Leadership1 publisher3 min readPublished
Five Below credited store traffic to a toy class that sits in a regulatory gray area
America's Poison Centers logged 11,500 squishy reports since 2024, more than half of them in the first half of 2026, and the federal response so far is an August warning to shoppers about heat. Two July lawsuits will test the rest.
The Board Room · Leadership desk
What happened
- A 10-year-old microwaved a glittery squishy cube for 30 seconds in June; it erupted over her face and mouth, and she was treated in an emergency room.
- America's Poison Centers said its members have received 11,500 squishy reports since 2024, more than half in the first six months of 2026, with only a small portion of ruptures causing severe injury.
- Five Below CEO Winnie Park told investors in June that the toys had gone "from zero to hero," and Kohl's credited squishies with a sales bump.
Compiled by The Board RoomSomething wrong?How this is made
Why it matters
- constraint Guidance addressed to shoppers is not a test specification, so a category buyer cannot point at compliance as a defence when a rupture claim arrives this quarter.
- exposure Two public retailers have told the market that this category lifts traffic and sales, so any pull, recall or assortment cut shows up in a comp investors were already told to expect.
- contradiction Report volume rose at least fourfold while the category was also selling harder, and unit sales are undisclosed, so the counts cannot settle whether the product got riskier or just more common.
- decision Next season's reorder gets decided before any federal standard exists: keep a traffic driver in a channel that carries counterfeits, or drop it while a competitor keeps stocking it.
The 11,500 figure needs a denominator, and the record does not supply one. America's Poison Centers told Business Insider that more than half of the squishy reports its members logged since 2024 arrived in the first six months of 2026 [7]. Split at the halfway mark, that is more than 5,750 reports in six months, above 958 a month, against fewer than 240 a month across 2024 and 2025. At minimum, four times the earlier pace [21]. Sales moved in the same window: Five Below CEO Winnie Park told investors in June the toys had gone "from zero to hero" [8], and Kohl's credited them with a sales bump [10]. Business Insider did not report unit sales for the category, so these are counts and not a rate [24].
No rule covers squishies. They are grouped with fidget spinners, kinetic sand and magnetic balls as sensory toys [5], and Business Insider reported that oversight of them falls into a regulatory gray area, with counterfeits and knockoffs throughout the market [6]. In August the Consumer Product Safety Commission issued guidance warning shoppers about serious burn hazards from exposing the toys to heat, intentionally or unintentionally [18]. A spokesperson told Business Insider the toys touch several longstanding agency concerns, including the dangers of water beads and potential exposure to unsafe chemicals [19]. Guidance written for shoppers puts the caution in the household.
So the design question goes to the courts. Schylling, which makes the most popular squishy brand, NeeDoh, drew two lawsuits in July over explosions that plaintiffs say caused severe burns [11]. One complaint describes a NeeDoh Nice Cube that sat cool to the touch on a TV stand near a window and, when squeezed, erupted with a scalding gel that blistered the person's leg [12]. Lawyers for the company declined to comment on the allegations [13]. The agency considers microwaving improper use [20]. That sorts the incidents into two piles with very different commercial weight: heat cases a seller can argue were misuse, and failures during ordinary squeezing. A parent reported to the CPSC in August that "The outer layer of the toy failed without warning, spraying the internal filling directly across my son's face and into his eyes" [16].
The board-deck version is manageable: a large report count, only a small portion of ruptures causing severe injury [7], about a dozen explosion cases in hospital data the CPSC collected for 2025 [15]. It is incomplete in two places. Roughly 20 reports to the agency this year describe strong smells, alongside about two dozen from consumers whose children were burned by ruptures from microwaves, hot cars and squeezing [14]; a February report described an odor "resembling acetone or nail polish remover" [17]. Katie Zerbst, who found her 10-year-old in the kitchen in June, told Business Insider: "It was the sound that makes you just drop everything and run" [4].
The reorder decision arrives before any standard does. A buyer who keeps the assortment is betting that the counterfeit share of the channel is small enough for vendor testing to cover what reaches the shelf [6]. A buyer who cuts it gives up something Park said on September's earnings call is helping the chain become "America's greatest little toy store" by driving brick-and-mortar traffic [9].
What to watch
- Whether the CPSC moves from shopper guidance to a rulemaking or recall covering sensory toys and their fill materials.
- Whether the two July suits against Schylling produce a ruling on design, or settle without one.
- Whether Five Below and Kohl's still name squishies as a traffic and sales driver on their next earnings calls.