- Just Play has hired toy industry veteran Sara Taylor (pictured) as SVP of sales for EMEA. Reporting directly to COO Jerry Goldsmith, she’ll be steering commercial strategies and sales operations in the region in this newly created role. Taylor began her career in the ’90s as a Mattel business unit manager for girls toys before moving on to senior roles overseeing the UK & Ireland market at Spin Master (2008 to 2022) and MGA Entertainment (2022 to 2025).
- LA-based mediaco Elf Labs has brought in Walter McDaniel as its new head of animation and production. McDaniel is a comic book artist with credits across Marvel Comics, DC Comics, Hasbro and Mattel. He’ll be responsible for supporting Elf Labs’ animation pipeline (by overseeing the execution of story bibles, character development, and scriptwriting) and will also serve as a production partner on upcoming content, which includes a Once Upon a Zombie franchise.
- Damon Baker started a new gig as VP of digital licensing at Hasbro last week, with a focus on connecting the company’s brands with gaming studios and developers. He joins from Tencent Games, where he served as head of strategic partners for console/PC since 2024. Baker has two decades of experience in gaming partnerships and brand licensing for companies like Nintendo (2006 to 2018) and Microsoft (2019 to 2021).
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