Tie-ins to licensed properties, whether evergreens like Star Wars or breakout hits like KPop Demon Hunters, allow fans to engage more deeply with favorite TV shows, films, and book series. They can also extend that fan base beyond the original audience. Here are some notable releases for early 2026.
The next generation
With its mature themes and frightening supernatural creatures, the manga series and anime Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba is generally recommended for teens and adults. Viz launched a middle grade spin-off manga, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu Academy, in 2023, and in May, Running Press Kids is releasing a board book, Demon Slayer: A Book of Colors, based on the original series.
“Consumers who are very into certain fandoms, genres, or brands want something different to add to their collections or introduce to their kids,” says Julie Matysik, editorial director at Running Press Kids. “Anime has a huge fan base and a lot of consumer pull.”
The board book highlights 13 characters, identifying a key personality trait and signature color for each: kindhearted Tanjiro sports a green traditional jacket and protective Nezuko wears a pink kimono. “We don’t talk about slaying demons or anything like that,” Matysik says. The child-like chibi art style, familiar to anime fans, further ages down the property, she adds. “It’s a Funko Pop–y kind of look.”
When the animated movie The Pout-Pout Fish opens in theaters in March, it will be the first time Deborah Diesen’s 2008 picture book, illustrated by Dan Hanna, leaps to the big screen. “This is a brand-new story with all new characters, except for Mr. Fish,” says Kristin Dulaney, VP of rights at Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group, referring to the main character voiced by Nick Offerman. “We made sure the books’ core values were at the center of the film, but it will be a whole new experience for families.”
Two new tie-in books are geared toward readers ages five to nine, slightly older than the original picture book’s range. The Pout-Pout Fish Movie Storybook features graphics taken from its end credits, while Meet Pip, Pout-Pout Fish! is an early reader. “Pip is a very energetic sea dragon, and we think she’s going to be a fan favorite,” Dulaney says. “We wanted to give her her own book so fans can get to know her better.”
Pout-Pout Fish publishing already encompasses more than 40 titles. “We’re partnering with retailers to create a moment for the tie-ins,” Dulaney explains. “A lot of the messaging will tie the original book back in and speak to the backlist as well. It’s an opportunity to remind the fans that there’s much more.”
Back to the future
The 30-year-old Toy Story franchise has grown up with its fans and brought the tie-ins along with it. Ahead of the June release of Disney and Pixar’s Toy Story 5, Insight Editions is publishing The Pizza Planet Cookbook by Sarah Walker Caron in March. The recipe collection is geared toward families and styled as an employee manual for Pizza Planet, the space-themed restaurant that plays a pivotal role in the first movie and makes cameos in all of the films.
“It’s written to speak directly to an employee, using the flow of the language they use to talk about themselves in the movie,” says Walker Caron, whose previous licensed cookbooks include tie-ins to Harry Potter and the Disney Princesses. Recipes include a pizza that nods to the Pizza Planet logo and a spinach-and-herb pie inspired by the green aliens from the restaurant’s claw machine.
The long-running Doctor Who franchise has spawned an equally expansive tie-in program. In its most recent two seasons, the sci-fi series leaned more toward fantasy and mythology, and a new licensed title reflects this shift. Doctor Who: 1,001 Nights in Time & Space by Steve Cole and Paul Magrs (Ten Speed, Apr.) is a collection of 24 folktales based on plotlines from 60-plus years of Doctor Who, relayed by a storyteller in the vein of the Arabian Nights.
“We began with stories from the Whoniverse and then defamiliarized them, telling them from points of view that haven’t been entertained before,” says Magrs, who, like Cole, has written extensively for the franchise. “It’s like you give the story a shake and all the extraneous bits drop off, and you’re left with a folktale.”
The retold stories humanize characters such as robots and giant killer ants. “These stories are beautiful, with real pathos,” Cole says. “That might sound odd when it comes from a world of science fiction, but stories are stories and you can always find fights between good and evil, between misguided and mismanaged. It makes for rich and fertile storytelling.”
Albert DePetrillo, publishing director for primary publisher BBC Books, notes that Doctor Who’s dimension-spanning premise makes it well-suited to spin-offs. “The wonderful thing about Doctor Who is that it can go anywhere in space and anywhere in time. That just means infinite possibilities.” Though not all licensed properties have such limitless in-world parameters, with sufficient creativity they, too, can expand their horizons.
