Who will replace Labubus in 2026? Now that the hype is over, the race for a replacement has begun

After becoming the object of the biggest mass hysteria since the days of One Direction, it seems that Labubu have already lost all the hype built up throughout 2025. Bloomberg reports that Pop Mart, the Chinese company behind the figurines, recorded a significant downturn already in the final days of December. The company’s shares fell by 6.2%, turning the trinket giant into one of the worst performers on the MSCI Asia Pacific index.

And despite a Labubu film being scheduled for release in the coming years, produced by Sony and directed by the same filmmaker behind Willy Wonka and Paddington, the figurines’ cultural relevance already feels like a distant memory. That said, this does not mean the obsession with the plush category will come to an end in 2026. On the contrary, the first signs are already in the air of who might inherit the Labubu crown as the next must-have accessory.

Twinkle Twinkle

If we were to listen to the winds from the East, the same ones that predicted the rise of Labubu months before they reached the West, it would seem that the next stars are Twinkle Twinkle. Described by Jing Daily as the “stellar people of Pop Mart”, the Chinese company’s new figurines were launched just days before Christmas and immediately went viral on Xiaohongshu, racking up almost one billion impressions in less than a month.

Monchicchi

Before Labubu, before Hello Kitty, even before Winnie the Pooh charms, there were the Monchicchi. Created in Japan in 1974, the plush toys enjoyed huge success in Europe between the late 1980s and early 1990s. After a few decades of silence, the little monkeys are back in the spotlight not only as children’s toys, but also as fashion accessories. Could nostalgia be the factor that turns the Mon Ciccì, as they were once known in Italy, into the next craze?

Mirumi

If you found Labubu unsettling, then you are probably not ready for Mirumi. Produced by a Japanese tech start-up, they are not simple plush keychains, but small robots that cling to bags and react to the environment around them. They are not sold in blind boxes and they certainly do not come at an accessible price point: according to the first limited drop, they retail in the hundreds of euros.

Jellycat

Some would say there are plush toys, and then there are Jellycat. While they have never reached Labubu’s mainstream popularity, the British brand boasts an extremely loyal fanbase, so much so that at the beginning of 2026 it launched a loyalty program. A system that allows customers, by purchasing new Jellycat items, to gain early access to upcoming drops and receive exclusive variations of best sellers.

Chiikawa

The Chiikawa plush toys enter the market with a significant competitive advantage: they are the merchandise of one of the most popular manga series of the moment, Nanka Chiisakute Kawaii Yatsu. The comic, later adapted into an anime, follows the everyday lives of a group of small rodents, likely hamsters, living in a bucolic and fantastical world. Much like Sanrio characters, each plush has a distinct personality and a well-defined lore, elements that encourage emotional identification and attract fans who are ready to see themselves reflected in one of them.