Star Wars Lego models are on display at the Bricks & Figs Museum in Krakow, Poland on April 15, 2023.
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If you're a Star Wars fan, Jens Kronvold Frederiksen may have shaped your childhood.
As design director at the Denmark-based Lego company, he has been creating Lego Star Wars sets for the past 25 years.
“I went to my boss and said, 'Hey, you need me on this product line,'” Frederiksen told CNBC. “For me it was like a dream come true. Star Wars and Lego together, two things I love.”
Frederiksen is not alone. Since 1999, fans have rallied behind the license, collecting everything from Darth Vader minifigure keychains to $850 Millennium Falcon sets with more than 7,500 parts. The brand has also grown to include half a dozen video games and a slew of animated content on Disney+. It now also has its own home on Epic Games' popular online gaming platform Fortnite.
The Star Wars license was the first of its kind for Lego, which had never before created an official product line tied to licensed intellectual property. In fact, the Jar Jar Binks minifigure was the first ever to feature a custom head sculpt instead of one of Lego's iconic round faces, Frederiksen said.
Now Lego Star Wars has become a blueprint for the company's other brand deals – think Harry Potter, Batman and Marvel's Avengers.
“We created themes, but we didn't always necessarily connect them to the deeper story,” says Jill Wilfert, head of global entertainment partners and content at Lego. “And I think what Star Wars did for us was to really see that opening up, and how it really allowed people to open up their imaginations in a different way and express their creativity in a different way.”
Wilfert, who has been with Lego for 36 years, said that before the Star Wars deal, there was a lot of fear at Lego about licensing to third parties.
“Once we saw how well it translated and how people responded to it, it really gave us more confidence,” she said.
The collaboration with Lego Star Wars came at a time of financial turmoil for Lego. In the early 2000s, the company faced high debt, stiff competition from digital gaming platforms, and a portfolio that had become too diversified. Lego was on the brink of bankruptcy.
Strong sales of Lego Star Wars and the Lego-owned Bionicle franchise helped keep the company afloat as it reduced its product lines and closed non-core businesses. In 2005, the company launched a Lego Star Wars video game.
“It has been tremendously successful and continues to be successful today as a gaming franchise,” said Paul Southern, senior vice president of third-party commercialization and franchise development at Disney. “It created the world.”
A force in the toy aisle
Twenty years later, Lego Star Wars remains one of the best-selling brands for Lego and the company is seeing strong sales even when there are no new theatrical releases associated with the product.
The listed company provides a look at its balance sheet every six months. In March, Lego reported sales rose 2% in 2023, while the global toy industry saw sales fall 7%, according to data from Circana.
The toymaker again cited Lego Star Wars as the driving force behind these sales. Lego Icons, Lego Technic, Lego City and Lego Harry Potter also performed well.
While it was a smaller gain than previous years — the company saw total sales increase 27% in 2021 and 17% in 2022 — Lego has continued to grow its market share in the toy industry. A lot of that has to do with the fact that brands like Lego Star Wars appeal to multiple demographics and generations.
Lego sells sets in a variety of price ranges and difficulty levels, allowing kids to assemble smaller, less complicated models and recreate scenes from the franchise, while hardcore collectors can build more detailed replicas of their favorite ships, helmets and movie moments.
A man appears pleased with his purchase of a Lego Star Wars landspeeder during Bricktastic 2024 at Manchester Central in Manchester, England, on February 24, 2024.
Shirlaine Forrest | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images
The evergreen nature of the franchise is crucial. Lego can draw on nearly 50 years of content to delight consumers of all ages.
“The most important thing for us is of course that this is for children,” Frederiksen said. “The model should be fun, creative and inspiring to play with, but it should also be a great building experience.”
That's why Lego takes some creative liberties with the sets it offers. For example, an Imperial Shuttle is almost completely white. However, if you gave customers a pile of white bricks, it would be “impossible to find the pieces and it wouldn't be a fun building experience,” he said. Lego therefore offers some variation in the colors and details of the bricks.
Although Frederiksen no longer designs products, he still builds everything. It is important for him to experience how each set is put together.
To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Lego's partnership with Star Wars, as well as the 25th anniversary of “The Phantom Menace,” Lego is releasing numerous special sets. There's the TIE Interceptor model that retails for $230, a Mos Espa Podrace diorama for $80, a Droideka model for $65, and new BrickHeadz characters for less than $10 each.
“What we see a lot with properties and with Star Wars, perhaps more than others, is that it's something that families do together,” Wilfert said. “A lot of times you're first introduced to Star Wars through a parent, your parents grew up with Star Wars, and we just see that if we have things in our portfolio that enable those connections and allow families to connect with each other to come, we really see the relevance of that.”
With new digital products such as video games and Fortnite, Lego can appeal to younger consumers.
“We try to make sure we're in relevant places where we know kids are taking up their time,” Wilfert said.
An even bigger galaxy
The Lego Star Wars brand has evolved to include more than just bricks and minifigures: It has become its own ecosystem, Southern said.
“The world of Lego Star Wars is a distinct identity within our overall company, and that makes it very unique,” he said.
Southern was at Lucasfilm when the Lego and Star Wars collaboration started. He switched to the Walt Disney Company when Lucasfilm was acquired a decade ago, so he's seen the growth of Lego Star Wars firsthand.
Part of that growth is the humor that has become associated with the Lego Star Wars brand. This includes slapstick moments in video games and in animated content.
“We've created an ecosystem and a tone that allows us to do things that are ultimately a little bit bolder, a little bit more fun,” Southern said.
Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga allows players to relive the epic story of the Skywalker Saga, told through the lens of hilarious Lego humor.
Lego| Warner Bros. Games | Lucasfilm
And that humor has extended to other franchises.
“You know, through Star Wars we were able to really open people's eyes to how Lego can create humor and charm for a… [intellectual property] that may not exist,” Wilfert said. “We found that most IP owners are quite willing to let us play a little.”
Between video games and animation projects, Lego has worked with franchises like Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, Batman, Pirates of the Caribbean, Lord of the Rings, Marvel, Jurassic World and Pixar's “The Incredibles.”
But it all started with Star Wars, which continues to grow.
“We've taken the passion that the fans and the kids have for that brand into other areas,” Southern says said, noting that in addition to video games, Lego Star Wars can also be found in the publishing section and even in clothing.
The product's diversity and strong sales prompted Disney and Lego to extend their contract for Star Wars until 2032.
“The relationship has become easier because there are people who have worked on both sides throughout the relationship,” Southern said. “They're like family now. It's very candid, very open, very collaborative.”
The long licensing lead time allows Disney and Lego to collaborate on long-term projects such as video games and animation, as well as celebratory sets for major anniversary milestones.
“We're celebrating 25 years of working together,” Southern said. “One of the things that is also very important is that we expect to be here in another 25 years, celebrating the way we have developed our relationship and made it relevant for generations to come.”