The maker of Tonka trucks and Lite-Brite normally introduces four new toys a year.
Last year, Basic Fun Inc. introduced one.
Manufacturers and retailers of everything from computers to dresses hit pause in the past few years when it came to innovation, the result of pandemic-related upheavals in the design, manufacture and distribution of goods, industry executives said.
Shifting consumer demand and the expectation of an economic slowdown also played a role, the executives said.