Casdon’s Alex Reynolds takes us inside development of the company’s Build-a-Bear Stuffing Station

Before we dive into your 2025 ranges, Alex, can you talk me through some of Casdon’s key ‘evolutions’ of late?
Sure! Securing household brands for our toys has long been Casdon’s go-to strategy and will continue to be a significant part of our future. However, we also needed to expand our vision and look at other opportunities to widen our toy category offerings with a larger pool of licenses. Scouting for new global licenses has been challenging for a company of Casdon’s size. However, we’ve applied our creativity a little differently with an aim to excite licensors… We’ve been making great strides – and this is just the start!

You’re kicking the year off with ranges based on three exciting brands… Let’s start with Toxic Waste: what appealed about this IP?
We’re well-known for our role-play Sweet Shop toy. It’s seen many variations throughout the years in its generic form, but – surprisingly – it’s never had a licensed offering. The Toxic Waste Hazardously Sour Candy brand opportunity gave us a way to rethink the item… Not only by including on-trend candy, but also by featuring the amazing characters and iconic Toxic Waste barrel.

Brilliant. Next up, Heinz! Can you talk me through a few key design details and play features here?
Heinz is a very exciting license for us to secure. Food role-play toys have always been a part of our non-licensed heritage, but we needed a way for us to stand out in this area… We concluded ‘It has to be Heinz’! The final range consists of six lines centred on iconic Heinz products. Our hero element – which is used in a few of the SKUs – is the Heinz 50% Less Salt & Sugar Ketchup bottle toy, with a squeeze action to shoot out play ketchup.

Terrific. Now, Build-a-Bear! First of all, what made this brand appeal?
Build-a-Bear Workshop is a license that’s been on my mind for a while. It’s the pinnacle of excitement for a child to visit these incredible stores and bring a bear to life. While this license has been a success in the toy space previously, we felt there was still a big gap here to not just bring our own spin on the expected product, but to play on the in-store experience at home.

The obvious product for us was the Stuffing Station! But we also wanted the traditional cash register play, multiple clothing options and SKUs you could purchase to play with your bears after you’ve made them.

The Stuffing Station is very impressive. Talk me through how it works – and some of the design decisions that shaped it.
This certainly has been a labour of love. We had similar items to reference for the Stuffing Station function, but this gave us an opportunity to test with children and work out what didn’t work for the age group we were targeting. It was very apparent from the start that a similar design just wouldn’t work – we needed a full redesign.

My awesome design team created a kid-powered pump action concept that made it easy for a child to use. We also designed a twist on/off method to keep the bear attached to the stuffing nozzle without being forced off when filling. These two elements have revolutionised the stuffing process. We’re really excited for everyone to see it. Please come by the Casdon stand at London and Nuremberg, Billy – you can build your own bear.

Sold! And the bears look great – is this Casdon’s first foray into plush?
They’re super-cute, aren’t they?! But no, it’s not quite Casdon’s first plush venture… It’s certainly the first plush-focused brand we’ve developed in Casdon’s 75 plus year history. It shows how we’re expanding our vision to different categories.

You mentioned Casdon’s expanded vision there. Does this feed into how you’ll be engaging with inventors this year – and beyond?
Absolutely. We’ve been busying ourselves to set up the changes and expansion internally. We’re now clear on our future focus and will be engaging fully with inventors again from this year on.

We’ve already made great inroads on securing new licences for 2026 and beyond. We’d love to chat with inventors on what can be leveraged with those new brands and beyond. Overall, we’d love to be at the forefront of inventor’s minds, where we can work together and target specific licences with a ‘wow’ feature that helps drive the product to a whole new level. Someone may have a great concept but need the addition of a specific license to unlock the potential… Let’s work together and make it happen.

To close, looking ahead to 2026 and beyond, what should we know about Casdon’s ambitions?
Casdon’s vision statement should really say it all: ‘To be a leading brand for quality and innovative play, that brings enjoyable, lasting memories for every child, in every corner of the world.’ For us to do this, we need the trust and conviction from licensors – and for the inventor community to join us for the ride. We’re staying curious, constantly innovating and striving for success for Casdon and our partners. It’s a very exciting time!

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