I Spent a Day at Comic-Con 2026 - Here's What a Licensing Pro Actually Sees

No script. No studio. David Born drove from LA to San Diego, spent a full day on the floor of Comic-Con 2026, and brought a microphone along for the ride.

130,000 pop culture fans under one roof — and if you work in licensing, this is your customer base in full force. This episode is a front-row seat to what the industry looks like when it's working: people who plan their entire summer vacation around a convention, queue around the block to get merchandise signed, and spend nine months hand-building a cosplay outfit from scratch.

David visits the Keepsake booth — a Born Licensing client — where lines were wrapping around multiple corners for their Invincible and Walking Dead exclusives. He sits down with Adam from Keepsake on the floor, gets a candid look at what it actually takes to manage a trading card licensing program (hundreds of approval submissions per product cycle), and catches up with licensing attorney David Schneider from Nolan Heiman for a legal read on the day's biggest trend: the unstoppable rise of anime and the growing market for micro-targeted, niche properties sold in small runs direct to a passionate audience.

Along the way: Tom Kenny (the voice of SpongeBob) signing autographs, Pokémon celebrating 30 years and $100 billion in retail sales, Grogu at the Star Wars booth ahead of what David calls the franchise's biggest year in a decade, and a dark Joker-meets-Ronald McDonald outfit that genuinely stopped the floor.

The episode closes with a look ahead — the Paramount–Warner Bros. Discovery merger extended to at least June 2027, a major new Kraft Heinz x Disney partnership across theme parks, cruise lines and ten brands, and a Lego x X-Files range starring Gillian Anderson.

Topics covered:

• What Comic-Con looks like through a licensing professional's eyes — and why it matters
• Inside the Keepsake booth: Invincible, Walking Dead exclusives, and the signing lines that wrapped the floor
• The reality of trading card licensing: hundreds of approval submissions per product
• The rise of anime and niche micro-targeting: how small-run products find passionate audiences through social media
• Pokémon at 30: $100 billion in retail sales from a single property
• Star Wars, Avengers Doomsday, and which franchises are betting big on Comic-Con 2026
• News: Paramount–WBD merger timeline, Kraft Heinz x Disney, and Lego x X-Files

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Transcript

This week's episode is a little different. 

 No script, no studio. 

 I got in the car, drove down from LA to San Diego, and I spent a day at Comic Con 2026. And I have to say, it was an incredible experience. So instead of the usual breakdown, I wanted to bring you along with me. Have a listen. I'm David Born, and this is Born to License. 

 Here I am Comic Con 2026. It is the first time I've ever been to Comic Con. Can you believe it? 20 Years in the licensing industry, and I've never been here. There is 130,000 people expected to enter Comic Con 2026. A lot of enthusiasts here. And really the people here is why the licensing industry exists. These pop culture fans are those that love to buy licensed product. They love to go to the movies. They love to wear licensed product. I mean, look all around. There are so many fanatics here. I'm going to and have a look, and I want you to come with me. Let's see what's going on inside. 

 So the first thing that hits you before you even see a single booth is the scale of it in real time. I tried my very best to explain exactly what I was seeing. 

 So I've just entered Comic Con 2026, and let me tell you, it is crazy. There are so many people here, and you kind of have to weave in and out and make sure that you're not standing in people's way. Everyone's going in different, direct. 

 Everyone's dressed up. 

 You know, there's. I'm walking right behind a guy dressed up as Bowser. I've seen, like, an awesome Skeletor. There's a lot of characters that I don't recognize. And I think that's one of the things about Comic Con is that there is just so pop culture is just so broad, and there's so much within that. So there's a lot of comic books that I've never even heard of, and people are dressed up as characters from those comic books. Now you've got the big players here, so I'm just passing the Marvel Studios doomsday piece. Obviously, Marvel is extremely popular, so it's very busy around this area as photo opportunities with Captain America, by the looks of things. There's other big players here. There's Mattel, there's Hasbro. But what's interesting, there's a lot of smaller brands here that I've never heard of, too. 

 Now we're zigzagging through because I want to go to Keepsake. There is A signing happening right now. Now, Keepsake is one of our clients at Born to License, and they have an invincible license. And they also have Walking Dead and a number of others that we have managed on their behalf. So I'm going to go over there and check out their booth, which I've heard is bursting. I've been seeing them on Instagram, and they've had a lot of people lining up to buy products, lining up to get autographs. And Keepsake has one of the best locations. They're right near Pokemon and right near Nintendo as well. So keeping really good company there. For those who've never been to Comic Con, I'll describe to you what I'm actually seeing. So to the right of me is lots of merchandise. 

 We've got booze, selling a lot of plush backpacks, trading cards, comic books, posters. There's an audio corner, so all the popular books. Looks like they're selling books. There's Funko for sale, obviously. Of course, Funko is going to have a huge presence here. There's a massive Pikachu over there. There's Bart Simpson over here. There's Snoopy, one of my faves. There is a PAC Man Blink 182 collaboration, which is interesting. Look, I've just seen Stan's dad from South Park. There's booths with stickers, with T shirts, lots of collectibles, badges, pins, mugs. Like, there is so much license product here, it's awesome. 

 Now, one of the big reasons I made the trip down was to see what our client, Keepsake, was up to on the floor. We manage a number of licenses for them, and right now, from front and center at their booth was Invincible. So I wanted to go see it myself. 

 You are outside the Keepsake booth. Look how good it looks. And look, they're doing a signing right now. Let's go around the corner and see how long this line actually goes for. It's going all the way around. We got lots of people lining up to get their merchandise signed. All right, so we're here with Adam from Keepsake. Adam, tell me about everything that's going on at the booth. 

 Yes. So we have all the exclusions, exclusives here for Skybound. So we have the Invincible, the Battle Beast, the Invincible versus the Walking Dead comics, and then a variety of other products that we have. But every single day, we're basically doing a different Invincible exclusive. So today was literally Invincible. Yesterday was Anissa. Then we have Omni man and all these really awesome, cool sets that we have. Including tomorrow, we Actually have Ryan Otley doing a live signing here at the booth for Battle Beast as well. That's gonna be a good time, too. So, yeah, we're just trying to make it a fun, interactive time. 

 We spend spin the wheel so people can get free cards and free prizes, exclusives, and then also be able to buy all those fun, as everybody knows, San Diego Comic Con exclusives, which is what everybody knows about as well. 

 Yeah. 

 And so why is it important that you guys have a presence here at Comic Con? 

 You know, for Invincible especially, it's such a big fandom, and it's important to meet the fans. Right. And to be a part of it. And what's amazing is last year were at San Diego Comic Con as well, and we see the same people, Right. At San Diego Comic Con or New York Comic Con or different events that we do, and it just kind of builds a community for us. And that's really what we like to do at Keepsake is when we're working with different properties, is taking care in them, and actually kind of build relationships with the customers, because you oftentimes don't do that, or nor do most customers really get to meet the creators or the owners of a company as well. So we want people to know, like, we care, we value your feedbacks, we like meeting you. 

 We remember your face from last year or wherever it is to make sure that we can constantly be evolving and, you know, getting information and feedback to make the next product ultimately better as well. 

 And we've got some really exciting things in the pipeline, which I'm not going to reveal just yet, but this time next year, you'll have a lot of exciting stuff that's going on as well. 

 Yes, we're going to. We're continuing to add amazing IPs that David here is tremendously helping us out on. So depending on when this airs, I could probably reveal things or I couldn't, but for now, we won't. But, yes, we have incredible stuff that we're working on. I think every year it'll grow and grow. Skybound for us is one of our dearest partners. And I know that we are continuing to add more properties in the animation space, the anime space, the video game space, like pop culture, all that as well, entertainment, music. So a lot of really fun, clever things will be coming up for us as well in the future. 

 Well, huge congratulations. Every time that I've been at this booth, it is absolutely pumping. You've got a line snaking around multiple times. You must be Just so thrilled with how everybody's reacting to it. 

 Absolutely. And that's what makes it so fun, right, Is that you have people that are coming, you know, to a destination out of their day to do this once a year. They get so excited about it. So for. For us, we need to match that excitement for them. 

 Right. 

 Because this is what people look forward to doing, is coming to Comic Cons and this is what they. They plan their summer. This might be their summer vacation. So it's like we need to give the Invincible fans or Michael Jackson or whatever properties that we're, you know, pushing and showing off to people that awesome kind of personal experience on the spot. So that's really what we try to do at our booth is like give everybody a really fun experience and have fun people here that are able to talk and be excited and communicate with all the people. 

 People. 

 It looks like you're certainly doing that. We're going to let you get back to work, but thank you so much for spending the time with us. 

 Thank you so much, David. And excited for future years to come. 

 Now, one of the things that people don't realize when you're a trading cards licensee, like keepsake, is that the approval process is full on. There are hundreds and hundreds of different trading card designs that need to go through the approval process. So in this circumstance, you've got Invincible, you got Walking Dead, and a range of other licenses that they have. Every single design needs to go to Skybound, who's the licensor for approval at concept, reproduction and final production stage. There's hundreds and hundreds of submissions that need to go through the process. 

 Now, I wasn't in Comic Con by myself. Vinnie came with me, and I wanted you to hear what he made of it because he was seeing this for the first time too. Here's Vinnie. 

 So, Vinny, tell me what you're seeing. 

 I'm seeing an overload of colors and people and attempts to look like character from a film or anime or cartoon comic book. 

 What's the best one that you've seen so far? Best outfit? 

 Oh, well, you know, I took a picture of Shera. She looked really good. She was a yummy. She ra has to be yummy. And also I saw the, you know, a trooper, a stormtrooper, and a Darth Vader that. They looked very convincing. I think that's all so far. I mean, I've seen some people that look really good, but I don't know what character they are because it's not from my time, you know. 

 So once we'd covered the keepsake booth, I had another job on my list. Track down the very best dressed people at the whole convention and find out who they were and why. 

 If you want to see what 130,000 pop culture fanatics looks like, this is where you need to be. Comic Con 2020, 26. Behind me you can see the sea of people just goes forever beyond what the eye can see. So I'm here with Deadpool. I'd love to know what has your experience been like today and why have you chosen to be Deadpool? Of all the different characters you could be. 

 Well, he's the merc with the mouth. He's a sarcastic like I am. I spent 12 years of special forces. 

 Deadpool is a special forces and he's anti hero. So he's not good. He's not bad. 

 And he's a smart ass. 

 Like I am very good. 

 And a lot of people have been asking if you're a photo today. 

 Lots of people. I walk like every four fe take a picture. 

 I am dressed as Chun Li from Street Fighter. 

 And why Chun Li from Street Fighter? 

 I associate with her. I'm Asian lady with very thick thighs. I can do high kicks and I like video games. So also my husband loves her so. 

 Well. 

 You look fantastic. 

 Thank you so much. 

 Thank you. 

 I am dressed as Chitara from Thundercat. 

 Maryam, why have you chosen Chitara? 

 Okay, so we are Gen X cosplayers. And who's more iconic than chitarra in the 80s? Come on. 

 And did you grow up watching Thundercats? 

 Of course. Of course. Lionel. Thundercats. Oh, I am so excited for this, the movie that's coming out. So. Yes. You know, they keep putting it on delay, so I'm hoping fingers crossed that they're doing something is going to be announced. Do I hope it's going to be Chitar. Oh my gosh. Fan casting. I mean, Scarjo would be badass, right? Like she would be perfect. So got to go with Scarjo. 

 Okay, you guys are looking amazing. Tell me a bit more about your outfit. 

 So this is pro crossplay. And then the cowl is Hasbro. I bought the cowl first and I was like, let's do the cosplay. So we ended up looking for one my son, healthy Wolverine. 

 Wolverine. 

 Oh. 

 Cause I hope they know I'm Wolverine. And this is Jean Grey. 

 Jean Grey. Phoenix. 

 Not the dark one? 

 No, not yet. 

 Yeah, so that's. That's pretty much it. We bought her outfit. It's a Spandex outfit. Then we bought this along with it. And then, of course, she already has red hair, and she looks great, so. 

 It's a natural fit. 

 And I didn't shave for, like, a week, so this is the scruff I got. 

 Okay, let's start. If you can just tell me who you dress as today. 

 Wanda the Red Witch. 

 And why did you choose Wanda the Red Witch? 

 Because she was one of the most powerful superheroes in history. 

 And what. Tell me about her superpowers. 

 Oh, she's got magic as her main thing, and she is good and evil, so she's got a lot of cool storylines, both directions. 

 Very good. You can relate to that. 

 Yeah, sure. 

 We all have good days and evil days, don't we? 

 That's exactly right. 

 You're looking wonderful. Tell me, who are you dressed as today? 

 I'm dressed as Princess Leia from A. 

 New Hope, of course, and coming up to the big 50th next year. Are you excited about that? 

 Very much so. Carrie Fisher. And Princess Leia is icon. 

 Absolutely. I mean, there are so many characters that you could have dressed up with today. Like, why would you choose Princess Leia? Tell me, what does the character mean to you? 

 Absolutely. So she is a fearless leader. She is politically active. She's a boss lady in a man's world, just kicking ass, taking names. 

 Okay, you're looking fantastic. Can you tell me a bit more about the outfit today? 

 Yeah, so, I mean, I pretty much piece it together over the last year. This different artists. Sartre Studios did Armor Tabor, did a lot of the networks. JJ Studios, I believe the name is good. They call them metal. Piecing it together. 

 All right, we have Ronald McDonald here. Here we have a lot of superheroes and everything. This is the first time we've seen a corporate brand. Tell me about the outfit. 

 Well, I was tired of. 

 It's a darker world now. 

 I think we need change with the times, and this is more cutting edge. 

 So let's bring it on. 

 I feel like it's Joker meets Ronald McDonald, right? 

 Yeah. 

 I've gone legit. 

 But, you know, I did kill Ronald, but I just love the outfit. 

 I am Sir Didymus and Ambrosius from Labyrinth, and I made everything myself. 

 How long did it take you to make? 

 Only two weeks. 

 Wow, that's really impressive. Well, congratulations. You're, like, the standout person. I can see from miles away. You look amazing. 

 Thank you. I appreciate that. It's really hard not to see him from miles away. Right? 

 Exactly. 

 And lots of people have been asking for your photo, I'm guessing. 

 Oh, yes. It's been nice. 

 It is a responsibility when you look this good. You have to stop and take photo with everybody, I think. 

 Absolutely. 

 I am Grand Admiral Thrawn. And tell me a bit more about why you chose this particular character. I've always loved Grand Admiral Thrawn since I read Heir to the Empire in the early 90s. Timothy Zahn is an amazing author and I think it's just a cool one to wear. Well, you look fantastic. How long did it take you to get ready? Probably about an hour and a half. 

 I am Samus Aran from Metroid prime for and having a blast out here. 

 And tell me, why did you choose this outfit over all the different characters that you could be? 

 Yeah. So when Nintendo finally announced the fourth installment in the series almost two years ago, I knew I needed to make it and get it out here right roughly when launch happened. And so we tried and needed some upgrades, but we made it work. 

 Great job. Well, you look amazing. I bet you've just. Everyone just. You're probably hardly able to move without getting photos taken of you here and there. 

 Yeah, that's the joy of it. That's what I love about it. It's a lot of fun. 

 It's just something that I created on my own. It's not copy thing. It's just a dark or fallen angel. 

 So you're like your own character? Essentially. 

 Yes. 

 Yeah. 

 And tell me, how long did it take you to put together? 

 About nine months. 

 Nine? 

 Working on it pretty consistently every week. 

 And so what made you choose this particular outfit? 

 I wanted something with wings and then it grew and it just became this. 

 After chatting with some of the best dressed, I just had to let myself wander. There were a handful of booths that really stopped me in my tracks. And along the way, a few celebrity sightings I wasn't expecting. 

 We've come across a true real deal celebrity here. Tom Kinney is behind me signing autographs. For those who don't know why do you not know? It is the voice of SpongeBob SquarePants, the character that I've licensed. It's more in my entire life. The character that I started working with almost 20 years ago. The voice is right behind me. Very exciting. We come across another celeb. It's Sam J. Jones. It is Flash Gordon behind me. He has his own booth. We're at the Paramount plus booth. Here they are focusing on south park and also Star Trek. Behind me is a game where they're throwing something at the characters and the characters are falling down. That's from what I can witness. Anyways, what's happening? Look who I found. It is Grogu and it is a big, massive Star wars area. 

 Star wars is going to have a massive year next year. We've got a new Hope. Re release, 50th anniversary in February, then May 4th as usual, and then we'll have Starfighter also in May. So it's unsurprising they've made a massive investment here at Comic Con 2026. With Grogu behind me, as well as everything else that's going on, Avengers Doomsday comes out later this year. It is really important for Marvel and for Disney that this does really well. So they've invested big in the booth behind us. Looks like there is a lot of interest for Avengers Doomsday, which is fantastic. There are so many brands that I recognize here, one of which is Jurassic Park. It's been around for decades, generational awareness. It's well and truly evergreen status. Now. There's a lot of new and upcoming brands that we see here at Comic Con. 

 This one is tried and tested and will be popular every single year. Jurassic park. Around the corner we've got Ghostbusters as well. Again, another really popular film franchise that will probably be here for another 20, 30 years at least. Here we are at the Pokemon booth and Pokemon is celebrating 30 years this year. It is one of the most popular licenses in the world. I think over a hundred billion in retail sales in the last 30 years. It is in the top license or list and it's only one property. It sits alongside the Disney's, the Warner Brothers Discoveries, the Paramounts, the Hasbro's, the Mattels, the Universals of the world. But what's unique about Pokemon is it's only one property and that just shows you how popular it is. The booth behind us is absolutely pumping. 

 Now. Before I called it a day, I wanted to get one more perspective this time from the legal side of our industry. I sat down with a friend of the podcast, David Schneider from Nolan Hyman, to hear how he was reading the day. 

 So we've got David Schneider here, friend of the Born to License podcast. I've run it to him at ComicCon 2026. David, how's the event going for you? 

 It's been amazing. There's so many people here and so many clients to see. So much cool stuff to look at and so many people in costumes just enjoying themselves. It's a really good time. 

 Is there anything that's any highlights, anything that you've seen, you've been like, whoa, that's different. Amazing. 

 I was really excited to see Sideshow back. I've been working with them for years and for the last couple years they haven't been at the show. And they set up a booth now where they do these high end statues. They used to all behind glass and they're all amazing. And you can now get up close and actually look at the details, touch them, and it's almost like a living room. It's really cool. 

 What is it that you're looking for? As someone in the business of lore, what are you here for? What are you looking out for? 

 So we have a lot of clients on the floor, so we're stopping by and seeing what they're selling and saying hi. But I'm also sort of looking to see what the trends are occasionally. Usually it's a lot of meeting new people. Every now and then they need legal help, so we're here to provide that. But even if we don't do that, just sort of talking to people who share similar passions and getting to see the cool exhibits and things that people are creating. There's a lot of creativity in this room. 

 Any trends that you've noticed you wanted to share? 

 So we've been talking about for years the rise of anime. It has always been present here, but it is more front and center now than it has ever been. And every year it seems to grow. You know, Crunchyroll years ago had a smaller booth. Now they're a dominant booth in the middle. And it's always sort of fun to see. I don't know what half the stuff in the room is. So it's fun to see the emerging properties, most of which are never going anywhere. But things start to pop out. Jada Toys has been doing some great lines of new things. There are other companies that have fun new products coming out and so just curious to see what they'll come up with next. 

 I think it's funny because I've come here as, you know, an expert in licensing. I kind of feel like I should have my finger on the pulse. I feel like I do have the finger on the pulse. But then you come around here, there's so many brands, there's so many. You're like, who is that person dressed up as? And it's like this like real niche comic book that I could have never heard of. I mean, that's just the beauty of Comic Con, right? 

 Well, so for a couple of years I've Been talking about micro targeting and how it used to be you needed a tent pole film. That's what drove the property that still exists. I mean, you have Toy Story 5 and other examples, but you can now have markets that are. With social media. You can do a very niche property that very few people know about, and you can find an audience and sell that product. And a lot of companies will do small runs now, so they'll do. Instead of 5,000 products, they'll do 200. But you can find an audience it connects with, and you can sell direct to them. And so walking around, you will see, like, big Bad toy store has Big Bad Workshop. They're developing original characters. There are other companies doing. 

 Doing similar things where they just do four Horsemen and these sort of random lines that people are just really good at what they do, creating toys and creating a lore to go around them, and they find an audience. And so when I walk around, I'm amazed. Like, how are you selling this? How are there people who want to buy this? But through social media, they connect with an audience and they tell a story. 

 Last question. If you were to come back next year dressed as someone, a character, who would it be? 

 You know, I've never dressed up as anything to come to this. I would probably. I now have my Averatech helmet, so I'd probably come as Rick Hunt from Robotech. 

 Okay, that sounds good. I'm thinking Scooby Doo for me next year. Yeah. What do you reckon? 

 We'll make a great pair. 

 All right. Sounds good. Okay. So it is a wrap for ComicCon 2026. I've just walked out. We're gonna go get some food. What an incredible experience. Behind me is, again, the reason why the licensing industry exists. So many pop culture fans I met, so many amazing people that put their blood, sweat, and tears into their outfits. So, so impressive. Amazing licensed product out there. I had the opportunity to talk to Adam from Keith Keepsake. That was a lot of fun. Had a great chat with David Schneider as well, getting his legal take on things too. And it was just an incredible experience. Highly recommend. Anybody that wants to come to Comic Con 2026. I'm thinking about who should I be next year? If I put some more thought into it, I can go beyond just the David Born outfit. 

 Maybe I can be Scooby Doo Superman. I'm not sure. You let me know. 

 And so that's it. That was my day at Comic Con 2026. An incredible experience. And I'm already thinking I'll have to come back next year, maybe dressed up this time. Right back to normal Licensing news next week, and there's plenty of it. This past week alone, there's been a real escalation in the Paramount and Warner Bros. 

 Discovery saga. 

 Paramount has now agreed not to close the merger until potentially June 2027 or until the state attorneys general's antitrust suit and the Writers Guild separate suit are resolved. Also this week, Kraft Heinz and Disney announced a genuinely massive partnership spanning across theme parks, cruise lines and Character licensing across 10 Kraft Heinz brands. 

 That's a big one for the industry to watch. 

 And Lego launched an X Files range with a fun campaign starring Scully herself, Gillian Anderson. There is never a shortage of licensing news until next week. I'm David Born. This is born to license.