Talk about making lemonade out of life’s lemons. When its initial agreement to make Battalor with Jellyfish Pictures fell through because the studio shut down, London-based Toikido did what it does best—think outside the box. And this creativity manifested into a three-season partnership with Spacetoon in the Middle East—as well as this week’s Gold Star. Here’s what we said on Friday:

GOLD STAR WINNER – Toikido: It’s no secret that getting a commission in today’s market is a tricky proposition. But Toikido not only saved its series Battalor from demise after its previous partner Jellyfish went under, it secured a co-development deal for three—that’s right, three!—seasons of the show. And it did it with one of MENA’s biggest broadcasters: Spacetoon. We’ve had our eye on this action-packed project for a while—futuristic cities, ancient artifacts, mythical beast battles…is it any wonder it’s back from the dead?

And here’s a look at the achievements of our Gold Star runners-up, who also had a great week: 

Danny Go!: What do Ms. Rachel, MrBeast and Ryan’s World all have in common? How about a multi-year toy deal with a major toyco? Daniel Coleman is the latest to join this class of elite YouTubers, signing Just Play as the master toy partner for his preschool channel, which features content focused on movement and music. What’s better, parents won’t have to wait long for Danny Go! products because Just Play is rolling out the first three SKUs inspired by the channel’s most-watched videos in time for the holiday shopping season. Not to toot our own horn, but Kidscreen knew he was going places.

Disney: The House of Mouse sure wants to build another snowman. The studio just secured its lead Frozen voice actors for two more feature films for a fat US$180 million. But that’s a small price to pay to keep the IP alive, considering the CG-animated franchise remains one of Disney’s biggest. To date, Frozen has grossed US$2.7 billion at the global box office and brought in another US$10 billion in consumer products sales. Twelve years after its first film’s premiere, the IP remains a major draw for young trick-or-treaters, with Elsa duds still in the top 10 of the best-selling costumes in the US. Makes sense why Disney just can’t let it go.

The Pinkfong Company: The Baby Shark creator may have been struggling for the past few years, but it has reason to celebrate now, after raising more than US$52 million in its initial public offering on the KOSDAQ marketplace. So what’s the South Korean prodco going to do-do-do-do-do with all that capital? Well, besides releasing more Baby Shark remixes? Investors can expect new IP launches, a refined content pipeline and improvements to its AI localization tool. It took six years for Pinkfong to make the move, but it’s already paying dividends.

Sphere and Zone3: In what could be good news for the kids divisions of two Montreal-based studios, Sphere Media and Zone3 have announced plans to merge. The companies have complementary kids lineups, between Sphere’s preschool/kids animated content and Zone3’s tween/teen live-action fare. And with Quebec experiencing an animation industry crisis that has seen half of all jobs disappear, a merger like this is a smart way to stay in business. It might be early days for this deal, but right now, in parts of Canada, survival alone is Gold Star-worthy.

Check back on Friday for our next batch of nominees. Hope to see you on the list!