From YouTube To The Big Screen: Ryan’s World Debuts In Theaters

It started as home videos; purchasing, unboxing, and playing with toys. Nearly a decade later, Ryan’s World is growing into one of the biggest businesses built off YouTube, especially with their feature film, Ryan’s World the Movie: Titan Universe Adventure, debuting in over 2,100 theaters this month.

It all began with Ryan Kaji, three years old at the time, asking his mother why he wasn’t on YouTube?

“How come I’m not on YouTube when all the other kids are?” Loann Kaji recalls Ryan asking in 2011.

Ryan was inspired by other children’s toy review channels, and Loann agreed to film their first video, playing with and reviewing a Lego train set. They called the channel Ryan’s Toys Review.

Now, in 2024, what started as merely home-video ‘toy reviews’ has grown into a billion dollar empire, spanning television, product lines, and now a theatrical release.

Ryan’s Toy Reviews became Ryan’s World, as the channel evolved to include educational content, animated shows, and Ryan’s younger sisters Emma and Kate.

By 2018, Ryan’s World was the first creator to have a product line in Walmart, now selling over 1 billion dollars in toys, games, and collectables.

In 2020, their Nickelodeon show Ryan’s Mystery Playdate received a Daytime Emmy nomination. In 2022, the Kaji’s became the first creator to have a balloon in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade.

Behind the scenes, Ryan’s parents, Shion and Loann, launched Sunlight Entertainment, which not only handles the production for Ryan’s World, but has also launched 8 other channels — amassing over 63 million subscribers.

“We have about 30 to 40 [full time] employees … video editors, producers, animators, voice actors, on-camera talent, script writers,” Shion said.

I sat down with Ryan, Loann, and Shion to discuss the film, building a billion-dollar YouTube business, and how they look after Ryan through it all.

Making The Jump

The Kaji’s first moment of virality came just months after their first upload with GIANT Lightning McQueen Egg Surprise with 100+ Disney Cars Toys, which now sits at 1.1 billion views.

From there, the channel exploded. Views doubled month after month. By 2016 the channel had 1 million subscribers. By 2017 the channel had over 5 million subscribers. And today, Ryan’s World has 37.4M subscribers.

The sudden growth pushed Loann and Shion to quit their jobs in 2016, turning the channel into a full time career. Shion was an engineer, bringing in $100,000 per year, and Loann was a teacher.

“One month [on YouTube] was way more than I could have made in a whole year,” Loann said.

“We had enough savings for us to start a company and invest money on a new team…We felt like we could build out something outside of Ryan,” Shion said.

“That way we can expand the brand without putting too much stress or pressure on him.”

First was a puppet character, then a second channel. Before long they had launched animated characters and hired additional on-screen talent.

With targeted ads for children being banned on YouTube in 2020, Shion and Loann shifted focus to other revenue streams. Most notably their product line with Walmart, which spans from collectable figurines to headphones, mystery packs, nerf-style blasters, board games, and more.

Since launching in 2018 in partnership with Pocket.watch, the Kaji’s Walmart line has sold over $1 billion dollars worth of product.

“Pocket.watch has been dedicated to building franchises in collaboration with top kids and family creators since its inception in 2017. We start by curating, enriching, and packaging our partners’ YouTube content for distribution on global streaming platforms and TV networks like Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Peacock, and The Roku Channel,” pocket.watch CEO Chris Williams explained.

“Beyond this, we expand their creative vision by developing new IP, often animated, that resonates deeply with their audience. We’ve produced over 20 original series and with great success we can extend into consumer products and games, most exemplified by Ryan’s World and Love, Diana.”

Williams also once said “Spongebob is to Nickelodeon, as Ryan is to YouTube and this next generation,” when it came to explaining the power of Kaji’s community and brand.

Ryan’s World: The Movie

With a near decade long of success on YouTube and a product line with over a billion dollars in sales, I asked the Kaji’s: why make a movie and is it worth the risk?

“It’s definitely a big crossover from the shortest form of content to the longest form,” Shion said. “If this does succeed, it opens the door for a lot of creators.”

The film is currently set to debut in 2,100 theaters across the US, with an international theatrical release currently in the works.

While releasing the film on YouTube, directly to the fans, was considered, the Kaji’s didn’t want to just make a longer version of their videos.

Instead, they wanted to create a true theatrical experience for their audience — which means a higher budget, and a theatrical release to warrant that budget (although the film will eventually release on streaming).

While Shion did not confirm a specific budget, it is “millions of dollars”, and “thousands [of] times more” expensive than their normal videos. The Kaji’s actually personally invested a large stake into the film’s budget, along with their partner PocketWatch.

Ryan’s World the Movie: Titan Universe Adventure stars Ryan, but also gives a large role to his twin sisters Emma and Kate, who find themselves stuck in a comic book world. Ryan then must enter the animated realm to save his sisters, before his parents discover their disappearance.

“For us to go from a regular family, immigrant family for me, and be able to just create from scratch. And now a full length feature movie on the big screen?” Loann said.

“I hope people realize that, you know, like if we can do it, you guys can do it too. Just follow your passion, right? Just don’t give up.”

Williams echoed Loann’s sentiments, stating: “Ryan’s World The Movie is the first ever digital creator driven theatrical release and it will create an incredible learning opportunity for creators, film distributors, movie theater chains and many others. I am confident other digital creators and IP will leap through the door that Ryan’s World and pocket.watch have opened.”

Putting Ryan First

With Ryan’s fame starting at the age of 3, he’s essentially grown up being a YouTube celebrity. I asked Ryan if there was a moment he realized his family was different than most.

“When people recognized me…I realized that we were famous off of it. And that it was a thing that people didn’t normally do,” Ryan said.

“But we want to make sure that YouTube doesn’t become just the majority of Ryan’s daily life,” Shion said.

And throughout our interview, it’s clear that Shion and Loann are serious about that commitment. Amidst the pandemic, they moved their family from Dallas to Hawaii, simply because Ryan fell in love with Hawaii.

With the growth of Sunlight Entertainment, they’ve been able to limit Ryan’s filming time to an hour each week.

In the last year alone, the family went to Japan five times for Ryan to snowboard, his most recent hobby.

Financially, a healthy portion of all YouTube and product revenue is invested under Ryan’s name, making him a millionaire by the age of 10.

For their Nickelodeon show, Ryan’s Mystery Playdate, Ryan received 100% of his talent fee, as opposed to the standard 15% required by the Coogan Law.

When asked what would happen if Ryan called it quits on YouTube, Shion said the following.

“If he finds his passion, we are fully supportive. Whether it’s outside of YouTube or not, we don’t really mind,” Shion said.

The journey from uploading simple home videos to releasing a feature film in theaters is not only a testament to the Kaji’s, but the possibilities of YouTube.

When I asked Ryan about his goals for the future, he replied, “I want to get better at tennis because I really like playing it.”

With Ryan entering his teenage years, the family is considering either phasing Ryan out of the kid’s content, or aging up the content of the channel with Ryan. Whatever is next for the Kaji’s, it’s clear Ryan’s wants and needs are prioritized above all else.