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Ayo Edebiri set to write and star in Barney movie for Mattel
(L-R) Barney during a performance; Ayo Edebiri at the 2025 NAACP Image Awards
Is Mattel turning another toy into a movie star?
Move over Barbie, the next big toy movie is here.
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The Bear and Bottoms star Ayo Edebiri is set to write the screenplay for and potentially star in Mattel Films' next big live-action toy-based movie, Barney, per Deadline.
A beloved children's character since the 80's, Barney is a large, purple dinosaur who teaches lessons about friendship and love. The TV show Barney & Friends aired for 14 seasons on PBS from 1992-2010.
The show featured several children performers who would become stars, including Debby Ryan, Demi Lovato, and Selena Gomez.
This won't be Edebiri's first time writing. She's written episodes of the TV shows Dickinson, Craig of the Creek, and What We Do in the Shadows. She was nominated for a 2023 Writers Guild of America award for her episode of What We Do in the Shadows, titled "Private School."
The film is being produced by Mattel Films and Daniel Kaluuya's 59% Productions and was initially announced in 2019.
In a 2023 interview with The New Yorker, Mattel exec Kevin McKeon said that the planned Barney movie would be "surrealistic" and comparable to the films of Charlie Kaufman, Spike Jonze, and A24.
"We're leaning into the millennial angst of the property rather than fine-tuning this for kids," he said. "It's really a play for adults. Not that it's R-rated, but it'll focus on some of the trials and tribulations of being thritysomething, growing up with Barney – just the level of disenchantment within the generation."
In another interview that year, Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz said of the film, "It's too early to be specific, but I can tell you we are taking a fresh approach that will be fun, entertaining, and culturally oriented. It will not be an odd movie."
Edebiri hasn't talked much about her sexuality. Still, in an interview with Kolor Magazine, she said, "often you'll find yourself being one of the few women of color in a room or queer person" while working in Hollywood.
She also participated in Autostraddle's recent poll of 78 "queer writers, actors, and filmmakers" naming their favorite lesbian films.
Mey Rude is a journalist and cultural critic who has been covering queer news for a decade. The transgender, Latina lesbian lives in Los Angeles with her fiancée.
Mey Rude is a journalist and cultural critic who has been covering queer news for a decade. The transgender, Latina lesbian lives in Los Angeles with her fiancée.
