John Youshaei, Roan Kaji, Ryan Kaji, and Zion Kaji.
Drew Wilber
What started as a home video about buying toys, taking them out of the box, and playing with them has now grown into one of the biggest businesses to come out of YouTube, especially with the release of the feature film “Ryan's World the Movie: Titan Universe Adventure,” which hits more than 2,100 theaters this month.
It all started when a then 3-year-old Ryan Kaji asked his mom, “Why don't you do YouTube?”
“Everyone else is on YouTube, why am I not?” Loan Kaji recalls Ryan asking in 2011.
Ryan was inspired by other children's toy review channels and Loan agreed to film his first video playing with and reviewing a Lego train set, they named the channel “Ryan's Toy Reviews”.
Ryan's first video, “Kids playing with Lego Duplo toys: Number train”
Ryan's World
Now in 2024, what began as a simple home video “toy review” has grown into a billion-dollar empire encompassing television, product lines, and now theatrical releases.
Ryan's Toy Reviews became Ryan's World, and the channel evolved to include educational content, animated shows, and Ryan's sisters Emma and Kate.
By 2018, Ryan's World became the first creator to have a product line in Walmart and has now generated over $1 billion in sales of toys, games and collectibles.
Red Titan character float in the 2020 Macy's Day Parade
Macy's
In 2020, the Nickelodeon show “Ryan's Mystery Playdate” was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award. In 2022, the Kaji family became the first creators to have a balloon exhibit in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Behind the scenes, Ryan's parents, Shion and Loan, founded Sunlight Entertainment, which not only produces Ryan's World but has also launched eight other channels that have garnered more than 63 million subscribers.
“We have about 30 to 40 (full-time) employees: video editors, producers, animators, voice actors, cameramen, scriptwriters, etc.,” Xiong said.
I sat down with Ryan, Loan, and Zion to talk about the movie, building a billion-dollar YouTube business, and how they're taking care of Ryan all the while.
Jump
The Kaji brothers first made waves just a few months after uploading their first video, a giant Lightning McQueen surprise egg filled with over 100 Disney Cars toys, which has now been viewed 1.1 billion times.
From there, the channel grew explosively. Views doubled every month. By 2016, the channel reached 1 million subscribers, and by 2017, the channel had over 5 million subscribers. Today, Ryan's World has 37.4 million subscribers.
The rapid growth prompted both Roan and Xiong to quit their jobs in 2016 and turn the channel into full-time work. Xiong was an engineer earning $100,000 a year, and Roan was a teacher.
“I was making more in one month on YouTube than I made in a year,” Loan said.
“I had enough savings to start a company and invest in a new team… I felt like I could build something outside of Ryan,” Xiong said.
“That way we can expand the brand without putting undue stress or pressure on him.”
First it was puppet characters, then a second channel, and they soon launched animated characters and hired additional performers.
With YouTube banning targeted advertising to children in 2020, Xiong and Roan have shifted their focus to other revenue streams, most notably their product line with Walmart, which ranges from collectible figurines to headphones, mystery packs, Nerf-style blasters and board games.
Since launching in partnership with Pocket.watch in 2018, Kaji's Walmart line has sold more than $1 billion worth of products.
“Since launching in 2017, Pocket.watch has been working with top kids and family creators to build franchises, starting with curating, amplifying and packaging our partners' YouTube content for distribution on global streaming platforms and TV networks, including Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Peacock and The Roku Channel,” explained Chris Williams, CEO of pocket.watch.
“In addition, we expand their creative vision by developing new IP, often animated, that resonates deeply with audiences. We have produced more than 20 original series that have had great success and expanded into consumer products and games, led by Ryan's World and Love, Diana.”
“SpongeBob is to Nickelodeon what Ryan is to YouTube and Next Generation,” Williams previously said when describing the power of Kaji's community and brand.
Ryan's World: The Movie
With nearly a decade of success on YouTube and over $1 billion in sales for their product line, we asked the Kajis why they make films and whether they think the risk is worth it.
“This is definitely a big crossover from short-form to long-form content,” Xiong said. “If this is successful, it will open up avenues for a lot of creators.”
Poster for “Ryan's World the Movie: Titan Universe Adventure”
Ryan's World
The film is currently scheduled to be released in 2,100 theaters across the United States, with an international theatrical release currently in preparation.
There was consideration to releasing the film directly to fans on YouTube, but Kaji simply didn't want to make a long version of the video.
Instead, they wanted to give audiences an authentic theatrical experience, which meant a higher budget and a theatrical release commensurate with that budget (though the film will eventually be released on streaming).
Shion declined to reveal the exact budget, but said it was “several million dollars,” making it “thousands of times” more expensive than a standard video. In fact, the Kajis, along with their partner Pocketwatch, personally contributed a large amount to the film's budget.
While Ryan's World: Titan Universe Adventure is centered around him, it also has a major role for twin sisters Emma and Kate who are trapped in a cartoon world. Ryan must enter the cartoon world and save the sisters before their parents notice their disappearance.
“We started as a normal family, for me an immigrant family, and we were able to create something from scratch, and now we're getting to have a feature film on the big screen?” Roan said.
“I want people to know that if we can do it, you can do it too. Just follow your passion, you know? Don't give up.”
Williams echoed Roan's sentiments, saying, “Ryan's World the Movie is the first theatrically released film led by a digital creator, and will be a great learning opportunity for many people, including creators, film distributors, and theater chains. I'm confident that other digital creators and IPs will jump through the door that Ryan's World and Pocket Watch have opened.”
Putting Ryan First
Ryan became famous at age 3 and has practically grown up to be a YouTube celebrity. I asked him if there was a moment when he realized his family was different from other families.
“Once people started recognizing me, I realized we were becoming known for it, and that's something people don't normally do,” Ryan said.
“But we don't want YouTube to become a huge part of Ryan's daily life,” Xiong said.
And throughout the interview, it's clear that Zion and Loan take that promise seriously: They even relocated their family from Dallas to Hawaii during the pandemic, simply because Ryan fell in love with the state.
The growth of Sunlight Entertainment has allowed Ryan to limit his filming time to just one hour each week.
Last year alone, the family went to Japan five times for Ryan's newest hobby, snowboarding.
Financially, a significant portion of YouTube and product revenues are invested in Ryan’s name, making him a millionaire at just 10 years old.
For the Nickelodeon show Ryan's Mystery Playdate, Ryan received 100% of his fee, rather than the standard 15% required by the Coogan Act.
When asked what would happen if Ryan quit YouTube, Zion replied:
“If he finds his passion, we'll be fully supportive. We don't really care if it's outside of YouTube or not,” Xiong said.
Their journey from uploading simple home videos to releasing a feature film in theaters is a testament not only to the Kajis, but to YouTube's potential.
When we asked Ryan about his goals for the future, he replied, “I really love playing tennis, so I want to get better.”
As Ryan enters his teenage years, the family is considering whether to phase him out of kid-friendly content or to incorporate him into the channel's content as he ages. Whatever the Kajis' plans for the future, it's clear that Ryan's wants and needs will come first.
