The doors to New York City’s Toy Fair swung open at the start of March, and for the first time, a handful of USC students got to attend as part of their toy industry class with Professor Marianne Szymanski. Maddie Miller, a junior majoring in psychology, described the convention center as “filled from top to bottom” with toy panels and new products.

“I’m honestly so grateful that I [went], because I was exposed to so many cool job opportunities, and just to be able to see where I could go … I wanted to do something in marketing, but I didn’t know how to make a career out of it,” Miller said. “I had a lot of opportunities handed to me from this by just walking around the booths and meeting people.”

Ryan Hsieh, a senior majoring in business administration who attended the Toy Fair with Szymanski’s class, “never expected the convention to be so big.” Hsieh said he had never thought about how many adults worked in the toy industry until he met the industry professionals at the toy fair — such as the team behind Peppa Pig’s upcoming line and Aaron Muderick, the creator of Thinking Putty. 

Students viewed a multitude of different toy booths, from mom-and-pop shops to established brands that had students sign nondisclosure agreements before viewing unreleased products. Miller said she attended the toy fair because she was interested in finding a marketing internship and wanted to see if Mattel could be a good fit for her. She attended a panel for students about how to enter the toy industry.

“[The toy industry] really is such a cool field that I wish had more recognition,” Miller said. “There’s so much that the industry has to offer that I feel like I hadn’t known before I went to [the] Toy Fair.” 

The trip to New York was an optional part of Szymanski’s class on the toy industry, which she called “the funnest industry ever.” Students in the toy industry class get the chance to listen to guest speakers who are professionals in the industry while following and giving weekly updates on the stocks, new products and trends of a chosen toy company.

While the class centers on the toy industry, Szymanski said the business and trade skills students learn can be applied to any industry.

“[The course is] all about learning entrepreneurship, whether it’s talking about marketing,  finance, how to pitch a company for an investment, how to create a company for a competition here in [the Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies], how to create a company in general later as an alum, and what goes into that,” Szymanski said.

Alexandra Donovan, a senior majoring in journalism, is currently enrolled in Szymanski’s toy industry class and developing her own skincare product. Donovan said Szymanski was able to immediately connect her with someone in the skincare industry, and appreciated the ability to explore the toy industry in a classroom setting.  

“[The class] brings out that childhood play in us all,” Donovan said. “It’s just this chance to realize we’re all little kids at heart, and we all like to ride scooters and play with dolls. Being able to do that in the classroom, while still learning, has just been a great experience.”

The final project for students in the toy industry class is to develop a prototype of a new toy or product. Students often choose to look at current trends in the toy industry and identify places where they feel they can offer something better than what’s on the market, Szymanski said. At the end of the year, their products are judged by toy industry professionals.

“I would love to see [the final project] turn into its own actual pitch competition on campus,” Szymanski said. “I would like to have a full-on presentation from students around campus that have toy ideas, and for students that are not taking my class that do have toy ideas … the toy industry is looking for students and looking to find that next hot, cool idea.”