Mr. Jay Foreman

Jay is an accomplished toy industry veteran and businessman with over three decades of experience. His accomplishments include being a founding member of Play By Play, in the early 90's, culminating in a successful IPO in 1995. He later went on to work for Galoob Toys, where he created the Spice Girls doll line in 1997. In 1999, he co-founded Play Along Toys, selling it to JAKKS Pacific in 2004. Prominent lines included Britney Spears dolls and toys, the successful re-launches of both Care Bears and Cabbage Patch Kids, Hannah Montana dolls and toys, and Doodle Bear. In 2009, he founded The Bridge Direct, which had a variety of popular toy lines from classics like Strawberry Shortcake, Mini Arcade Games, Fisher-Price Classics, and Lite-Brite, to on-trend entertainment licenses including Justin Bieber dolls and The Hobbit action figures. In 2017, the company purchased Uncle Milton and shortly after merged with Tech4Kids, later rebranding to become the fast growing company now known as Basic Fun! In 2018, Basic Fun! acquired K'NEX and Playhut. Basic Fun! is the licensee for some of the industry's biggest classic brands including TONKA, Pound Puppies and Care Bears, and also has created proprietary brands including Cutetitos. Jay has sat on the board of directors of the Toy Association,  as well as the Licensing Industry Merchandisers Association, and currently is chairman of the Toy Association's trade show committee, which manages all the TA's trade shows and events, including New York Toy Fair.