By Audrey Birner, US Insight Director  

Almost a year ago, Netflix’s K-Pop Demon Hunters had US playgrounds hooked. Lunch tables were debating bias rankings. Sleepovers turned into streaming marathons. Group chats? Unhinged. 

And yet – it’s still coming up in Beano Brain conversations. Because the real question brands keep asking us isn’t “Why did it win?”, it’s "How do we spot the next one before everyone else does?”

Here’s the thing: youth hits rarely come out of nowhere. They bubble, they signal and they soft-launch in culture before they explode.

If you want to get ahead of the partnership curve in 2026, here are three smart ways in.

Start With Beano Brain’s Coolest Brands (According to Kids)

Is it a shameless plug? Slightly.
Is it backed by 35,000 US kids aged 7–14? Absolutely.

Our Top 100 Coolest Brands According to Kids 2025–2026 isn’t just a leaderboard – it’s a pressure gauge. And every year, the brands hovering in the 80s and 90s are the ones quietly charging up.

The ones we’re watching for 2026?

• Hello Kitty (#85) – nostalgia is looping, and Sanrio’s multiverse is only getting stronger.
• Sanrio overall – character ecosystems = licensing goldmine.
• Hot Wheels (#86) - confirmed movie deal in the works. IP glow-up loading.
• Jellycat (#96) – if you haven’t clocked the hype yet, this is your “pre-Labubu” moment.

The pattern we see again and again? Brands that just sneak into the Top 100 one year can skyrocket the next. Translation: today’s #96 is tomorrow’s cultural main character.

Read the Cultural Room (Not Just the Ratings)

Let’s rewind to K-Pop Demon Hunters. If you were looking closely, the signs were everywhere.

Tweens have been deep in Japan-coded culture for years – kawaii, anime, manga, J-beauty. Over the past five years, that fascination has expanded into Korean culture in a major way.

K-Pop? Already bedroom-soundtrack status thanks to BLACKPINK and NewJeans (even pre-Katseye). K-beauty? All over TikTok FYPs, shaping tween skincare routines. K-food? 4 in 10 US under-14s have tried Korean food, according to our recent Food For Thought study.

So when ramen-slurping K-Pop baddies hit Netflix? It wasn’t random, it was inevitable.

Winning youth IP doesn’t just trend. It sits at the intersection of multiple live wires – music, food, beauty, aesthetics, fandom behaviour. When several signals align, pay attention.

Expand Your Definition of “IP” (Because Kids Already Have)

If you’re still defining IP as “film, TV and gaming”… we need to talk.

Youth viewing has gone through a full YouTube migration. Creator universes are just as culturally sticky as studio franchises – sometimes more.

Yes, you’ve got the MrBeast-level household names (now spanning Lunchly and Feastables). But don’t sleep on mid-tier creators with hyper-engaged communities.

Take Salish Matter. 16 years old. Just under 3.5M subscribers. Certified tween skincare credibility thanks to her GRWM content. Her Sincerely Yours launch at Sephora? A case study in reaching the Sephora community at exactly the right moment.

The lesson: cultural capital doesn’t always come with a Hollywood budget. Sometimes it comes with a ring light and a comments section that actually cares.

The Takeaway

Spotting the next big youth IP isn’t about predicting lightning strikes. It’s about watching where sparks are already flying.

• Track the near-breakouts in trusted datasets.
• Map IP against wider youth trend currents.
• Rethink what “intellectual property” even means in 2026.

Because the next playground obsession is probably already bubbling – you just need to know where to look.

Want to chat more upcoming IPs with partnership potential or US youth culture more generally? Reach out to Audrey directly at Audrey.birner@Beano.com.