Squishmallows marketing chief prepares brand for Amazon MGM feature film

Jazwares, the owner of Squishmallows, is preparing the plush toy brand for a feature film with Amazon MGM Studios, and its global marketing chief says the groundwork has already begun.

Toy brands have shown how lucrative branded entertainment can be. The Barbie film took more than $1.4bn at cinemas worldwide in 2023, and Mattel received 5% of the box office. Including licensing revenue, the film brought the company $125m in billings overall.

Lego recorded an 11% sales increase in the six months after its first major theatrical release in 2014, and identified film-related products as a significant contributor to that growth.

Michelle Wong hopes Squishmallows will follow.

A billion-dollar franchise

Squishmallows are egg-shaped plush toys with an extremely soft, marshmallow-like feel. Since the brand launched in 2017, Jazwares has created more than 3,000 individual characters, each with its own name and biography.

More than 600m have been sold in 60 countries, roughly two every second. Squishmallows is now a global lifestyle franchise worth a billion dollars, and it has over 120 licensing partners in areas ranging from fashion and beauty to homeware.

In August the company announced the Amazon MGM Studios partnership to make a feature film. The project is at a very early stage, with no release date, no director and no decision yet on whether it will be an animation or a live-action film.

For Wong, who took charge of global marketing at Jazwares in September 2025, the job of turning Squishmallows into a larger entertainment property is already under way.

“It’s very, very early days, so I don’t have a lot to share, but I will say, strategically, that it is really about building the global franchise and being in the entertainment space,” she said.

“Being able to tell stories in this fashion is something we’re really excited about. To be able to create that world around Squishmallows and put it on that theatrical stage is probably one of the biggest things that we’re planning right now and we couldn’t be more excited about it.”

The business has already become one of the toy industry’s biggest successes without a major film or TV franchise behind it. Squishmallows generated $1bn in company-wide annual sales for Jazwares in 2023, representing about 40% of total revenue, and the licensing structure that a blockbuster could amplify is already in place.

A successful film could bring the characters to new audiences, lift demand for existing products and open up opportunities for film-inspired merchandise. There is no reliable forecast of how much extra revenue a film might generate, and Wong is not giving a figure for growth targets.

“I mean, the numbers are big,” she said of the brand’s ambitions for the coming year. “We’ve got very ambitious goals, but I will say, it’s all about growth.”

She believes the opportunity rests on the emotional bond fans already have with the brand. “We certainly have that deep connection with our consumers, which is something that a lot of brands don’t have, especially within the toy category,” she said.

Marketing in from the start

Barbie demonstrated the value of creating a marketing ecosystem well ahead of a film’s release. Its campaign spanned fashion collaborations, food, beauty and immersive experiences, as well as an Airbnb Barbie Dreamhouse.

Wong is wary of saying much about the film while creative development is at an early stage, but she is clear that marketing must be involved long before the promotional campaign starts. “I mean, from everything that I know to date, and especially now in this role, the earlier marketing gets in, the better,” she said.

She thinks marketers can shape the film itself by feeding what they know about the audience, and how it relates to the brand, into creative development.

“So much of what we do is about how to get audiences engaged, so what are the stories and nuggets that we know about the brand and the business? That can help inform some of the decisions that are being made,” she said.

That might involve spotting details that matter to existing fans and working with the film’s creative teams so those insights feed into the wider project. It also means starting to plan the large commercial operation that could sit behind the film, including brand partnerships.

Wong is drawn to collaborations with an element of surprise, rather than simply matching two brands with similar audiences.

“We hear a lot about shared values and making sure there are those alignments, but I think there’s also this unexpectedness that our fans really love,” she said.

The brand’s recent move into fragrance is one example. “You don’t expect Squishmallows to have a scent, right?” she said.

Growing up with its fans

Wong sees one of the brand’s main strengths as an audience that is growing up alongside it. Squishmallows marks its 10th anniversary in 2027, so children who first loved the toys are now going to university or starting work.

Some fans were 10 when they discovered the brand, she said. “Those kids are now in their first jobs, they’re going to university, and we’re constantly looking for ways to still be a part of their lives.”

Rather than lose those customers as they outgrow toy buying, Jazwares is looking for new ways to reach them. “What’s been incredible to see is that a lot of our growth is coming from the young adult audience,” Wong said.

As a result the brand has moved into products and experiences far from the toy aisle. Licensed ranges now include beauty, fragrance, fashion and lifestyle, and activations have placed Squishmallows in settings where a plush toy might once have looked out of place.

At a Grammys event this year it set up a customised plush charm bar, and it took part in music festivals such as Coachella, as well as activations in Canada and the UK.

“The love for the brand is evident,” Wong said. “The way that fans want to see the brand basically in every facet of their lives, whether it’s home and bedding to health and beauty.”

That work could pay off when the film arrives. Instead of building a licensing operation from nothing, Jazwares will already have spent years widening the places where people come across the brand, giving it an established network of audiences and commercial opportunities to draw on.

“When you think about the world of fashion and music and food and pop culture, all of those things, Squish actually has a role in all of it,” she said.