There is a strange but oddly satisfying moment that comes with growing up. You start earning your own money, paying your own bills and making your own decisions, only to realize that some of the things you still want are the same things you loved as a child.
Maybe it is a plush toy sitting on your bed. Maybe it is a Hot Wheels car that you have no intention of actually playing with. It could be a Harry Potter collectible, an anime figurine, a Pokémon card, a LEGO set or merchandise from a television show you watched repeatedly growing up.
I am guilty of it too.
And I am certainly not alone.
Adults are increasingly spending their own money on products that were once marketed almost exclusively to children. The toy industry has even given this growing consumer group a name: the “kidult.”
What sounds like a fun internet term has become a serious business opportunity.
According to Circana, consumers aged 15 and older accounted for nearly 20% of global toy sales in 2025.
Spending by this age group has more than doubled since 2020. In the US, adults aged 18 and older generated $1.8 billion in toy sales during the first quarter of 2025, making them the fastest-growing age group in the category.
The interesting question is not simply why adults are buying toys. It is why these products can make us feel so much more than their price tag suggests.
A plush toy is just a plush toy if you look at it objectively. But it can mean something completely different to the person buying it.
A Harry Potter collectible can take someone back to the excitement of waiting for a new book or movie. A Pokémon figure can bring back memories of school days spent trading cards. A Hot Wheels car can remind someone of the toys they wanted but could not have because their parents had other priorities.
The product becomes a physical connection to a particular period of life.
That is where nostalgia becomes an important part of the business.
When we were children, we rarely had complete control over what we could buy. We depended on our parents, grandparents or other adults. Something as simple as a toy could involve a negotiation.
“Do you really need this?”
“Maybe next time.”
“You already have enough toys.”
Now the situation is different.
You have your own salary.
Nobody has to approve the purchase.
If you want that $20 plushie, you can buy it.
There is a particular kind of satisfaction in using your adult money to give your younger self something it once wanted.
Psychologically, this can be linked to nostalgia, emotional comfort and identity. But I would not reduce every adult purchase to an attempt to “heal the inner child.” Sometimes we simply like the thing.
Some people genuinely enjoy collecting. Some like the design. Others enjoy building LEGO sets, displaying figurines or hunting for limited editions. For many fans, merchandise is also a way of showing what they are interested in.
The emotional connection simply makes the purchase easier to justify.
This is where the business story gets interesting.
The industry is no longer treating toys as products that parents purchase for their children. It is increasingly creating products specifically attractive to teenagers, young adults and older collectors.
Collectibles are a major part of this shift.
According to Circana, global collectible sales increased 32% in 2025 and represented almost one-fifth of total toy sales. Licensed products linked to popular entertainment franchises also accounted for a significant share of the global market.
That explains why Harry Potter, Pokémon, Marvel, Star Wars, anime, gaming and other pop culture franchises continue to appear across everything from action figures and plush toys to clothing, stationery and home décor.
The real product being sold is not always the object.
It is the fandom attached to it.
If you already love Harry Potter, a Hogwarts-themed product does not need much explanation. The emotional connection already exists.
The same applies to anime.
You watch a series. You become attached to a character. You follow fan accounts. You see merchandise online. Eventually, you want something from that world sitting on your own shelf.
The entertainment company has effectively turned a story into a consumer ecosystem.
And this trend is becoming increasingly visible in India too, particularly in cities with large young populations and strong café, shopping and pop culture scenes.
Walk around parts of cities such as Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru or Hyderabad and you can increasingly find stores selling anime figures, plush toys, keychains, T-shirts, collectibles and other pop culture merchandise.
The location of these stores is interesting too.
Some are close to metro stations. Others operate around malls, cafés and busy shopping areas where college students and young professionals already spend their time.
That is not accidental.
A store selling anime merchandise does not necessarily need to be located in a traditional toy market. Its customer might be a 20-year-old college student, a 25-year-old professional or a group of friends meeting at a café after work.
The store is going where the fandom already exists.
India’s anime merchandising market generated an estimated $191.9 million in revenue in 2025 and is projected to reach $562 million by 2033, according to Grand View Research. The broader Indian anime market was worth about $837.2 million in 2025 and is expected to reach $2.24 billion by 2033.
The growth is not difficult to understand when you look at how fandom is changing.
Shows such as One Piece, Demon Slayer, Naruto and Jujutsu Kaisen have become part of mainstream youth culture.
And merchandise follows attention.
There is another reason these stores can work particularly well with younger consumers: Instagram.
A merchandise store can be a physical shop and a social media page at the same time.
Imagine walking into a store filled with anime figurines, colorful plush toys and shelves of collectibles. You take a photograph. You put it on Instagram. You tag the store.
Someone else sees it.
They visit the shop.
They post their own purchase.
The cycle continues.
The customer is doing some of the marketing for the business without necessarily realizing it.
This is particularly useful for smaller merchandise businesses that may not have the advertising budgets of major retail companies.
The products themselves are highly visual, which makes them naturally suited to Instagram Reels, Stories and short-form videos.
An unboxing becomes content.
A new figurine becomes content.
A limited-edition arrival becomes content.
Even the store itself can become content.
This is why some of these businesses are not simply selling merchandise. They are creating spaces that people want to photograph and share.
There is also a reason you are more likely to see these stores around places where young people already gather.
The customer journey is very different from that of a traditional toy store.
A parent taking a child to buy a toy is usually making a planned purchase.
A young adult walking past a merchandise store may make an impulsive one.
You see a character you love through the window.
You walk in.
You find a $6.50 keychain or a $18 plushie.
You think about it for a minute.
Then you buy it.
The purchase does not necessarily feel like a major financial decision.
That is a powerful retail model.
The same person might return a few weeks later for another character or follow the store online to find out when new stock arrives.
One purchase can create a relationship with the brand.
Perhaps the biggest mistake would be to look at this trend simply as adults buying children’s products.
The bigger story is the monetization of fandom.
A successful movie, television show, anime series or game can now generate revenue long after people have finished watching or playing it.
The story becomes merchandise.
The character becomes a collectible.
The collectible becomes part of someone’s room.
The room becomes an Instagram post.
And the Instagram post becomes advertising.
That is an incredibly efficient cycle for businesses.
There is also something important happening with age.
The child who loved Pokémon in the early 2000s is now an adult with a salary.
The teenager who grew up watching Harry Potter now has enough disposable income to buy a premium collectible.
The person who played with Hot Wheels as a child can now buy a limited-edition model without asking anyone for permission.
The audience did not disappear.
It grew older.
And more importantly, it became capable of spending more.
This is the part I find most interesting.
We often describe these purchases as “healing our inner child,” and there is certainly an emotional element to them. But there is also a commercial machine that understands exactly how nostalgia works.
Brands know that memories can make people less price-sensitive.
They know that limited editions create urgency.
They know that recognizable characters create instant emotional connections.
They know that collectors are likely to return.
And they know that social media can turn a purchase into a public display of identity.
That does not make the purchase bad.
It simply means we should recognize what is happening.
We are not only buying objects.
We are buying stories, memories, identities and sometimes a little bit of the person we used to be.
I cannot really write about this trend as an outside observer.
I am part of it.
There is something genuinely fulfilling about seeing something that reminds you of childhood and being able to buy it with money you earned yourself.
When you are a child, you have to wait for someone else to say yes.
As an adult, you can simply decide.
Do I need another plush toy?
Probably not.
Do I need a Hot Wheels car?
Definitely not.
Will I still stop and look if I see one connected to something I love?
Absolutely.
Maybe that is the real appeal of the kidult economy.
Growing up does not necessarily mean abandoning everything you loved as a child. Sometimes it means having the freedom to enjoy those things without feeling that you need an excuse.
And businesses have noticed.
They are no longer just selling toys to children.
They are selling nostalgia to adults, fandom to Gen Z, collectibles to enthusiasts and experiences to people who want their interests to exist outside a screen.
The child may have grown up.
But the market has grown up with them.
And, apparently, it wants their wallet too.