The Top 5 Toys of Christmas 2025
Five toys that turned up on the DreamToys list, the Toy of the Year awards and the hot-toy roundups of last December, and the stories behind them.
November 3, 2026 · ZABI LLC
The Christmas of 2025 is already a year behind us, which is about the right distance for a toy list. The wrapping paper is long gone, the batteries have been replaced at least once, and it is easier to see which presents were an event and which were merely a purchase. A few of last December's toys were still being talked about months later, when the industry gave out its prizes.
What follows is a look back at five of them. Some are novelties built on a clever mechanism, some ride on a film or a television family that half the country already knew, and one is a cardboard box of collectable cards. Together they make a fair portrait of what ended up under the tree.
The five
Documented on: 2025 DreamToys list; 2026 Toy of the Year (overall) and Action Figure of the Year
Jurassic World Primal Hatch T.Rex
Spin Master's Primal Hatch is a dinosaur that begins life inside an egg. The Toy Retailers Association's description says it hatches and can grow into a friend or a predator, with more than 100 sounds and modes, which is a lot of personality for something that starts out as a shell.
It made the DreamToys list in November 2025, and in February 2026 the Toy Association named it Toy of the Year overall, as well as Action Figure of the Year. Awards are not sales, and we cannot say how many were wrapped. It is still unusual for the big prize to go to a dinosaur you first have to hatch. Before buying for a young dinosaur fan in your house, check the age range on the box and whether the sounds can be turned down.
Documented on: 2025 DreamToys list; 2026 Plush Toy of the Year
Disney Stitch Ultimate Interactive Feature Plush
Plush toys rarely change; the good ones are soft, a bit absurd and slept on. This one, made by Just Play, adds a layer of mischief. The DreamToys panel describes a 17-inch Stitch with more than 100 combinations of sound and movement, so he chatters and wriggles rather than just sitting there.
The Toy Association gave it Plush Toy of the Year at the awards in February 2026. For a grown-up the appeal is easy to guess: Stitch is a character with a following that spans generations, and a talking version is a gift that a grandparent can choose without a briefing. It is also loud, which is worth knowing before it goes into a quiet house on Christmas morning.
Documented on: 2025 DreamToys list; 2026 Toy of the Year People's Choice award
Pokémon Trading Card Game: Mega Evolution Elite Trainer Box
Not every toy of the year runs on batteries. The Elite Trainer Box is the sort of present a collector's household learns to recognise by its weight and its slightly self-important packaging. The 2025 box belongs to the first expansion of the Mega Evolution series, with cards such as Mega Lucario ex and Mega Gardevoir ex, according to the DreamToys description.
It was on the DreamToys list, and it took the People's Choice prize at the Toy Association's 2026 awards, which is decided by online votes from consumers rather than by judges. That detail matters. It means the people who actually buy and trade the cards, not a panel, put it on top. The game has been around for decades, and it sits in this list as proof that a long-lived hobby can still be the hot gift in a given December.
Documented on: 2025 DreamToys list; Wicked tie-ins in a November 2025 hot-toys roundup
Wicked: For Good Singing Dolls
The second Wicked film opened on November 21, 2025, in the thick of the shopping season, and the toys arrived ahead of it. Mattel's Elphaba and Glinda singing dolls play a short snippet of the song "For Good" when a button on the torso is pressed, as TV Guide described them in early October.
The DreamToys panel picked the pair, and a November 2025 consumer roundup put Wicked tie-ins on its list of the season's hottest toys, among them a Care Bears boxed set in Wicked costumes and a Monopoly edition. A film that lands a month before Christmas has a built-in advantage: the toys are on the shelf and the story is in the cinema at once. If you are shopping for a musical-theatre fan, check which character you are getting, since the line is broad.
Documented on: 2026 Playset of the Year (Toy Association); named in a November 2025 hot-toys roundup
Bluey Supermarket Playset
Bluey won the License of the Year award in February 2026, and the Moose Toys Supermarket Playset won Playset of the Year. In November 2025, a consumer roundup put the Bluey and Bingo version on its hottest-toys list and described three levels with working escalators, registers and an intercom, plus figures and accessories.
It is a small shop, in other words, with a lift. For a parent weighing it up, the useful questions are practical: how much floor space a three-level set takes, whether the batteries for the sound and escalator are included, and whether your preschooler already follows the programme. The preschool aisle does not usually grab headlines at Christmas, but in 2025 two separate documents pointed at the same box.
What the year tells us
Two threads run through the list. The first is the screen: Wicked, Bluey and Stitch all came from stories a family had already watched together, so the toy was less a surprise than a continuation. The second is the opposite instinct, the toy that does something unlikely, like a dinosaur in an egg. Last December had room for both.
The nostalgic reader will notice what else was in the roundups: that same consumer roundup also listed a DJ Furby, a reminder that the original Furby never entirely left. If last year left you wanting the previous round, the toys of 2024 are a good next read, and the classics that outlived every craze put all of this in a longer view.
Sources
Where the facts in this post come from. Rankings and lists belong to the people who published them; the selection and the stories are ours.
- The toys tipped to be best-sellers this Christmas (DreamToys 2025, PA via RTE) — DreamToys 2025 list, panel, descriptions of Primal Hatch, Stitch plush, Pokémon box, Wicked dolls
- Top 15 DreamToys for Christmas 2025 revealed, Toys n Playthings — List date (Nov 12, 2025), makers, Circana data and retailer panel
- 2026 Toy of the Year winners, The Toy Association — Feb 13, 2026 ceremony; Primal Hatch, Stitch plush, Bluey playset and License of the Year, People's Choice
- Holiday 2025 hottest toys roundup, consumer-product site, November 2025 — Bluey and Bingo supermarket description, Wicked tie-ins, DJ Furby, Nov 2025 date
- Wicked: For Good Elphaba and Glinda dolls, TV Guide — Singing dolls by Mattel, "For Good" snippet, film release date Nov 21