 2026
• How major brands are activating partnerships (including real-world examples)
• What makes a franchise “unavoidable” at retail
• Lessons from immersive experiences like themed pop-ups
• How global markets (Brazil vs. USA) approach entertainment licensing
• Why timing, scale, and nostalgia still win in licensing

📍 Real-World Licensing in Action

I take you through my first day in LA, including a Toy Story-themed experience—from branded food partnerships to retail takeovers and experiential marketing.

This is what best-in-class licensing looks like when everything aligns:

 👉 Content

 👉 Retail

 👉 Partnerships

 👉 Fan engagement

🎙 Born to License – Hosted by David Born

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Transcript

Hello from LA. I promise I'll stop saying that from now on it will be hello from LA for Toy foreseeable future. Since I last spoke to you, I've moved from South America to North America and what a way to start my LA life. Because if there is one film that has completely taken over Toy city, taken over airports, taken over shopping centers, and honestly, taken over my first week here, it is Toy Story 5. Now, I called this one earlier in Toy year. If you've been listening for a while, you'll remember Toy episode released in January where I made some predictions around which movies will be licensing hits this year. I declared Toy Story 5 was going to be Toy biggest film of 2026 from a licensing perspective. Let's have a quick listen back. The Toy Story franchise has always been licensing gold. 

 Yes, this is Toy fifth film, so we could see a little bit of franchise fatigue, but honestly, I think Toy Story will be unavoidable at retail, which was Toy case in 2019 with Toy Story 4. I'm giving this one a wait for it, a 10 out of 10. This will be absolutely huge. Everything I predicted is now playing out in real time, except for Toy franchise fatigue. There is none of that now. Before we get into Toy licensing side of things, let me tell you how this episode actually came together because it's a little different to what I usually do. This one I lived. For those of you who caught me on Instagram last week, you would have seen me documenting my journey from Brazil to my new home here in Los Angeles. 

 And let me tell you, Toy Story was absolutely unavoidable on Toy way in Toy airports in Brazil and Toy airport in Toy US at every turn, retailers were going all in on this moment. Prior to leaving Brazil, I spotted some fun Toy Story product in store again that was shared on Instagram. The brand really is everywhere. Everywhere. But here's Toy thing. In Brazil, almost every animated film gets dubbed in Portuguese. My Portuguese is relatively solid at this point, but sitting through a fast paced kids film in Portuguese is genuinely exhausting. I went to see Zootopia 2 a few months ago and I'm ashamed to say I fell asleep. Not because Toy film was bad, it was great, but because I burned myself out trying to keep up with Toy dubbing by Toy time we hit Toy halfway mark. So I took a toolkip. 

 So I made Toy decision. The very first thing I would do on my first full day in Los Angeles, before I properly unpacked, before I sought my life out, was to have a themed Toy Story 5 afternoon all to myself. And that's exactly what I did. Have a listen. Hello, how's it going? Very. Yes, that's me. So my first stop on my Toy Story 5 themed Afternoon is going to be Papa John's. It's lunchtime, I'm hungry. Why am I going to Papa John's? One, I love pizza, of course. But two, they're doing a partnership with Toy Story 5 right now. So Papa John's hosted a Planet Pizza pop up last week here in LA and I just missed it. Papa John's converted an actual restaurant location to look like a Pizza Planet from Toy films. 

 There were claw machines, themed food, alien slime drinks, costume stuff, and it was one of Toy hottest tickets in Toy city. Tickets were gobbled up almost immediately, I'm told, and for those who didn't get their hands on a ticket, they had long lines around Toy block in LA Heat. But I did find someone that was there. Andrea, who you can find on Instagram as cosplaymom99. She is an LA based Toy Story superfan and cosplayer who somehow got her hands on a ticket. She got toy claw machine, she walked away with a pair of Toy Story Crocs. Lucky her. I tracked her down, I reached out to her and I asked if she could tell me what it was like on Toy inside. So we, while I'm in Toy Uber waiting for my Papa John's Toy Story experience, have a listen. 

 So it was at Papa John's restaurant that had been decorated to look like Toy Pizza Planet, you know, restaurant. One thing that was really nice is that there is a guy who actually has his own like workable, drivable Pizza Planet truck. So he was out in front. And again, I think when people are doing these excavations, it's really nice to have a photo opportunity for people who maybe didn't get Toy ticket, but you could still go and get a picture of that truck. So. So that was really fun. He, he's been taking his truck to different events, but he's not even with, you know, Toy company itself. He's kind of private. So we got, I got there early, I got in line, there was a wait line, just people who didn't have Toy ticket and then Toy ticket only line. 

 They were really organized, they had a lot of staff out front. They were doing like different color wristbands for like Toy one o' clock group, Toy two o' clock group. Again, you know, I got there early, it was hot. So luckily, you know, there was some shade, a lot of people in line had umbrellas. But then once we got in, it was actually a really small, little, tiny place. Actually my classroom's bigger than Toy in. But they had a claw machine with different prizes and Toy little balls that you can get. And they had a photo booth and they had like four different flavors of pizza and like a drink called alien slime. 

 Did you play Toy claw machine? 

 I did play Toy claw machine and I got Alien Crocs. They also had some sponsors. I think they had Pandoras. They had Crocs. 

 So you walked home with. With your Crocs. 

 They're actually going to mail them to me. 

 Oh, okay. 

 Yeah, they had a lot of stuff which was really good. But I was directed over to another person who had a, you know, an iPad to put my. My address in and exact size I was going to get. 

 Oh, congrats. That's amazing. And so how did Toy alien slushie taste? 

 Very sweet. Kind of like a. Like a Kool Aid or like a. You know, it wasn't really icy, but it was sweet. But it was actually such a hot day. It was actually really nice, I'll say that. You know, they. I think Toy staff that were there were really trying to be accommodating for Toy people that were in line, and they would occasionally bring out slushy Toy drinks just on trays. And then also I think they kind of dedicated a certain amount of pizzas per time period. So I think when they were left over, they actually brought those out for Toy people that were in line as well. 

 Oh, good. For Toy hungry people waiting to get. To get in. Fantastic. And so I still. For Toy video on your Instagram, which is cosplaymum99. So if anybody wants to go and look at that, you can go on there. What else are you doing on your Instagram? Because I saw so many interesting videos, Andrea. 

 This was a crazy weekend. So I did Toy Pizza Planet pop up on. I think that was Friday and then yesterday and then Saturday I did Toy Harry Potter was. There's a drone show at Toy Dodger Stadium. So that was Harry Potter themed. So I dressed up as Matt Eye Moody and I got to go on Toy field and do their costume showcase. I'll be at all Toy conventions. I do horror cons, like Son of Monster Palooza. I do comic con. D23 is coming up. D23 Expo is coming up and Star wars celebrations coming up. 

 We're about five minutes away from Papa John's and I want to take a moment to have a look at The Toy Story 5 section of Toy menu. Because there is a special section on Toy Papa John's website. They have four flavors to choose from. The one I'm eyeing off is Space Ranger Ronnie and Intergalactic Pizza. Mission awaits. It sounds like my type of mission. This out of Toy world personal Pizza has double pepperoni, cheese and a whole bunch of other things going on. So that might be Toy one that I buy. Another option is Sheriff's Roundup. Grilled chicken, onions, cheese and barbecue. Also very good. What I'm loving about this is they've actually got pizzas. They've been very thoughtful about Toy flavors and what they're naming them very much around Toy Story 5. 

 There's nothing worse than a partnership where it just doesn't feel authentic. But here they've actually gone toy effort of creating flavours and names of Toy pizzas, which I love. So a couple of minutes away now I'm gonna have to make a decision. Thank you very much. Have a good day. So here we are. It's right near a loud freeway, but we are in LA, so that's how it goes. And here on Toy front we have it is Toy new Papa John's Personal Pizzas. You can see here we've got Toy Sheriff's Roundup, Toy Space Ranger Ronnie. Reach for Toy pie on display. I'm gonna go in and make my selection. I'm now leaning towards Leech for Toy pine. Let's see. Do you think if I get one of Toy Story pizzas, is that enough for me? How big are they? 

 Worthless Story. 

 Yeah. Okay. That's Shibana, which is Toy most popular. Okay, I'm gonna get that one, please. Has a Toy Story been popular here? 

 Yeah. 

 Yeah. Right now. Yeah. Everyone's coming in for it. Thank you. Okay, we already intended so I ended up going for Toy pepperoni one only because I asked her which one is Toy best, which one's be Toy most popular. She said pepperoni. So I think I'm gonna go for it. The other thing, she also said that they've been selling a really well. So that's good. I mean, it is Toy Story figure that out. So I'm not surprised. They've done really big kind of advertising push around it. So it's unsurprising that this Toy Story played with Toy Pixars. I've done really well here at Public Dockers. Now I just have to kill 10 minutes. I'm so what am I going to do for 10 minutes? Some of you may not know that when I was younger, like 19, 20 years old. 

 I actually worked at a Subway for a while, and we had a saying that was, if there's time to lean, there's time to clean. And Toy store was always immaculate. I've also worked at a pizza restaurant, too. Pizza shop takeaway. And we would. I remember were allowed to make whatever piece we wanted for dinner. And I would make, like this monster of pizza with just an endless amount of cheese and, like, olives. Like 50 olives. Oh, my gosh. It was embarrassing how much of a pile of food I would put on my pizza. Not expecting that here today at Papa John's. So here it is. I think Toy flavor that I chose, Space Ranger riding, has Toy aliens in it. So each flavor has its own box. Very good. That's open. Oh, yeah, it looks delicious. 

 I mean, not my normal lunch that I would have, but, you know, this is work. Of course. My next stop is a retailer,. 

 And. 

 I'm gonna have to make sure they don't get kicked out this time. Last time I did a retail visit to spot some licensing. Had to do with Toy whole launch license, and we got kicked out. So filming. But that was totally my fault. I made it too obvious. Wasn't being subtle at all. Had a big microphone. We made a big deal of it. If you haven't seen that YouTube video, you should definitely go have a look. It's quite fun. You can check that out on Toy Born for license. Okay, so I have a belly full of pizza, and my next Uber is going to take me to where? Target. I have a very specific thing on my shopping list, and it's breakfast cereal. Breakfast cereal at this hour? Why do you ask? 

 Well, Kellogg's is doing something with Toy Story 5 that they haven't done for 10 years. Stay tuned. I'm going to take you through it in real time. So I've just rocked up to Target. I'm gonna go hunting for Kellogg's Toy Story five cereals. Let's go. Now, I'm used to more Toy Target in Australia, and they don't really have cereals or, like, grocery items in Target Australia, but they do here. This is enormous. My goodness. They. They have apparel and things like that. Like. Like Target in Australia, but here they also have heaps of groceries. Don't even know where to start. It's like a maze here. If I were a box of cereal, where would I be? Aha. I see apples and oranges and bananas. We're in Toy food section. Okay. Frozen pizza. 

 No, I've just had Pizza, ice cream, rice and beans, olive oil pasta sauce, peanut butter and jelly. Boom. Cereals. Here is Toy cereal aisle. Let's see, where is Toy Story product? There it is, look. Frosted Flakes, Cocoa Loops. We've got Rice Krispies. They're all here. We've got Corn Pops, Little Bites. Gosh, it's across a lot of product. So you can see here Toy Frosted Flakes. Going back to that one has a collectible spoon figurine with Jessie. Turn around, look. So on Toy back of Toy pack. Actually, let's start with Toy front. So on Toy front you can clearly see it has a call to action with Disney Pixar Toy Story 5 with Jesse on Toy front saying only in theaters. So again, trying to encourage people to go to cinema and see Toy film. On Toy back, we have a game with Jesse. 

 It's can you help Jesse find those words? So this is much more focused on kids than Toy Papa John's one. And then Toy spoons is to collect. So you've got Jesse, you've got Woody, and you've got Buzz. And then let's look at Toy Cocoa Loops and see what we've got. On Toy back, this is all Buzz Lightyear. So you can see Buzz Light is on Toy front with that Toy Story 5 called Action. And in Toy back, it's Buzz. This is very typical, kind of like classic serial promotion with games on Toy back and of course, a premium gift inside. Now I need to decide which one am I going to buy and take home? What else is interesting? The cereal aisle. Our other friends are here. Look, we've got Scooby Doo is here. We've got Toy Flintstones here as well. Okay? 

 So I need to make a decision. So as I said, this is Toy first time Kellogg's has done something like this in over a decade. They've bought back Toy physical in box prize. We're talking about actual gifts, prizes that are inside Toy box, physically inside Toy box. No digital redemption. There's no mail in, there's no QR code. You buy Toy cereal, you open Toy box, and there is a Story inside, or in this case, it is Toy spoon. So Toy prizes are character, spoon, figurines, Woody, Buzz and Jesse. And then there's also collectible trading cards. And those trading cards, they have some plot points and character introductions from Toy new film, including Toy antagonist, Lily Pad, who I'll get to see in a few hours. 

 So from what I've been told, it is across Frosted Flakes, Fruit Loops, Apple Jacks, Corn Pops, Rice Krispies, Frosted Mini Wheats and Corn Flakes. And from what I can see, there is also a movie ticket promotion. Get a $15 movie ticker award when you buy three boxes. So you buy three participating Kellogg's products in a single transaction, photograph Toy receipt, upload it, and you get a $15 Fandango promo code to go see Toy film. And that is running until 31st of July. This is really how you do a cinema time. But again, let's talk about why. What's in it for Disney? They're lending their ip. What's in it for them? Well, again, they just want to get bums on seats. They want Toy Story 5 to be an enormous success at Toy box office. 

 And so, whether it's Papa John's, whether it's Kellogg's, whether it's their merchandise partners and consumer products, these are partners that are going to be out there talking about Toy Story 5, encouraging people to go see Toy film. I'm looking at Toy box and I can see Toy Story 5 only in theaters. That is a massive push. It's going to be across millions and millions of packs. Anyway, look, I've made my decision. I'm going to go for Toy Rice Krispies. Is this Toy one? Does this actually have premium in it, though? Oh, no, this is Toy movie T1. I want to get Toy actual Story, so I don't think I'll do Rice Krispies. What am I going to get instead? Cocoa Loops. All right, let's buy my Cocoa Loops. All done. Cocoa Loops purchased. Exiting Target now with my Cocoa Loops. 

 I'll be having that for breakfast tomorrow morning. 

 Morning. 

 And I've just ordered Toy third Uber in an hour and a half. This time, I'm heading toy cinemas. I'm gonna go watch Toy Story 5, Toy film I've been talking about on this podcast. And really Toy film that everybody's been talking about. Turn left to stay on Runway Road, then drop off. 

 David,. 

 I can walk from here if it's easier. 

 Right here? 

 Yeah, wherever is best for you. Have a good day. All right. Thank you, too. So I've got Papa John's in my belly. I've got Kellogg's Cocoa Loops in my hand. And now it's time for Toy real show. I'm heading to Cinemark. I'm gonna go see Toy Story 5. Very excited. 

 Started. 

 Hi. The next normal screening of Toy 5. Like 3. 15. Yeah, perfect. Yeah, I'll have that. Okay. Thank you. Not many seats. Wow, it's packed. What do you what would you say is Toy best seat? I would get like row E. Actually, I'm going to go E5. 

 E5? 

 Yeah. Then there's no. There's no one really in front of me. Yeah. Awesome. Okay, thank you. Thanks. Tickets ordered and one thing I noticed was there was like three seats left, so. And luckily I'm here by myself and I was able to just pick one of those. They're all single seats. I mean just 3 o' clock or 3:15 on a Friday. And it's gonna be a full house. House. It's also not Toy only one, only time that's screening. There's actually 3D 15 minutes before and there's another five or six throughout Toy next couple of hours. So honestly, this is going to be an absolute blockbuster. The box office is gonna go crazy for this. Really expecting a billion one and a half. Could it get to two billion? Quite possibly. 

 While I'm waiting, I did want to talk about Toy Story franchise and really what it means, what it represents and why it has become a cultural institution. Let me share some numbers with you because they're actually really staggering. The original Toy 5 film, in 1995, it was Toy first feature length film to be entirely computer animated. It grossed $373 million at Toy worldwide box office. That was a lot. The budget was only 30 million. So enormously profitable. So of course they did Toy Story 2. That did even better. 500, $511 Million at box office. Then came Toy Story 3 and then after that, Toy Story 4. Both passed Toy billion dollar mark at Toy box Office. Toy Story 3 won Toy Academy Award for best Animated feature. This really is one of Toy most beloved IP in Toy history of entertainment. 

 The buzz around this has been enormous. And I'll say this, Toy Taylor Swift connection has not hurt at all. Honestly, this film didn't really need Toy help with Taylor Swift. The audience was already there. One thing worth noting, and this is relevant beyond just Toy film, Toy UK has just announced a ban on social media for under 16s following Australia's lead. And Toy core theme of Toy Story 5, Toy battle between classic physical toys and digital screens, lands very differently in that cultural context. The film has arrived at exactly Toy right moment. It's topical and it's important and it's something that impacts families every day. That will get bums on seats at cinemas. Okay, we're getting close to 3, 3:15. I'm going to head up and take my seat. I'm not going to be recording while there. That's a Big no. 

 But I'll check back in with you afterwards. So I've just walked out of Toy cinema and let me tell you, I loved it. Toy Story 5 absolutely delivered everything I wanted it to be and more. And gosh, Toy cinema was full. Lots of kids running around. But you know, that's what happens when you go see a kids film. There's kids everywhere being loud and screaming and going toy bathroom halfway through. But now I'm not going to reveal anything at all from Toy film except I will say there are some nice full circle moments. Those that grew up watching Toy Story 30 years ago. I think that's one of Toy things about Toy Story that's just so makes it so successful and such a powerhouse. IP is that 30 years ago was when Toy Story came out and it was an absolute phenomenon. 

 Those people that like myself watched it when they were young, now they have children and it's become this generational brand where parents are taking their kids to see it and enjoying it themselves. There is certainly enough adult jokes in there for Toy adults to really appreciate as well. And obviously Toy kids are going to absolutely love it. And absolutely as expected, Toy tech versus Story theme was very prominent throughout. It was Toy kind of lead 5 throughout Toy film. And I won't tell you where it ends up, but you know, there's a lot of what's happening in Toy real world that was just reflected in that film. And I do wonder what parents and children will take away. What lesson will they take away from Toy Story 5? Will they be playing with their toys more and will they be having less screen time? 

 Quite ironic that kind of lesson is being taught on an enormous screen. But hey, so that covers my Toy Story 5 themed afternoon lunch at Papa John's with some pizza. Going to Target to have a look at Toy Story Kellogg's range and then of course going to see Toy movie, which was amazing. Now I want to give a shout out to one of our own clients here at Born to License because they really deserve it. Hippo Blue already had strong Toy Story product range in Toy market and they've used Toy Story 5 theatrical moment as a tent pole to launch a brand new range. This time leading with Jesse. And it looks fantastic. This is a really smart way to approach a major theatrical release. 

 Use Toy cultural energy and Toy marketing spend that Disney and Pixar are putting into Toy film to amplify your own product launch. You ride Toy wave. That is what Toy theatrical window is for. So that is my first week in LA, thoroughly dominated by Toy Story Fever, which honestly is not Toy worst way to start a new chapter. So expect a lot more of this kind of stuff. LA has so many amazing things happening that ties into License, and so I will be out and about, hitting Toy streets, going and experiencing things. So make sure to subscribe toy podcast and I'll see you next time. I'm David Bourne and this is Born to License.