Giant Squishmallows: Sizes, Prices, and Where to Buy
Giant Squishmallows are the oversized version of the popular plush line now owned by Jazwares, running up to 24 inches and sold at major retailers including Walmart, Target, Costco, and CVS. Here is how the brand started, how it grew, and what to know before buying one.
How Giant Squishmallows Started
Kelly Toys Holdings LLC launched in 1986 with headquarters in Los Angeles. In an interview with Yahoo! Finance, founder Jonathan Kelly explained that the idea for the Squishmallow came after a trip to Japan, where he noticed the popularity of cute toy products, including plushes.
Back home, he and his team designed a plush that emulated the "kawaii" aesthetic of Japanese toys. The first Squishmallows hit the market in 2017 and sold well.
Made of soft spandex and filled with polyester fiber, Squishmallows resemble rounded cartoon animals. They are manufactured in China and now come in more than a dozen sizes, from 3.5-inch clip-ons up to 24-inch plush. Suggested retail prices generally run from about $5 for the smallest sizes to roughly $50 to $70 for the largest. Jazwares has discontinued the 13-inch size, which now trades on the secondary market.
Official Squishmallows carry three attached tags, and the line has expanded into several spin-off collections:
- HugMees
- Flip-A-Mallows
- Micromallows
- Squish-Doos
- Stackables
- Heroes
- Mystery Squad
Early success led to brand collaborations, letting Kelly Toys offer a wider variety of characters. Alongside its original animals, the brand began producing licensed versions of characters from other properties.
Why Squishmallows Took Off
The rise of giant Squishmallows tracks a formula shared by many pandemic-era collectibles:
- Lockdowns pushed consumers toward tangible products to spend on.
- People looked for comfort and entertainment while stuck indoors.
- Viral sharing on social media, primarily TikTok, spread the trend.
With lockdowns in full effect in 2020, consumers turned to social media and to purchases that offered comfort and indoor entertainment. That renewed interest in hobbies like sports cards and toys, which are tangible and collectible.
Social media was the final ingredient. Rather than flood the market, the company released Squishmallows in limited supply. Once one or two large social accounts started sharing them, word-of-mouth carried the rest.
Collaborations accelerated the growth. Kelly Toys partnered with Jazwares, whose relationship with Hasbro opened up multiple property licenses that could be turned into Squishmallows.
Who Owns Squishmallows: Jazwares and Berkshire Hathaway
Jazwares, which had been partnering with Kellytoy, acquired a majority stake in the company in April 2020, bringing the Squishmallows brand in house. Jazwares produces toys for a range of well-known and emerging properties worldwide.
In October 2022, Jazwares became part of Berkshire Hathaway when Warren Buffett's company completed its acquisition of Alleghany, Jazwares' parent company.
The plush are still made from stretchy spandex fabric filled with polyester fiber and manufactured in China. They are sold at many retailers, including:
- Walmart
- Target
- Walgreens
- CVS
- Costco
- Five Below
- TJ Maxx
- Hallmark
- Independent toy stores
Squishmallows has since moved well beyond a pandemic trend, winning a Toy of the Year award and expanding through licensed collaborations. It is the kind of nostalgia-driven plush play RetailWire has tracked alongside the return of Toys R Us and Geoffrey the Giraffe.