AI Plushies Go Global: Chinese Talking Toys Land on US Shelves
A fast-growing category in China
Kids have long talked to and imagined with stuffed animals; the new twist is that those toys can now talk back. In China a wave of startups and established manufacturers are embedding chatbots and voice assistants into plush toys and other playthings. A report from the Shenzhen Toy Industry Association and JD.com forecasts the AI toy sector to exceed ¥100 billion (about $14 billion) by 2030, and the Chinese corporate database Qichamao counted more than 1,500 AI toy companies operating in China as of October 2025.
What the products look like
Products range from small clip-on devices to fully integrated smart plushies. BubblePal, for example, is a device roughly the size of a Ping-Pong ball that clips onto a child’s stuffed animal and enables it to speak. The gadget pairs with a smartphone app that lets parents choose from 39 characters, from Disney’s Elsa to the Chinese cartoon Nezha. Priced at $149, BubblePal is produced by Haivivi, runs on DeepSeek’s large language models, and sold about 200,000 units after launching last summer.
Another approach is customization: FoloToy offers bears, bunnies, and cactus toys that can be trained to speak in a parent’s voice or mimic their speech patterns. FoloToy reported selling more than 20,000 AI-equipped plush toys in the first quarter of 2025—almost matching its total 2024 sales—and it projects roughly 300,000 units for the year.
Expanding beyond China
Manufacturers are already taking these products abroad. BubblePal launched in the US in December 2024 and is now available in Canada and the UK. FoloToy sells in over 10 countries, including the US, UK, Canada, Brazil, Germany, and Thailand. Analysts point to China’s long-established market for kid-focused electronics as a driver: products such as electronic dictionaries and “study machines” have been marketed to Chinese parents since the 1990s, creating familiarity and demand for electronic learning and play companions.
Rui Ma, a China tech analyst at AlphaWatch.AI, says AI devices for children make particular sense in China because a robust market for educational kid electronics already exists there. FoloToy’s CEO Kong Miaomiao told a Chinese outlet that abroad the firm is still ‘reaching early adopters who are curious about AI.’
Competition from the US and product partnerships
US firms are moving into the space as well. The musician Grimes helped develop Grok, a plush toy designed to chat with children and adapt to their personalities. Toy giant Mattel is reportedly working with OpenAI to integrate conversational AI into well-known franchises such as Barbie and Hot Wheels, with product announcements expected later in the year.
Mixed reviews from parents
Early customer feedback from China is mixed. Parents praise some features—screen-free interaction and parental controls—but also report limitations. Common complaints include awkward timing, long or wordy responses that fail to hold a child’s attention, and imperfect voice recognition that can interrupt or misunderstand young children. Beijing parent Penny Huang bought a BubblePal for her five-year-old daughter hoping it would reduce requests to use adults’ phones and provide companionship when grandparents care for the child. But the toy lost novelty quickly: ‘The responses are too long and wordy. My daughter quickly loses patience,’ Huang says. Another parent, Hongyi Li, reports lagging voice recognition: ‘Children’s speech is fragmented and unclear. The toy frequently interrupts my kid or misunderstands what she says. It also still requires pressing a button to interact, which can be hard for toddlers.’
Some parents sell their devices secondhand after brief use, underscoring that novelty alone may not translate into long-term engagement.
The outlook
The category is expanding rapidly and attracting both local innovators in China and global players. Early sales and international launches indicate a sizable market opportunity, but product refinement—particularly in conversation quality, responsiveness, and age-appropriate interaction—will likely determine which toys become durable parts of children’s playtime and which remain short-lived novelties.