Care Bears
The Care Bears won over their first audience with a reaction that one executive could only describe with a made-up word. In February 1981, Jack Chojnacki, co-president of Those Characters From Cleveland, presented the very first Care Bear to businessmen from American Greetings and from the toy company Kenner. Recalling the moment in early 1985, he said: "It had a high aaaaaah factor."
The Care Bears are multi-colored bears, and each one wears a small picture on its stomach. From that meeting grew plush toys, television specials, feature films, comic books, records and theme park shows. The bears have been redrawn and relaunched again and again for more than four decades.
How did a greeting card company end up designing a toy line? What do the pictures on the bears' stomachs actually do? And why would a franchise that sold in enormous numbers keep changing its look, down to the number of straws in an ice cream soda?
The first Care Bears were paintings, not toys. In 1981, the artist Elena Kucharik painted them for greeting cards sold by American Greetings. Only later did anyone think of stuffing them.
The concept stage belonged to other hands. Muriel Fahrion, who had helped give Strawberry Shortcake her look, was among the first concept artists. Working with Ralph Shaffer, creative vice-president at Those Characters From Cleveland, she designed the first six bears. For their stomach pictures, the team borrowed the themes that already sold best on the company's greeting cards.
Fahrion's sister, Susan Trentel, was the doll designer behind Strawberry Shortcake. She now designed the first Care Bears plush. Once the concept stage ended, Kucharik, a children's book illustrator, became the lead artist. She produced hundreds of full-color illustrations for books, clothing and stationery, along with the greeting cards.
Many of the other characters came from a team of artists and writers at Those Characters From Cleveland. They worked jointly with MAD, the Marketing and Design Service of the toy group at General Mills. American Greetings kept the whole program secret until advertising was ready. Throughout, "Care Bears" served as the project's working title, and it never changed.
The secret would finally break in front of a very unlikely audience in New York City: a room of financial analysts.
Ten bears made up the original line: Bedtime Bear, Birthday Bear, Cheer Bear, Friend Bear, Funshine Bear, Good Luck Bear, Grumpy Bear, Love-a-Lot Bear, Tenderheart Bear and Wish Bear. Every one had its own color or shade. Every one also had a unique stomach image, called a tummy symbol or a belly badge depending on the medium, which stood for its personality or specialty.
A factory mistake once scrambled two of them. When the stuffed animals were first manufactured in the 1980s, Bedtime Bear, who is blue, and Wish Bear, who is aqua, swapped colors. The error was caught quickly and the bears returned to their proper shades. A children's story was later written to explain the switch.
In 1984, American Greetings added a spin-off line, the Care Bear Cousins. These were animals drawn in the same style: a lion, sheep, penguin, elephant, rabbit, raccoon, dog, cat, monkey, pig and horse. Names included Brave Heart Lion, Lotsa Heart Elephant, Cozy Heart Penguin, Bright Heart Raccoon, Proud Heart Cat, Treat Heart Pig and Noble Heart Horse.
Bears and Cousins share the Kingdom of Caring. Care-a-Lot is the home of the bears themselves, and the Forest of Feelings is the home of the Cousins. A portly gentleman called the Cloud Keeper maintains Care-a-Lot. The Star and Heart Buddies look out for the bears on their missions, and Birds in the Forest of Feelings watch over the Cousins.
The setting carries a quiet nod to the legend of King Arthur. Care-a-Lot plays on Camelot, the family gathers around a heart-shaped table that echoes the Round Table, and Sir Lancelot's name inspired Love-a-Lot Bear.
In 1989, Carole Ashkinaze of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution gave the bears a job description of her own. She called them "the whimsical, late 20th-century descendents of what we used to know as guardian angels: furry, friendly, adorable creatures whose mission is to guide small children and protect them from bogeymen."
Those bogeymen have names, and so does the weapon the bears use against them.
"Care Bears...prepare to stare!" That was the cry in the original animated specials and in the series made by DIC. In the Nelvana series and later versions, the bears shouted "Care Bears Countdown!" instead.
Both phrases start the bears' ultimate weapon, the Care Bear Stare. The gathered bears stand together, and light pours from their tummy symbols. The beams combine into a ray of love and good cheer. It can bring care and joy into a target's heart, break dark spells, or revive something broken, wilted or messed up.
The Stare has changed its look over the years. One version is a beam made of many copies of the tummy symbol. Another forms a rainbow when several bears or Cousins join in. A yellow beam with red hearts also appears. In Care Bears: Adventures in Care-a-Lot, it is a beam in the color of the bear that sends it. Two of the 2000s films, Journey to Joke-a-lot and The Big Wish Movie, leave the Stare out altogether.
The Cousins have their own version, the Care Cousin Call. In The Care Bears Movie, the Cousins have no tummy symbols, so they simply make the noise of their species. Tenderheart gives them symbols at the end of that film. In the second film, the Call sounds like a multicolored musical score. By the Nelvana series, the Call had been dropped and the Cousins used the Stare.
The Stare is aimed at villains, but it has also been used on humans and on the bears themselves. In the DIC series it cured those under the effects of uncaring magic. In Adventures in Care-a-Lot, it briefly cheered up Grumpy Bear in the episode "Tell-Tale Tummy." The symbols can also summon heart-shaped balloons, cloud cars and rainbow bridges, or send out a distress signal. Usually they work by will, but in Adventures in Care-a-Lot a bear had to rub its tummy first.
The targets have varied. In the two early specials and the DIC series, the bears faced Professor Coldheart, his assistant Frostbite and sometimes Auntie Freeze. Nelvana's version brought in the wizard No Heart, his bumbling assistant Beastly and his ill-tempered niece Shreeky. Minor villains included Dr. Fright and Sour Sam.
The films had their own opponents. Nicholas and the Evil Spirit appear in the first film, and Dark Heart in the second. The Wizard of Wonderland and his assistants Dim and Dum feature in the third, while the Rat King and the Evil Vizier turn up in Care Bears Nutcracker Suite.
Later eras kept the tradition mostly intact. Sir Funnybone the rat is the villain of Journey to Joke-a-lot, while The Big Wish Movie has no villain at all. Grizzle and WingNut came with the 2007 film. In Unlock the Magic, the bears face Bluster, leader of the Bad Crowd, and his assistant Robbie.
On the 24th of September 1982, the franchise was introduced in New York City to members of the area's Society of Security Analysts. Morry Weiss, president of American Greetings, spoke for the company. Chojnacki and senior vice-president Henry Lowenthal represented Those Characters From Cleveland.
Kenner produced the toys the following spring. The line included plush teddy bears, plastic poseable figures and miniatures. It launched with an advertising budget of 5 to 6 million dollars and a wholesale commitment worth 122.5 million dollars. In February 1983, American Greetings presented the characters to the public at the Toy Fair in New York City, with 26 licensees already involved.
One licensee was General Mills, the food company that owned the game maker Parker Brothers. In early 1983, Parker Brothers released six Care Bears books as the first offerings of its new publishing division. Titles included Sweet Dreams for Sally, The Witch Down the Street, The Trouble with Timothy and A Sister for Sam.
A court case in December 1983 showed how much the look mattered. American Greetings and CPG Products lost a lawsuit against Easter Unlimited, importers of a line called Message Bears. Judge Leonard B. Sand of New York City noted that those toys lacked the heart-shaped "toushee tags" that identified the Care Bears.
The numbers grew large. More than 40 million Care Bears toys sold between 1983 and 1987. American Greetings printed over 70 million of the cards in the decade, and more than 45 million of the books sold. Total merchandise sales topped 2 billion dollars during the 1980s. Products ranged from lunchboxes and iron-on patches to bedding, umbrellas and keychains.
Some observers were unimpressed. In his 1986 essay The Shortcake Strategy, Tom Englehardt called the dolls "highly specialized" toys. He wrote: "So specialized are they that instead of being complex individual personalities, they are no more than carefully labeled fragments of a personality."
Ellen Wojahn was harsher about the books in her 1988 account of the Parker Brothers and General Mills merger, Playing by Different Rules. She wrote that they were "little more than illustrated brochures for Kenner's projects."
The bears were never only about shelves, though, and the screen was already waiting.
Television came first. Kenner produced and sponsored a syndicated special from Atkinson Film-Arts, The Care Bears in the Land Without Feelings, which featured the original 10 bears. A second syndicated special, The Care Bears Battle the Freeze Machine, aired in 1984.
Then came the movies. In 1985, the Canadian studio Nelvana made The Care Bears Movie, released by The Samuel Goldwyn Company. At the time, it became the highest-grossing animated film made outside the Disney market. That autumn, DIC Audiovisuel released an 11-episode syndicated series that borrowed the villain Professor Coldheart and his sidekick Frostbite from the specials. It also borrowed the Forest of Feelings from the film.
Nelvana returned in 1986 with Care Bears Movie II: A New Generation, released by Columbia Pictures. It introduced Dark Heart, plus Harmony Bear, True Heart Bear and Noble Heart Horse. In mid-1986, Nelvana's series The Care Bears Family began on ABC in the United States and Global in Canada. It ran three seasons and over 70 episodes.
This series brought in No Heart and Beastly, and Shreeky joined in season two. It also gave the characters more depth. Some episodes dealt with problems such as conflict and depression. The third film, The Care Bears Adventure in Wonderland, premiered in 1987. A holiday special, Care Bears Nutcracker Suite, served as the series finale and aired on the Disney Channel in 1988.
A stranger spin-off was built in a workshop. Sally Industries, now Sally Dark Rides, licensed the bears from American Greetings and Nelvana for an animatronic stage show, Care-A-Lot Castle. It was made in-house, without the animation crew. Only six bears were used: Cheer, Funshine, Tenderheart, Bedtime, Grumpy and Friend.
No Heart and Beastly were heard only as voices on the English soundtrack. Sally wrote original songs and recycled some from its own catalog. One English-only choice was a cover of "Brazzle Dazzle Day," from Disney's 1977 film Pete's Dragon.
Two shows were built. The first went to Dunia Fantasi, a theme park in Indonesia, where it was dubbed as Beruang Madu, meaning Sun Bears, for the 1987 season. The second premiered a year later at Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom in the United States. Both ran until at least 1992. The Dorney Park installation is said to have been destroyed when the park's license expired.
On paper, the bears appeared in a 20-issue Star Comics series from Marvel between November 1985 and January 1989, with art by Howard Post. Issue 13 crossed over with another American Greetings property, Madballs. In the United Kingdom, Marvel UK ran its own series with artwork by Mario Capaldi.
On vinyl, Kid Stuff Records released Introducing the Care Bears in 1982 and four more albums in 1983. Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan wrote, produced and performed on the 1982 and 1983 albums. Carole King and John Sebastian contributed songs to The Care Bears Movie soundtrack. One 1986 album was a promotion with Triaminic cough medicine.
Video games went less smoothly. A Care Bears game was planned for the Atari 2600 in 1983, but it was cancelled before beta testing. The game had uninteresting gameplay, and the video game market was collapsing. Only an early alpha prototype is known to survive.
By the end of the 1980s, the original wave had passed, and the franchise was about to be rebuilt.
In 1991, Those Characters From Cleveland and Kenner relaunched the line with seven bears. One was Proud Heart Bear, a white bear whose tummy symbol was a heart-shaped American flag. Random House published two tie-in books, The Care Bears and the Big Cleanup by Bobbi Katz in 1991, and The Care Bears and the Whale Tale by Peggy Kahn in 1992. In 2003, Proud Heart Bear returned as a collector's plush named America Cares Bear, with a shooting star in flag colors.
In 1999, Jay Foreman, president of the Fort Lauderdale company Play Along Toys, bought the rights for less than 1 million dollars. He also planned to acquire Strawberry Shortcake. Three years later, American Greetings relaunched the brand for the bears' 20th anniversary.
The redesign changed small things with big stories behind them. Champ Bear's fur went from golden yellow to true blue, and his trophy with a heart became a trophy with a star. Share Bear's ice cream soda with two straws became two crossed lollipops, because Play Along suggested that sharing a soda might spread germs. Other changes lightened or saturated colors.
Play Along sold new toys at Walmart, Kmart, Toys "R" Us, Target, KB Toys and Mervyns. Tenderheart Bear appeared as a patient, with the child playing as doctor, and Champ Bear became a firefighter. Over 70 million 13-inch plush bears have sold since the relaunch.
Nelvana's CGI movie, announced in April 2003 as The Care Bears in King Funshine the Great, was renamed Care Bears: Journey to Joke-a-lot. Lions Gate Home Entertainment released it on the 5th of October 2004. The Big Wish Movie followed a year later.
In 2006, ahead of the 25th anniversary, AG Properties announced another complete redesign. Its own illustration team drew the new look and logo. Fifteen of the 39 bears were redrawn, and five became the focus: Cheer, Funshine, Grumpy, Share and a newcomer, Oopsy Bear.
The movie Care Bears: Oopsy Does It! got a limited theatrical release from Kidtoon Films in August 2007. It served as a pilot for the series Care Bears: Adventures in Care-a-Lot, which premiered on CBS on the 15th of September 2007. Kay Hanley, formerly of Letters to Cleo, sang the new theme, "We Are the Care Bears."
This reboot dropped the old furniture. There was no Care-a-Lot Castle, no Cloudmobiles and no Caring Meter. The bears met at the Gathering Tree. The Wall Street Journal described a village "centered on a big tree, with no castle in sight." Cheer Bear replaced Tenderheart Bear as unofficial leader.
In 2008, two DVDs brought back humans and the Care-O-Meter. Late 2009 brought Care Power Team, with "enhanced belly badges." The series never aired, but the format powered three CGI movies in 2010 and 2011. The master rights to the toys passed from Play Along Toys to Hasbro.
The business side was messier. On the 23rd of July 2008, American Greetings announced a sale of Care Bears to Cookie Jar Entertainment. Financing trouble followed, and the French company MoonScoop stepped in. In August 2009, MoonScoop sued, claiming American Greetings backed out of a 95 million dollar deal. In November 2012, the court in Cleveland ruled for American Greetings.
The bears were still on the move.
On the 2nd of June 2012, Care Bears: Welcome to Care-a-Lot premiered on The Hub, timed for the 30th anniversary. It was the first CGI series for the franchise. The cast centered on Tenderheart, Cheer, Share, Grumpy, Funshine, Harmony and a new bear, Wonderheart. The series was cancelled in October 2014, when The Hub rebranded as Discovery Family.
In December 2013, AG Properties and Mindworks Entertainment announced a co-branding with the Japanese company Sanrio, pairing the bears with Little Twin Stars. In July 2014, Hasbro lost the toy rights to Just Play.
On the 15th of January 2015, Netflix commissioned Care Bears & Cousins. It continued Welcome to Care-a-Lot and brought back four Cousins: Brave Heart Lion, Lotsa Heart Elephant, Cozy Heart Penguin and Bright Heart Raccoon. It arrived in November 2015 with six episodes, followed by six more.
In May 2018, an advertisement at the Licensing Expo showed new redesigns. In September 2018, the company, by then called Cloudco Entertainment, confirmed a series called Care Bears: Unlock the Magic. For the first time, the story left Care-a-Lot for a mysterious world called the Silver Lining, home to creatures called Whiffles.
The main five were Grumpy, Cheer, Share, Funshine and Good Luck. Dibble, the main Whiffle, served as the team's newest pet and companion. The series premiered on the 1st of February 2019 on Boomerang, with its first episode released on the 28th of January. The order covered 48 regular episodes of 11 minutes, two 22-minute specials and 20 shorts.
For the 2019 International Day of the Girl, the humanitarian organization CARE had celebrities design one-of-a-kind Care Bears for auction. Sophia Bush based Justice Bear on Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
In 2020, Basic Fun launched a new toy line in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada. In 2024, Basic Fun filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, planning to repay creditors while staying in operation. The franchise celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2022.
On the 16th of October 2024, WildBrain announced The Care Berry Switch, a forty-four minute special crossing over with Strawberry Shortcake. On the 5th of June 2025, Warner Bros. Pictures announced a live-action and animated film in development, with Josh Greenbaum named as director.
Updated
Common questions
Who created the Care Bears?
Artist Elena Kucharik painted them in 1981 for greeting cards from American Greetings. Muriel Fahrion and Ralph Shaffer designed the first six bears, and Susan Trentel designed the first plush.
What are tummy symbols?
Each bear has a unique image on its stomach, called a tummy symbol or belly badge, that stands for its personality or specialty. The bears can also use them to summon help.
What is the Care Bear Stare?
It is the bears' ultimate weapon. Gathered bears radiate light from their tummy symbols, forming a ray of love and good cheer that can break dark spells or revive something broken.
Who are the Care Bear Cousins?
They are a spin-off line of animals introduced in 1984, drawn in the same style as the bears. Examples include Brave Heart Lion, Lotsa Heart Elephant and Cozy Heart Penguin.
Why was Share Bear's symbol changed?
In the 2002 relaunch, Play Along Toys suggested replacing her ice cream soda with two crossed lollipops, because sharing a soda might spread germs.
What is the newest Care Bears project?
In June 2025, Warner Bros. Pictures announced a live-action and animated film in development, with Josh Greenbaum as director.
All sources
62 references cited across the entry
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- 3BookLa Revue du cinémaLigue française de l'enseignement et de l'éducation permanente et al. — Ligue française de l'enseignement et de l'éducation permanente — 1986
- 4BookThe Business of Children's EntertainmentNorma Odom Pecora — Guilford Press — 1998
- 5History & Facts: More Care Bears Fun FactsAmerican Greetings
- 6NewsOut to launch: Is there shelf life after Holly Hobbie? You betRose DeWolf — October 12, 1982
- 7Press releaseThe biggest character launch in the history of retailing ...September 24, 1982
- 8NewsToday's the day teddy bears stage a comebackSusan Carson — February 4, 1983
- 9NewsToys are big business, not child's playFebruary 19, 1983
- 10NewsParker Bros. adding book publishing linePhilip H. Dougherty — February 8, 1983
- 11News'Care Bears' makers lose copyright suitAssociated Press (AP) — December 14, 1983
- 12JournalThree men and a bear: Nelvana at 25Ellen Besen et al. — September 22, 1996
- 13JournalA DIC Directory: 16 years of company's small screen creationsJuly 12, 1999
- 14BookTelevision Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003Hal Erickson — McFarland & Co — 2005
- 15NewsThe new season children's showsCTVglobemedia — September 9, 1986
- 17VideoSally Corp's Care Bears Care-A-Lot Castle Show - Beruang Madu ShowScribblesMutt — 2024-07-14
- 19About Us: HistoryAmerican Greetings
- 20History & FactsAmerican Greetings
- 21NewsShe's a living dollMeredith Moss — Cox Ohio Publishing — March 3, 1991
- 22BookCatalog information for The Care Bears and the Big CleanupOnline Computer Library Center (OCLC)
- 23BookProduct information for The Care Bears and the Big CleanupBobbi Katz et al. — Random House — 1991-10-29
- 24BookCatalog information for The Care Bears and the Whale TaleOnline Computer Library Center
- 25BookProduct information for The Care Bears and the Whale TalePeggy Kahn et al. — Random House Children's Books — 1992
- 26BookSell It, Baby! Practical How-Tos on Marketing, Branding & SalesKimberly L. McCall — Booklocker.com, Inc — 2003
- 28Frequently Asked QuestionsAmerican Greetings
- 29New & NowAmerican Greetings
- 30NewsCare Bears Receive 'Gentle' MakeoverElizabeth Holmes — February 9, 2007
- 31NewsNelvana's Care Bears returnJules Grant — C21Media — February 15, 2005
- 32AG Properties Makes MIPCOM Debut28 September 2006
- 33Limited Releases Are Very BecomingC.S. Strowbridge — Nash Information Services LLC — August 3, 2007
- 34NewsCookie Jar buys Care Bears, Strawberry ShortcakeJuly 23, 2008
- 35NewsBid puts 'Care Bears', 'Shortcake' back in playEtan Vlessing — April 2, 2009
- 36NewsFrench company MoonScoop SAS sues American Greetings over Care Bears, Strawberry Shortcake dealAlison Grant — August 14, 2009
- 37NewsMoonScoop Contract Claims Nixed in Care Bear IP SpatLaw360 — April 29, 2010
- 39NewsCare Bears to Star in New CGI-Animated TV ShowPaul Bond — e5 Global Media — July 6, 2011
- 41Care Bears and Little Twin Stars enter co-branding programJeremy Dickson — December 4, 2013
- 42Care Bears count down to new toy lineAaron Hutchins — August 12, 2014
- 43MagazineNetflix reviving Care Bears with new series set for 2016October 13, 2014
- 44Care Bears: Unlock the Magic Licensing Expo 2018 ad. No idea if this is a TV show, TV special, shorts ... advertising campaign? Whatever it is, it launches later this year on Cartoon Network, Boomerang and Pop.22 May 2018
- 45'Care Bears' Looking To 'Unlock The Magic' At BoomerangDino-Ray Ramos — September 6, 2018
- 46The First Care Bears: Unlock the Magic Trailer Is a Nostalgic Punch in the GutCharles Pulliam-Moore — January 8, 2019
- 47NewsKacey Musgraves, Sia Create Care Bears for International Day of the GirlMarc Malkin — October 10, 2019
- 48Basic Fun! Cuddles up with 'Care Bears' in Master Toy DealMercedes Milligan — May 29, 2019
- 51News'Care Bears' Movie in the Works From Josh Greenbaum at Warner Bros.Ryan Gajewski — June 5, 2025
- 52The Original Care Bears NamesHayley Dodwell — Eighties Kids
- 53BookWatching Television: A Pantheon Guide to Popular CultureTom Engelhardt — Pantheon Books (Random House) — 1986
- 54BookPlaying by Different RulesEllen Wojahn — American Management Association (amacom) — 1988
- 56Care Bears No. 13 ... in which the Care Bears meat the MadballsWes — Scary-Crayon — 2008
- 57IDW is Launching a New Care Bears Comic in JulyJude Terror — Avatar Press — March 31, 2019
- 58Care BearsAtari Protos
- 59BookCollecting Gadgets and Games from the 1950s-90sDaniel Blythe — Pen and Sword — 13 December 2011
- 60NewsEntertainment briefs columnOctober 15, 2005
- 61JournalTeachers' Picks: Best New TechScholastic Press — May 1, 2006
- 62Press releaseStorytime Has Never Been So Magical! Play Along Introduces Care Bears Share-a-Story to Encourage the Love of ReadingPlay Along Toys — July 6, 2005
- 63Care Bears Sing-a-longs TV Spot, 'Talk, Dance and Sing'October 12, 2015