Claw cranes stocked with kawaii plush in Akihabara, Tokyo, and a woman playing one. One history traces Squishmallows to Jonathan Kelly's trip to Japan, and to Kellytoy's claw-machine prizes. Photo Basile Morin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. No free image of a Squishmallow exists — the toys are Kellytoy/Jazwares IP.
Squishmallows
What it took directly
- documentedSquishmallows took from Jonathan Kelly's trip to Japan"Jonathan Kelly came up with the idea of the toys after a vacation to Japan." Ashley Hainzer, The Wright State Guardian (student newspaper, 2025). RetailWire (2023) tells the same story, citing a Yahoo Finance video interview with Kelly whose words we could not capture
- documentedSquishmallows took from stretch spandex and polyester stuffing"Squishmallows are made from soft and squishy spandex “EF” and polyester stuffing that makes each character as puffy as a marshmallow" Jackie Cucco, The Toy Book (2021)
- inferredThe name Squishmallows took from the marshmallow"Kellytoy created the line of loveable buddies from super soft, marshmallow-like texture and polyester" inferred — the maker's own page describes a "marshmallow-like texture", but no source we found explains the name
- documentedCameron the cat (the first Squishmallow) took from the name and life story Elisa Vazquez gave him the moment she saw the design"Cameron the cat was the very first Squishmallow. Vazquez took one look at the design and instantly gave him a name and a life story." Jackie Cucco, The Toy Book (2021)
- documentedPaulita the tabby cat took from one of Elisa Vazquez's sisters"Paulita the tabby cat was inspired by one of Vazquez’s sisters" Jackie Cucco, The Toy Book (2021)
- documentedDoug the dog took from a fan's drawing, the first fan-created Squishmallow"Doug the dog was originally a fan drawing that was turned into a reality as the first fan-created Squishmallow" Jackie Cucco, The Toy Book (2021)
What it learned to do
- statedSquishmallows' names and bios learned from fan feedback, the designs, places, and Elisa Vazquez's own colleagues, friends and family"The inspiration comes from fan feedback, designs, locations, and general life experience, as well as colleagues, friends, and family. Also, tequila." Elisa Vazquez, Kellytoy marketing manager and the characters' bio writer, to The Toy Book (2021)
- statedSquishmallows learned from collecting, designed in from the start"Collectibility was always something that was part of the plan" Gerhard Runken, Jazwares vice president of global brand, to The Toy Book (2021)
- statedSquishmallows learned from scarcity: exclusives that keep fans hunting"The success of Squishmallows comes from the exclusivity, which helps drive collectibility" Jonathan Kelly, Kellytoy co-president, to The New York Times (Taylor Lorenz, 2021)
The tradition it sits in
- documentedSquishmallows comes from Japan's love of cute, soft plush"He noticed how attached the masses were to cute and soft plushies, and he took that and created the Squishmallows." Ashley Hainzer, The Wright State Guardian (student newspaper, 2025), relaying Jonathan Kelly's account
- documentedSquishmallows comes from Kellytoy, a plush maker founded in 1986, and its everyday and seasonal plush"Founded in 1986, CA- based Kellytoy is a manufacturer of everyday and seasonal plush toys, known principally for its Squishmallows brand." Zacks Equity Research, via Nasdaq (2020)
- inferredSquishmallows comes from amusement-prize plush: claw machines and fairground prizes"Kelly Toys Holdings, LLC and Kelly Amusement Holdings, LLC, formerly known as Kellytoy Worldwide, Inc. and Kellytoy (USA), Inc., collectively known as Kellytoy." inferred — Kellytoy's companies include Kelly Amusement Holdings, and a student paper (The Wright State Guardian, 2025) says the line began as claw-machine prizes; trade press says it launched at Walgreens
- inferredSquishmallows comes from the collectible-plush line of Beanie Babies and Webkinz"they've also turned into a collector's item that follows in the footsteps of toys like Webkinz and Beanie Babies." inferred — Insider, The New York Times and The Toy Book all make the comparison; none says Kellytoy drew on Ty or Webkinz
Where the whole form comes from
- statedEach Squishmallow's name comes from Elisa Vazquez's childhood as the kid whose name was never on the keychain rack"Because I was the kid with a hard name who could never find it on a pencil or a keychain, I wanted to make sure that other people could find a Squish with their name on it." Elisa Vazquez, to The Toy Book (2021)
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