Westfield turns Toy Story 5 into a family retail-media magnet
- 7 days ago
- 3 min read
Updated: 5 days ago
TL;DR: Westfield Rise and Disney UK have expanded a 'Toy Story 5' experience across Westfield London and Stratford City — a multi-brand, multi-channel activation that shows how shopping centres are reinventing themselves as retail-media and experience platforms, not just landlords.
What's on at Westfield
'Bonnie's Playtime', the second phase of the activation, brings interactive play zones and shareable content moments, backed by a multi-brand tie-up spanning LEGO, Mattel, Funko, Simba and The Disney Store. It celebrates Disney and Pixar's Toy Story 5, which has crossed $1bn at the global box office.
Westfield London ran the experience through 9 August, while Westfield Stratford City continues to 31 August 2026. An earlier June phase leaned Gen Z, with a claw-machine photo opportunity and a Disney Lorcana spin-to-win game.
This is retail media wearing a play costume
Westfield Rise — Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield's brand-experience arm — ran the campaign across experiential, digital out-of-home, social, CRM and destination marketing. That combination is the tell: the mall isn't simply renting floor space, it's selling an audience and a full-funnel campaign to a brand partner.
As Mel Lalou, director of Westfield Rise Northern Europe, put it: 'The Toy Story 5 campaign showcases how brands can use our platform to connect with families at scale.' Read 'platform', not 'property'.
Marketing Minute's read: footfall is the new impression
As e-commerce commoditised online reach, physical destinations rediscovered their genuine edge: dwell time, families and a captive, high-intent audience. A blockbuster film tie-in supplies the reason to visit; the DOOH, social and CRM wrap turns that visit into measurable media.
This is the same logic driving retail-media networks in the grocery aisle, just applied to a shopping centre. Expect more landlords to package footfall as an ad product with real attribution attached.
What businesses should do
Smaller brands can't buy a Westfield takeover, but the principle scales down neatly: give people a concrete reason to show up, make the moment endlessly photographable, and wire it to data capture — a CRM sign-up, a QR code, a loyalty prompt. And if you run a retailer or venue yourself, remember your footfall is inventory. Start treating it as something you can sell.
Quick FAQ
What is the Westfield Toy Story 5 experience?
'Bonnie's Playtime', a Disney UK x Westfield Rise activation with interactive play zones and multi-brand partners (LEGO, Mattel, Funko, Simba, The Disney Store), running at Westfield Stratford City until 31 August 2026.
Why are shopping centres doing this?
To reposition as experience and retail-media platforms — packaging footfall, dwell time and data into a full-funnel product brands can buy, rather than just leasing floor space.
What can smaller brands learn?
Give people a reason to show up, make it highly shareable, and connect it to data capture — the experiential-plus-media model scales down to almost any budget.
— Christie McCormack, Retail & Consumer Editor at Marketing Minute
In a world of commoditised online reach, footfall is the scarce impression — and destinations are learning to sell it as media.
If your business has physical footfall, are you treating it as a cost centre — or as advertising inventory you could monetise?
If you would like to know more about this topic, please contact us on danieln@merxmarketing.co.uk
Sources: Campaign, Retail Times, Retail Gazette.
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Written by Christie McCormack, Retail & Consumer Editor at Marketing Minute
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