It would be natural to look for Pokémon’s licensing income in the accounts of the companies that pay it, and it is almost entirely absent from them. We estimate the Western arm earns ¥99–204bn a year from licensing (the working is on Licensing). Every named toy, costume and collectibles maker put together could pay at most ¥26.8bn of that, or 13–27%. The licensees that file accounts in the United States mention Pokémon in 48 of 4,066 documents and never give a price.
The named makers cover little more than a quarter of the estimate at most
The ceiling is built from three parts, each at the highest rate its own evidence allows. For toys, we take all tracked Western sales of Pokémon toys other than cards, assume the maker sells to shops at half the shelf price, and apply 17.4%, the highest average royalty rate any licensee has filed. That caps every toy maker, the master licensee Jazwares included, at ¥21.5bn. For costumes, we treat every dollar of JAKKS’s costume sales, $108.7m across all brands, as Pokémon and apply 22%, the top rate in its 2025 contracts, which gives ¥3.6bn. For Funko, which says “no single property accounted for more than 5% of our sales”, we apply 25% to that share and get ¥1.7bn.
Even at those rates the three parts leave at least ¥72bn a year to payers nobody has named: clothing, food, publishing and smaller toy deals. Applying the costume rate to toys as well would trim that to ¥66bn. For scale, Nintendo’s payments to The Pokémon Company for the games are estimated at ¥15.5bn to ¥51.1bn a year, and only the part for publishing the games in Japan is certain. The whole named ceiling falls inside that range. Fig. 1 sets the parts against the estimate.
The named makers together can pay at most ¥27bn of an estimated ¥99–204bn
The most each group of named Western licensees could pay in royalties in 2025, each at the rate shown, against the estimated range for all Western licensing income. ¥ billion a year.
- The most each group of named licensees could pay
- The three ceilings added together
- Estimated range for all Western licensing income
Show the numbers
| Measure | The most each group of named licensees could pay, ¥bn a year | The three ceilings added together, ¥bn a year | Estimated range for all Western licensing income, ¥bn a year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All toy makers, at 17.4% of their sales | – | – | ||
| Costumes (Disguise), at 22% | – | – | ||
| Collectibles (Funko), at 25% | – | – | ||
| All named makers together | – | – | ||
| Estimated Western licensing income | – | – |
The most each group of named licensees could pay. Ceilings, each at its own rate. Toys: tracked Western toy sales other than cards, wholesale at half the shop price, at 17.4%, the highest average rate a licensee has filed. Costumes: all of JAKKS’s costume sales at 22%, the top rate in its 2025 contracts. Funko: 5% of its sales, the most any one property can be, at 25%.
The three ceilings added together. A ceiling, and no royalty any company has disclosed. Build-A-Bear and LEGO, which began selling in 2026, are outside it.
Estimated range for all Western licensing income. An estimate, built from industry royalty rates and the reported licensed sales. No Pokémon deal states a rate, guarantee or term.
The companies that file accounts say nothing
Thirteen licensees and retailers filed with the US securities regulator between 2015 and November 2026, and seven of them name Pokémon somewhere. None of the 48 documents that do so states a royalty rate, a minimum payment or a term, and none names The Pokémon Company International. A company must file a licence only if its business “depends to a material extent” on it, and no licensee has judged Pokémon to meet that test. Fig. 2 counts the mentions by company.
Thirteen companies filed 4,066 documents; 48 name Pokémon and none gives a price
Documents filed in the United States from 2015 to November 2026 that name Pokémon, by company. Six of the thirteen never name it.
Show the numbers
| Company | Documents naming Pokémon. Documents stating a rate, a minimum or a term: none, documents | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Mattel | ||
| Funko | ||
| Build-A-Bear | ||
| GameStop | ||
| JAKKS Pacific | ||
| Berkshire Hathaway (Jazwares) | ||
| Crocs |
Documents naming Pokémon. Documents stating a rate, a minimum or a term: none. Out of 4,066 documents from 13 companies. Hasbro, Target, Walmart, Alleghany (Jazwares’ owner to 2022) and the Topps listing vehicle never name Pokémon; Spin Master files in Canada and its annual report does not name it either.
The two that publish a rate pay about a sixth of their sales
Funko and JAKKS are the only licensees whose accounts give a royalty rate, and both give one blended figure for every brand they license. Funko’s has run at 15.0–17.4% of sales and JAKKS’s at 14.0–16.5%. Fig. 3 shows both series.
Funko and JAKKS pay their licensors 14–17% of sales and neither says what Pokémon gets
Royalties paid to all licensors as a share of the licensee’s own sales, per cent, 2016 to 2025.
- Funko: average royalty rate
- JAKKS: royalty expense as a share of net sales
Show the numbers
| Year | Funko: average royalty rate, % of sales | JAKKS: royalty expense as a share of net sales, % of sales | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | – | ||
| 2017 | – | ||
| 2018 | – | ||
| 2019 | |||
| 2020 | |||
| 2021 | |||
| 2022 | |||
| 2023 | |||
| 2024 | |||
| 2025 | – |
Funko: average royalty rate. Average royalty rate on licensed sales, all licensors. 2019 and 2020 come from summaries of the filings.
JAKKS: royalty expense as a share of net sales. All licensors; 2019 and 2020 are computed from the filings. Rates are blended across every licensor: no Pokémon rate is disclosed. Hasbro and Mattel are left out because their rates are on a different base.
The largest payer is private. Jazwares paid $159.0m in 2019 for Wicked Cool Toys, the company that held the master toy licence, and booked 53% of the price as licence agreements with a life of 8 years. That is the nearest thing to a market price for the seat, and it says nothing about the royalty. Jazwares’ British subsidiary itemised its royalties for 2019 to 2021; almost all were payable to its own American parent, and no brand was named.
What it adds up to
LEGO, which began selling Pokémon sets on 27 February 2026, publishes its 2026 annual report in March 2027.