Apple TV+ is turning to a “beary” popular collectible toy brand from Japan to amp up its kids and family content offering.

The streamer has greenlit BE@RBRICK, based on the same-name line of anthropomorphized bear figures sold by Japan’s Medicom Toy. LA’s DreamWorks Animation (Puss in Boots: The Last Wish) and Tokyo-based ad agency Dentsu will co-produce the 13-episode series. 

BE@RBRICK has sold the figures globally since the brand first launched in 2001. Over the ensuing years, Medicom has inked deals with companies like Disney and WBD to license popular kids characters/IPs such as Mickey Mouse and the Looney Toons for limited-edition ranges. And the toyco has also partnered with sports companies and luxury fashion designers for older-skewing collections.

Meghan McCarthy (My Little Pony) will showrun and executive produce the new musical comedy series, which centers around a young singer-songwriter bear pursuing big dreams—from rocking out with her band, to graduating high school. 

Alex Almaguer (TrollsTopia) and Taylor Orci (Vida) are on board as supervising producer and story editor, respectively, while Athena Hofmann (Curious George) will serve as a line producer. 

The show joins a strong kids content pipeline that already includes Eva the Owlet, which Apple TV+ ordered last summer; and a second season of Fraggle Rock: Back To The Rock that was greenlit in December.

Apple TV+ and DreamWorks Animation have maintained a fruitful partnership since the streamer first launched in 2019, and BE@RBRICK marks their third collaboration together. It comes on the heels of a pair of book adaptations: Doug Unplugs (2021), a CG-animated series based on Dan Yaccarino’s Doug Unplugged book series; and Pinecone & Pony (2022), a 2D-animated series stemming from the same-name books by Kate Beaton.