Sesame Street licensing
Sesame Street licenses its characters to many companies for books, toys, clothes, food, and media. Current licensees include Fisher-Price, Build-A-Bear Workshop, Nakajima USA, Hasbro (Sesame Street Monopoly), General Mills (Sesame Street Cereal), Betty Crocker (Elmo Fruit Snacks), C&D Visionary (air fresheners), Wooly Willy, and Children's Apparel Network. Former licensees include Nintendo, Milton Bradley, Tyco, Radio Shack, Palisades Toys, and Ideal Toys.
Sesame Workshop is a nonprofit, so money from licensed products helps fund Sesame Street and its international productions. Tickle Me Elmo was one of the fastest-selling toys in 1996. In 2007, after a large toy recall, Sesame Workshop began requiring independent testing of products and warned it could pull out of licensing if standards weren’t met.
Sesame Street also publishes books and magazines. By 2005, more than 18 million Sesame Street books and magazines had been sold worldwide. The books note that they were created with the Children’s Television Workshop and that children don’t need to watch the show to benefit; profits support CTW educational projects.
Live shows and parks are part of licensing too. Sesame Street Live tours many cities, and Sesame Place is a Sesame Street–themed park in Langhorne, Pennsylvania. International versions exist, such as Barrio Sésamo (Spain), Plaza Sésamo (Mexico), Sesamstraße (Germany), Sesamstraat (Netherlands), and Shalom Sesame. Since 2004, CPLG has handled licensing for Benelux.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 07:51 (CET).