Lego just had another record year – with the help of a secret weapon behind the scenes.
The Danish company on Tuesday reported a 12% rise in revenue to 83.5 billion Danish crowns, or $12.9 billion, for fiscal 2025. Operating profit rose 18% year-on-year to 22 billion Danish crowns, or $3.4 billion, the company said.
“When we look at the growth area, it’s quite broad in the sense that it’s not one product or one theme, but rather all areas,” Lego CEO Niels Christiansen told CNBC.
Lego sales to consumers jumped 16%, outpacing the toy market’s overall 7% growth over the same period, the company reported. Lego has steadily outperformed the toy industry since the pandemic, increasing its market share and space on retail shelves.
The brickmaker’s secret: a combination of trend analysis and a streamlined supply chain.
Lego offers a wide range of licensed products, including sets based on a wide range of popular films, television shows and video games, as well as a significant number of in-house brands such as its floral arrangements, artwork and architectural structures.
Last year, Lego launched its largest portfolio ever, with more than 860 sets on shelves, the company said. About half of them were new articles.
By expanding its product catalog, Lego has also expanded its consumer base. Gateways to the brand, such as its line of plants — plants, flower bouquets and succulents — and its ongoing partnership with Epic Games — which brings Lego into the digital space and elements of the popular video game Fortnite into the physical world — have encouraged newcomers to the brick-building field, Christiansen said.
Once there, these customers discover other settings and continue building. And it’s not just kids: adult builders represent a significant portion of Lego sales.
Toy experts told CNBC that Lego was ahead of the curve, making adults a key toy consumer long before the industry coined the term “kidult.” Adults buying for themselves account for between 25 and 30 percent of all global toy sales, according to Circana data.
“We’ve done really well on a lot of product types and ways of creating passion points,” Christiansen said.
One of the company’s recent additions to the portfolio is its partnership with Formula 1 motor racing. Lego has had a presence at F1 races since last season, hosting in-person activities that included life-size working cars and hand-built brick-built trophies for podium finishes.
Formula 1 cars and a Lego circuit are on display at the 2025 Canadian International Auto Show at the Metro Convention Center in Toronto on February 21, 2025.
Nuphoto | Getty Images
F1 building sets range from Duplo sets for preschoolers to traditional sets for casual builders and Lego Technic sets for more advanced crafters. Additionally, as part of the ongoing relationship between the two brands, Lego has signed on as a team sponsor for an F1 Academy car from 2026.
But Lego’s real secret weapon for getting ahead of the toy industry isn’t quite as flashy.
Brick by brick
Lego has developed an incredibly efficient supply chain, which allows it to manufacture products closer to their final retail destination.
For example, the company’s Mexico-based factory currently supplies the Americas, while its factory in Hungary helps supply parts of Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Lego recently opened a site in Vietnam to serve the Asia-Pacific region and is expected to open a new factory in Virginia in 2027.
Christiansen said the new U.S.-based factory would help meet growing demand for products in the Americas.
Lego products are displayed at a Lego store in New York on August 29, 2024.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images
Not only does this make the shipping process more efficient and reduce delivery times for ventilators, but it also reduces costs. Lego can tailor what it makes based on regional demand, meaning it doesn’t create excess inventory.
Lego can also be more nimble than its competitors during trade disputes or shipping disruptions because its factories are not all concentrated in one area.
“You come out of a year like 2025, and we’ve seen growth that has exceeded our expectations, and … what a mountain to climb,” Christiansen said. “On the other hand, we have very strong momentum. It continues throughout the year and into this year. So I think we’re happy to grow after ’25, maybe not at the same growth rate. Our expectations would be in the high single digits, which would be fantastic.”
In 2026, Lego presents sets based on Pokémon, “The Lord of the Rings” and The Legend of Zelda, and launches its new innovation: the Lego Smart Brick. The new high-tech two-by-four Lego brick, part of several new “Star Wars” sets, contains sensors that respond to movement, make sounds and light up when played with it.
“So I think there are a lot of different things that should go well throughout the year,” Christiansen said.