The LEGO Group is rumoured to be adding another of the world’s highest-grossing media franchises to its repertoire in 2027 with the first LEGO Hello Kitty sets.
BrickTap reports that LEGO Hello Kitty will debut in January 2027, bringing the animated character to the fold for the first time. If that’s true, this would mark the eighth of the 10 highest-grossing media franchises of all time to get the LEGO treatment, following Pokémon, Mickey Mouse, Winnie the Pooh, Star Wars, Disney Princess, the MCU and the Wizarding World.
That leaves just Anpanman and Barbie left unticked from that list, although it’s hard to imagine either of those making the cut any time soon. One is an incredibly popular Japanese children’s character but with limited international appeal, while another belongs to industry rival Mattel.
There’s no word yet on what the first LEGO Hello Kitty sets might look like, but with one eye on the 2026 slate across all themes it’s not difficult to imagine there might be a buildable version of Kitty White somewhere in the mix. We're only speculating there, though.
What is Hello Kitty?
Not au fait with Hello Kitty? We’ll get you up to speed. In the early 1960s, Japanese entertainment company Sanrio began hiring cartoonists to design characters that would appear on its merchandise, such as rubber sandals, and in 1974 artist Yuko Shimizu came up with Hello Kitty, an anthropomorphised British cat who lives in a London suburb.
She first appeared on a vinyl coin purse in 1975, and quickly proved popular among Japanese children (especially as kawaii culture took hold in the years that followed). While Hello Kitty was initially marketed to kids and preteens, Sanrio expanded to teenagers and adults in the 1990s, and with strong international performance the brand found a foothold in markets around the world.
By 2010, Hello Kitty was estimated to be worth $5 billion per year in sales, and as of 2026 has grossed $33.5 billion almost entirely from merchandise. She’s also appeared in three Japanese films, a variety of video games and a handful of animated series, and is essentially a merchandising powerhouse – so it would be no surprise to see her finally join the LEGO fold…
Take this rumour with a grain of salt for now, though – they don’t all end up being true.
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