India-based Toonz Animation and Gummy Bear IP-owner, Gummy Bear International in New Jersey, are teaming up to extend the internet sensation’s presence in both the entertainment and merchandising space.

YouTube has commissioned an initial 39 x seven-minute series, which Toonz Animation will produce from its studio in India. Plans are also in the works to expand the brand’s growing merchandise line and explore opportunities in TV and film.

The official Gummy Bear YouTube channel has more than one million subscribers and includes scores of shorts of the animated green character singing and break-dancing and a Christmas special.

Gummy Bear (originally Gummibär in its native Hungary) videos were first posted online in 2006 and have amassed more than 5.2 billion views. They have since been released in more than 40 countries in 27 languages. Original single “I am a Gummy Bear” (“The  Gummy Bear Song”) reached number one on iTunes dance charts in the US and was a top-10 hit in many other markets.