From an unexpected start in the toy industry to award-winning educational products, Tom Runtz shares his journey, the importance of staying true to a company’s mission, and what’s ahead for Learning Resources.
Every toy company has a story. Behind the products that inspire imagination, spark creativity, and bring joy to children are the people, ideas, and experiences that helped bring them to life.
In Global Toy News’ “Tell Us Your Toy Story” series, we go behind the scenes with the inventors, entrepreneurs, designers, and industry leaders shaping the world of toys and play. We explore how they got their start, the challenges they’ve overcome, the lessons they’ve learned, and what continues to inspire them.
For this installment, we spoke with Tom Runtz, Vice President of Product Development and Creative at Learning Resources, a company focused on creating hands-on educational toys and tools that help children develop essential skills through play.
From his unconventional entry into the toy business to celebrating a Toy of the Year Award beneath the iconic blue whale at New York’s American Museum of Natural History, Runtz shares his perspective on creating meaningful play experiences, navigating industry trends, and why thinking like a child remains one of the most valuable skills in toy design.
How did you get started in the toy industry?
I came to toys through a bit of a circuitous route. I went to graduate school for English and Creative Writing, and ended up working as a writer for a startup company that made popular, interactive trivia games. That eventually led me to my first toy company, where I worked on electronic learning products, including electronic books designed to help kids build reading skills.
By then, I had realized how much I loved the creativity of the toy industry, but also the mission behind it. You get to make things that are fun and imaginative, but that can also bring something of real value to a child. I’ve been in the industry ever since.
What problem does your toy or product solve, or what makes it special?
At Learning Resources, we make hands-on learning toys and tools that help kids build skills through play. Speaking broadly, I think one of the biggest challenges we help parents with today is finding meaningful alternatives to screen time. Kids need tactile, immersive, constructive, and imaginative experiences, and ideally they’re building important skills at the same time.
As a parent, I know the screen-time struggle well. So I take it as a special challenge to design products that address a real need, whether that’s learning multiplication, building early reading skills, or developing fine motor skills, and make the experience something kids actually enjoy and want to repeat. That’s really the key for me. I know we may have something special when we get feedback from child testing that the kids wanted to keep playing with the prototype.
What was your biggest challenge getting to where you are today?
The toy industry is very trend-driven and goes through frequent booms and busts, so there can always be pressure to chase the next big thing. One of the biggest challenges is staying focused on what you do well and recognizing the value of the work even when it isn’t necessarily the most popular “it” thing at that moment.
I’ve been fortunate to work in a culture at Learning Resources that values that kind of consistency. Trends matter, of course, and you have to pay attention to them, but you also have to know who you are as a company and what you can bring to children, families, and teachers that is genuinely different and needed.
What moment made you realize, “This could really work”?
I’d had plenty of validation before this, but hearing our company’s name announced the first time we won a Toy of the Year Award was a moment when I remember thinking, “Hey, people are really taking notice of what we’re doing.” That year’s event was at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. We were sitting beneath that iconic blue whale, surrounded by many of the biggest players in the toy industry, and then they announced our name and our product, a STEM marble run. There was definitely a moment of, “I think our plan is working!”
What advice would you give to other inventors or toy entrepreneurs just starting out?
I always say that to design for a child, you have to retain the ability to think like a child. The best designers and inventors I know can do this. Children have this wonderful ability not to be bound by logic, consistency, or the way something “should” look or work. They want to find wonder and mystery. They want to be delighted and surprised. They want to laugh. And when they find something they love, they want to do it again, often over and over. So I always say, start there. Make engagement the ultimate goal. If kids genuinely want to play with what you’ve created, then you can build everything else around that.
What’s next for you or your brand?
We’re very excited about a 2027 launch that we currently have in the works. I can’t say too much about it yet, but it brings together a few popular areas of children’s play in a way that feels new. At its core, it’s a wonderfully hands-on experience that lets kids design, build, and create their own experiences. That combination of creativity, construction and open-ended play is something we’re very excited about. I’m looking forward to finally being able to share it. But for now I’m sworn to secrecy!
Anything else you’d like to tell us?
To this day, one of my go-to pieces of personal trivia is that I once directed an Academy Award-winning actress, and it’s all because I work in the toy industry. Several years ago, I was developing an interactive learning game based on a popular animated film at the time, and a recent Academy Award winner agreed to voice her character for the game. I got to live-direct the recording session, and she couldn’t have been nicer. She did multiple takes without prompting, asked great questions about the product, and was an absolute professional. It’s one of those fun, unexpected experiences that comes from working in toys, and certainly not something I imagined I’d get to say when I started my career.
About Learning Resources
Learning Resources develops hands-on educational toys and learning tools designed to help children build essential skills through play, with an emphasis on creativity, exploration, and meaningful learning experiences.
Website: https://www.learningresources.com/
About Tell Us Your Toy Story
Tell Us Your Toy Story is a Global Toy News feature celebrating the people and companies behind the toys and games we love. From first ideas and entrepreneurial challenges to industry milestones and future innovations, the series shares the personal stories that help shape the global toy and play industry. Contact us if you’d like to tell your toy story – miguel@bluebotadvertising.com
