Live: The 2026 Holiday Shopping AI Shelf Index. See the shelf

Holiday Shopping 2026 · August 2026 to January 2027

The Toys shelf

What ChatGPT and Google AI Mode recommend when a US shopper asks them about toys — ranked by how often each brand made the shelf.

🇺🇸 US 🇬🇧 UK 🇨🇦 CA 🇦🇺 AU

Stories

AI Shopping Shelf Insights

The toy shelf adults buy from has a different number one

🇺🇸 Toys · US · September 2026

The toy shelf adults buy from has a different number one

Ask for a child and the bricks and tiles come out. Ask as an adult buying for yourself and a blind-box brand takes the top of the shelf, with the category leader pushed into second.

🧸 Buying for an adult

POP MART 33.8% LEGO 17.7% Sonny Angel 9.7%

Buying for a grandchild

LEGO 21.7% Magna-Tiles 19.3% Bluey 5.0%

See the full story →

See all toys stories →

Shopper Journeys

How the toys shelf shifts as a shopper moves from “what's out there” to “which one do I buy”, for everyone or for one shopper.

Everyone The Hot-Toy Grandparent The Kidult Collector The Montessori Parent The New Shopper
Awareness
LEGO 19%
Bluey 12%
Magna-Tiles 12%
Crayola 8%
Melissa & Doug 7%
Research
Magna-Tiles 17%
Tonies 12%
Crayola 9%
LEGO 5%
Learning Resources 4%
Comparison
Magna-Tiles 24%
LEGO 16%
Melissa & Doug 8%
VTech 7%
Primal Hatch 7%
Validation
LEGO 29%
Hot Wheels 13%
Magna-Tiles 10%
Nintendo 6%
Skillmatics 6%
Purchase
LEGO 14%
Magna-Tiles 13%
Tonies 9%
Bluey 8%
Play-Doh 7%

The Hot-Toy Grandparent's shelf. Each stage's bar is shelf-share within that stage.

Brand
Shelf-share
Shelf Share Trend
Visibility
1
LEGO
16.6%
46.9%
2
Magna-Tiles
15.3%
36.9%
3
POP MART
8.4%
20.6%
4
PicassoTiles
3.8%
15.0%
5
Tonies
3.2%
19.4%
6
Yoto
3.0%
14.4%
7
Connetix Tiles
2.6%
10.6%
8
Melissa & Doug
2.5%
11.3%
9
Sonny Angel
1.8%
8.1%
10
Hot Wheels
1.3%
9.4%
11
Crayola
1.1%
5.0%
12
Smiski
1.0%
6.3%
13
Play-Doh
1.0%
5.6%
14
Bluey
1.0%
4.4%
15
Learning Resources
1.0%
3.8%
16
Hot Toys
0.9%
3.8%
17
Fisher-Price
0.8%
5.0%
18
VTech
0.8%
3.8%
19
Lovevery
0.7%
8.8%
20
LEGO DUPLO
0.7%
1.9%
21
Pokémon
0.6%
5.6%
22
Monster Jam
0.6%
1.9%
23
Infantino
0.6%
0.6%
24
Skillmatics
0.6%
0.6%
25
Skullpanda
0.5%
3.8%
No brand named
6.3%

Shelf-share = the share of shopper attention a brand holds. Visibility = the share of answers that named it at all.

How to read this table

Shelf-share weights every mention by where the brand sits in the answer, so the shelf adds up to 100%. Named first on a short shelf is worth far more than named fourth on a long one.

Visibility ignores position — simply how often a brand is named. Divide shelf-share by visibility and you get how much of the shelf a brand takes when it does appear.

No brand named is the share of answers that recommended no identifiable brand at all — advice, or retailers only.

Products the engines name

The specific SKUs surfaced inside toys answers.

Rank
Product
Shelf-share
Shelf Share Trend
Visibility
Price
1
Yoto Player
Yoto
1.9%
6.6%
$109.99
2
Clear Colours 100 Piece Set
Magna-Tiles
1.6%
3.4%
$10.00 – $10.99 – $119.99
3
Toniebox
Tonies
1.5%
5.6%
—
4
Classic 32-Piece Set
Magna-Tiles
1.3%
2.2%
$49.99
5
Clear Colors 37pc Set
Magna-Tiles
1.2%
3.1%
$59.99
6
Classic 37-Piece Set
Magna-Tiles
1.1%
2.5%
$29.99 – $59.99
7
Labubu (The Monsters)
POP MART
1.0%
2.2%
$71.37 – $129.99
8
DUPLO
LEGO
0.8%
1.6%
—
9
Classic Set
Magna-Tiles
0.8%
1.3%
$19.99 – $24.99 – $65.00
10
magnetic building sets
Magna-Tiles
0.7%
1.6%
—
11
Skullpanda
POP MART
0.6%
1.6%
$13.99 – $25.00
12
Play Kits
Lovevery
0.5%
2.5%
—
13
Rainbow Starter Pack
Connetix Tiles
0.5%
2.2%
$74.99 – $75.00
14
microMAGS 26 Piece Travel Set
Magna-Tiles
0.5%
1.6%
$19.95 – $19.99
15
BE@RBRICK
Medicom Toy
0.5%
1.3%
—
16
Light & Surprise Heeler House
Bluey
0.5%
1.3%
—
17
DUPLO Classic Brick Box 10913
LEGO
0.5%
0.9%
—
18
61pc Magnetic Tile Building Set
PicassoTiles
0.4%
1.6%
$23.45 – $35.99
19
Toniebox Playtime Puppy Starter Set
Tonies
0.4%
1.6%
$149.99
20
Classic Creative Brick Box
LEGO
0.4%
0.9%
—
How to read this table

Price is a band, not one number: the cheapest price on the market, the brand’s own price in bold, and the dearest — sorted low to high. Where only one figure is known, only one is shown. A dash means no price we could verify, not a free product.

How we measure

We ask the assistants the same real shopper questions each run, and record every brand each one recommends.

What that means in practice

Each run we ask ChatGPT and Google AI Mode the same set of questions, one persona and market at a time.

Shelf-share is the share of answers in a category that named a brand. The questions never name a brand, so a brand is on the shelf because the engine chose it.

We settle on the questions before each run, never after. A brand on the shelf is the assistant’s pick, not one we went looking for.

Read the full method — the shoppers, their journey, and the season →

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