South Korean animation studio TakToon Enterprise has joined forces with Parisian prodco Millimages on its new stop-motion preschool series Big Five, marking the first time the Seoul-based company has partnered with a French prodco.

Set to begin production early this year, the 52 x 11-minute series (two 26-episode seasons) follows a rescue team of transformable toys that works together to help its fellow friends in need.

TakToon is handling animation for the comedy, while Millimages is focused on writing. The prodco has brought acclaimed preschool writer/editor Victoria Wilson (Noddy Toyland Detective, Mouk, Gaspard and Lisa, Roary the Racing Car) on board from its UK team.

“I think scripts are the most important element for preschool shows, so we are respecting their ideas and the results will be great,” says TakToon MD Jee Eun (Sophia) Lee.

Millimages is also serving as the property’s worldwide distributor (excluding Korea and China), and will handle Big Five’s licensing and merchandising business.

“We’re designing the show to be successful in the international marketplace,” says Millimages founder and CEO Roch Lener, who originally met TakToon at the 2013 Asian Animation Summit in Phuket, Thailand. Lener is no stranger to Korean IP, having adapted one into the hit Millimages series Molang.

“I appreciate what TakToon does artistically and technically in terms of stop-motion. They are also very skilled in designing toy characters,” he adds.

Big Five was most recently presented at the 2016 Asian Animation Summit in Brisbane, Australia.

The project’s bible and story outlines are currently being presented at Kidscreen Summit in Miami, and a pilot, according to Lee, should be completed by March.

“Then we hope to release the series’ first episode at MIP Jr. this fall and, in the meantime, are looking for broadcasting partners like Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon and eOne,” says Lee.

Targeting three- to six-year-olds, Big Five is expected to make its global debut in the first half of 2018.

Additional TakToon projects on the go include the upcoming stop-motion animated series Galaxy Kids and 2D-animated series The Forks with Spiky Hands, which currently airs on Disney Channel Korea and YouTube globally.