From Junior Elf to Elf Labs

Andrew McNally

Andrew McNally

The Past : Junior ELF

Andrew McNally

Andrew McNally

The Future : ELF Labs

The Evolution of an American Institution

1850

1900

1940

1980

2020

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1856

Rand McNally is founded and quickly becomes world's largest mapmaker.

1856

Rand McNally is founded and quickly becomes world's largest mapmaker.

1947

Rand McNally’s Elf Books are rebranded to Junior Elf.

1986

Macmillan Publishing (current value $1.4 billion) acquires the Junior Elf IP portfolio from Rand McNally.

1990

Checkerboard Press acquires The Junior Elf IP portfolio from Macmillan.

1994

Scholastic acquires The Real Mother Goose from Checkerboard Press for $900,000

2006

Toon Studio is founded by Billy Phillips with the objective to build global IP based on Iconic Characters.

2008

Toon Studio secures an exclusive licensing agreement from Checkerboard for their characters and art.

2012

Toon Studio acquires the entire Junior Elf IP portfolio outright, and begins to develop new character IP based on newly acquired label.

2014

Toon Studio begins filing trademarks for their newly developed characters including Zombie Rapunzel, Zombie Cinderella, Zombie Snow White, and others.

2015

Toon Studio publishes middle grade novel, Once Upon a Zombie Book One: The Color of Fear. It receives critical acclaim and wins over 11 literary awards.

2012

Toon Studio acquires the entire Junior Elf IP portfolio outright, and begins to develop new character IP based on newly acquired label.

2016

Toon Studio then begins trademark applications for their newly developed Junior Elf Fairy Tale High® brand featuring Teen Snow White, Teen Sleeping Beauty, Teen Cinderella and others. Successful trademark registrations being arriving from the USPTO.

2018

Toon Studio publishes the sequel, Once Upon a Zombie Book Two: the Lord of the Curtain. Book wins Best YA Fiction at the Beverly Hills International Book Awards. Toon Studio builds out more character IP to deepen its portfolio.

2020

Toon Studio begins working with Bernt Ullmann with the goal of bringing a major entity to transact with the company.

2021

The Junior Elf Fairy Tale Princess portfolio is updated and refreshed.

2022

Bernt Ullmann secures a licensing agreement with Cosmic Wire for the metaverse and gaming sector.

2022

Toon Studio brings in David Phillips as CEO to reposition the company from focusing exclusively on IP development, to build out the company and team for the monetization of their historic IP.

2023

Toon Studio publishes middle grade novel, Once Upon a Zombie Book One: The Color of Fear. It receives critical acclaim and wins over 11 literary awards.

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© Copyright 2023, All Rights Reserved by elflabs

The Evolution of an American Institution

Andrew McNally

William Rand

Junior Elf

David Phillips

Billy Phillips

Elf Labs

1850

1940

1980

2006

2016

2020

Back to top

1856

Rand McNally is founded and quickly becomes the world's largest mapmaker.

1913

Rand McNally begins Elf Children’s book division and publishes Cinderella in 1913. The library grows to over 200 titles.

1947

Rand McNally’s Elf Books are rebranded to Junior Elf.

1986

Macmillan Publishing (current value $1.4 billion) acquires the Junior Elf IP portfolio from Rand McNally.

1990

Checkerboard Press acquires The Junior Elf IP portfolio from Macmillan.

1994

Scholastic acquires The Real Mother Goose from Checkerboard Press for $900,000

2006

Toon Studio is founded by Billy Phillips and David Shamouelian with the objective to build globally recognized IP based on iconic characters.

2008

Toon Studio secures an exclusive licensing agreement from Checkerboard for their characters and art.

2012

Toon Studio acquires the entire Junior Elf IP portfolio outright and begins to develop new character IP based on the newly acquired labels.

2014

Toon Studio begins filing trademarks for their newly developed characters including Zombie Rapunzel, Zombie Cinderella, Zombie Snow White, and others.

2015

Toon Studio publishes the middle-grade novel, Once Upon a Zombie Book One: The Color of Fear. It receives critical acclaim and wins over 11 literary awards.

2016

After numerous battles that eventually reach the highest appeals court at the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Toon Studio wins its first round of Zombie character trademarks, including Zombie Cinderella®, Zombie Snow White®, Zombie Sleeping Beauty®, and Zombie Rapunzel®.

2016

Toon Studio then begin trademark applications for their newly developed Junior Elf Fairy Tale High® brand featuring Teen Snow White, Teen Sleeping Beauty, Teen Cinderella, and others. Successful trademark registrations begin arriving from the USPTO.

2018

Toon Studio publishes the sequel, Once Upon a Zombie Book Two: the Lord of the Curtain. Book wins Best YA Fiction at the Beverly Hills International Book Awards. Toon Studio builds out more character IP to deepen its portfolio.

2020

Toon Studio begins working with Bernt Ullmann with the goal of bringing a major entity to transact with the company.

2021

The Junior Elf Fairy Tale Princess portfolio is updated and refreshed.

2022

Bernt Ullmann secures a licensing agreement with Cosmic Wire for the metaverse and gaming sector.

2022

Toon Studio brings in David Phillips as CEO to reposition the company from focusing exclusively on IP development, to building out the company and team for the monetization of their historic IP.

2023

David Phillips rebrands the company from Toon Studio to Elf Labs. He then brings on Mark Rowen, CEO & Founder of Blue Collar Productions to serve as Head of Content.

Newsletter

Subscribe below to stay up to date

Thank you for your subscribe!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.

Navigation

Home

Team

About Us

Quick Link

Contact Us

© Copyright 2023, All Rights Reserved by elflabs

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