How LEGO Rebuilt the Toy Itself

HISTORY This Week

The HISTORY® Channel

History, Education, Society & Culture

4.6 • 3.9K Ratings

🗓️ 13 October 2025

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

October, 1955. In living rooms across Denmark, children tear open the box of a brand-new toy: the LEGO System in Play. Inside are plastic bricks, a printed playmat of roads, little houses and trees — everything in perfect scale. As they build, something new is taking shape. It looks simple, but it’s a radical idea — every piece connects, no matter when or where it’s made. It’s more than a toy — it’s a system. That quiet innovation will turn a small family workshop into one of the most successful companies in the world. How did a small-town Danish carpenter launch a plastic toy empire? And how did LEGO re-envision what a toy can be? Special thanks to Kristian Reimber Hauge, corporate historian at the LEGO Idea House; Daniel Konstanski, historian for Blocks Magazine and author of The Secret Life of LEGO® Bricks: The Story of a Design Icon; and Chris Byrne, researcher, historian, and “The Toy Guy.” We also want to thank Dana Goldsmith, Andreas Friis, and Roberta Cardazzo. Get in touch: [email protected] Follow on Instagram: @historythisweek Follow on Facebook: ⁠HISTORY This Week Podcast⁠ To stay updated: http://historythisweekpodcast.com To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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1:07.1	1955. I'm Ben Dixstein.
1:14.0	So for our regular listeners,
1:16.4	I want to note up top that I'm normally behind the scenes, producing the show.
1:20.6	But recently, I got the opportunity to go to Denmark,
1:24.5	specifically Bill and Denmark,
1:27.2	to visit the world headquarters of Lego.
1:33.6	This is the Lego Factory.
1:35.3	Sorry, I don't have to yell.
1:36.8	This is the Lego Factory, where 20 billion Lego bricks and parts are produced every year.
1:43.4	The factory floor has dozens of these plastic injection molding machines, basically shooting
1:49.2	hot plastic into the shape of various Lego elements, letting them cool off, and then dropping
1:54.5	them onto conveyor belts, which feed into these huge bins, full of Lego. Just a short drive away from the factory in this small Danish town, there's a Lego museum featuring
	...

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