No script. No studio. David Born drove from LA to San Diego, spent a full day on the floor of Comic-Con 2026, and brought a microphone along for the ride.

130,000 pop culture fans under one roof — and if you work in licensing, this is your customer base in full force. This episode is a front-row seat to what the industry looks like when it's working: people who plan their entire summer vacation around a convention, queue around the block to get merchandise signed, and spend nine months hand-building a cosplay outfit from scratch.

David visits the Keepsake booth — a Born Licensing client — where lines were wrapping around multiple corners for their Invincible and Walking Dead exclusives. He sits down with Adam from Keepsake on the floor, gets a candid look at what it actually takes to manage a trading card licensing program (hundreds of approval submissions per product cycle), and catches up with licensing attorney David Schneider from Nolan Heiman for a legal read on the day's biggest trend: the unstoppable rise of anime and the growing market for micro-targeted, niche properties sold in small runs direct to a passionate audience.

Along the way: Tom Kenny (the voice of SpongeBob) signing autographs, Pokémon celebrating 30 years and $100 billion in retail sales, Grogu at the Star Wars booth ahead of what David calls the franchise's biggest year in a decade, and a dark Joker-meets-Ronald McDonald outfit that genuinely stopped the floor.

The episode closes with a look ahead — the Paramount–Warner Bros. Discovery merger extended to at least June 2027, a major new Kraft Heinz x Disney partnership across theme parks, cruise lines and ten brands, and a Lego x X-Files range starring Gillian Anderson.

Topics covered:

• What Comic-Con looks like through a licensing professional's eyes — and why it matters
• Inside the Keepsake booth: Invincible, Walking Dead exclusives, and the signing lines that wrapped the floor
• The reality of trading card licensing: hundreds of approval submissions per product
• The rise of anime and niche micro-targeting: how small-run products find passionate audiences through social media
• Pokémon at 30: $100 billion in retail sales from a single property
• Star Wars, Avengers Doomsday, and which franchises are betting big on Comic-Con 2026
• News: Paramount–WBD merger timeline, Kraft Heinz x Disney, and Lego x X-Files

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