The surge in subscribers to Disney+ amid global coronavirus lockdown measures has already provided a boost to Hasbro’s licensed toy sales, particularly, the global toymaker has stated, to the popularity of the ‘Baby Yoda’ character from the Disney original TV series, The Mandalorian.

Demand for the character – officially called The Child – was already high when Disney+ first launched to US audiences in November last year, but, according to Hasbro’s CEO Brian Goldner in conversation with Yahoo Finance, the recent spike in Disney+ subscribers looking for entertainment while in self isolation, has drive the demand further.

“We clearly have seen that streaming has become more of a force in making connections with consumers and driving merchandising,” Goldner said earlier this week. “That’s always been a question: Could streamed content drive merchandising? And clearly Baby Yoda has done that. We saw that in the fourth quarter with some of our product directly related to The Mandalorian.

“Our pre-sales around Baby Yoda have been incredibly robust and we’re very excited to ship Baby Yoda late spring.”

Available for pre-order for the past few months, Hasbro newest Star Wars The Mandalorian toy range – including the Baby Yoda product line – will be landing on shelves this spring.

On top of this, Goldner has revealed that it’s not just Star Wars merchandise that has received a boost recently, but so too has Frozen, other Disney Princess lines, and Marvel toys.

“We’re seeing that overall Star Wars sales are performing well year-to-date, because the movie [‘Rise of Skywalker’] was incredibly popular, and then the home entertainment window has come more quickly, as has ‘Frozen 2.’ Disney has advanced those windows and made those home entertainment windows available to consumers more quickly on Disney+. We clearly see Disney+ as a major advantage to Disney and also to licensees of Disney like Hasbro,” said a representative from Disney.