Toei Animation earnings: how the studio makes money
Toei Animation's IR segment tables separate Licensing, Film, Sales of Goods, and Others. Licensing carries the margin; Film carries the top line.
Published: 2026-08-05. Updated: 2026-08-05.
Short answer: Toei Animation earns money in four reported segments. For the fiscal year ended March 2026, Licensing generated JPY 48.9 billion in revenue and JPY 26.7 billion in operating income, making it the profit engine. Film, which covers theatrical and home video, produced JPY 31.2 billion in revenue but only JPY 8.8 billion in operating income. Sales of Goods and Others were far smaller. The segment table answers how the business makes money, not which individual titles drove the result.
How Toei Animation reports its earnings
Toei Animation breaks its consolidated business into four segments: Film, Licensing, Sales of Goods, and Others. The company discloses segment revenue and operating income in its investor relations materials, which lets analysts see where profit comes from even when per-title numbers are not published.
For the fiscal year ended March 2026, the segments reported the following revenue and operating income, both in millions of Japanese yen. Toei's English segment page labels this year FY2025, while its Japanese page labels it 2026年3月期.
Toei Animation segment results, fiscal year ended March 2026, in millions of JPY.| Segment | Revenue | Operating income | Operating margin |
|---|
| Licensing | JPY 48,905M | JPY 26,720M | 54.6% |
| Film | JPY 31,151M | JPY 8,751M | 28.1% |
| Sales of Goods | JPY 7,923M | JPY 734M | 9.3% |
| Others | JPY 6,325M | JPY 356M | 5.6% |
Why Licensing is the profit engine
Licensing is Toei Animation's highest-margin segment. It generated JPY 48.9 billion in revenue and JPY 26.7 billion in operating income, a 54.6% operating margin. This is where the company monetizes rights to long-running franchises such as One Piece, Dragon Ball, and Precure through domestic and international licensing, merchandising, and media exploitation.
The economics are simple: once an IP is established, licensing revenue can scale without requiring the same incremental production cost as a new theatrical film. That does not mean licensing is free; it means the marginal economics are different from producing and distributing film prints or managing physical goods.
Film is bigger revenue, lower margin
Film is Toei's largest segment by revenue at JPY 31.2 billion, but its operating income of JPY 8.8 billion gives it a 28.1% margin. The segment covers theatrical releases, home video, and related exploitation. A hit film creates a large gross number, but production, marketing, and distribution costs consume a much larger share of that revenue than licensing does.
This is the normal structure for a major animation studio with global IP. Film builds audience, brand, and downstream licensing value, while licensing harvests that value with comparatively lighter ongoing investment. The segment table shows both effects at once.
How to read a Japanese IR segment table
Japanese companies typically report segments by business line rather than by title or region. Toei's table shows revenue and operating income for each segment, but it does not split revenue by country, by franchise, or by theatrical title.
Operating income is the profit metric most useful for comparing segments, because it reflects each business line after its direct costs. Net income includes corporate overhead, taxes, and non-operating items that are not assigned to segments, so it cannot tell you whether Film or Licensing is more profitable on a like-for-like basis.
Currency and rounding note: Toei reports in millions of Japanese yen. AnimeSignal rounds large figures to billions of yen for readability. 48,905 million yen is JPY 48.9 billion.
What the disclosures deliberately do not show
Toei does not disclose revenue or profit for individual titles. You cannot read the segment table and know how much One Piece, Dragon Ball Daima, or the latest Precure film contributed. The company also does not break out international versus domestic licensing, or streaming versus merchandise rights.
This is standard for Japanese animation IR. Segment reporting is designed to show the shape of the business, not to give competitors or licensors a title-by-title negotiating map. Analysts must estimate per-title economics from external data such as box office, manga sales, and streaming rankings.
Where Toei fits in the broader anime market
Toei Animation sits at the integrated end of the anime business. It owns or co-owns major IP, produces animation, and licenses rights globally. That makes it different from many smaller production companies that earn most of their revenue from production fees and do not capture downstream licensing income.
The Association of Japanese Animations estimates that the broader anime market reached JPY 3.84 trillion in 2024, while production-company revenue was about JPY 466.2 billion. Toei's reported revenue of roughly JPY 94.3 billion for the year ended March 2026 puts it among the largest individual companies in the production-company market, but that market is only one slice of the total anime economy.
Frequently asked questions
What are Toei Animation's main revenue sources?
Toei reports four segments. For the fiscal year ended March 2026, Licensing generated JPY 48.9 billion, Film generated JPY 31.2 billion, Sales of Goods generated JPY 7.9 billion, and Others generated JPY 6.3 billion.
Why is Toei Animation's Licensing segment more profitable than Film?
Licensing revenue is tied to established franchise rights and scales with lower incremental cost. Toei's Licensing segment had a 54.6% operating margin for the fiscal year ended March 2026, compared with 28.1% for Film, which carries higher production, marketing, and distribution costs.
Does Toei Animation report earnings per anime title?
No. Toei's segment disclosures show revenue and operating income by business line, not by title, franchise, or region. The company does not publish per-title revenue, profit, or international splits.
What fiscal year does Toei Animation use?
Toei Animation's fiscal year ends in March. The fiscal year ended March 2026 is labeled FY2025 on the company's English IR segment page and 2026年3月期 on its Japanese IR segment page.
Sources and methodology
- Segment Information: Revenue, Toei Animation. English segment revenue table, FY2021 through FY2025. FY2025 equals the fiscal year ended March 2026.
- 事業セグメント情報 (Segment Information), Toei Animation. Japanese segment revenue and operating income tables, 2022年3月期 through 2026年3月期.