Nostalgia is a powerful driver in the toy industry, as many parents are eager to share their own experiences of childhood fun with their children, especially if it means reducing their kids’ screentime and promoting more open-ended play. To this end, classic toys have never been a more attractive and accessible option, with online marketplaces putting second-hand vintage toys just a few clicks away and toy companies like Hasbro and Mattel re-releasing classic toy lines, including action figures, Lite-Brites, and View-Masters.

But the desire to provide classic toy experiences to the youngest generation can brush up against parents’ concerns about sustainability. Re-released toy lines, for example, contribute to worries about mass production and the proliferation of plastics in the environment. In the face of these issues, new technologies are supporting toy restoration as a more sustainable approach to passing the joy of classic toys on from one generation to the next.

A tech-driven model of toy restoration

The company Sort A Brick is one model for this approach, with its use of AI-driven computer vision to scan customers’ own LEGO brick collections and identify which LEGO models could be built from them. The company then adds missing bricks, sorts and packages the bricks into the sets the customer has chosen and sends them back, organized and ready for a fresh round of play. The company’s approach to toy restoration aligns with tech-driven sustainability initiatives in other sectors like clothing and electronics, which promote repair and reuse rather than re-manufacture and re-purchase.

Sort A Brick’s approach centers on the idea that parents and kids don’t need to keep buying new toys in order to enjoy classic play. Instead, they can give their existing toy collections new life. “Since LEGO bricks themselves are made from durable plastic, they can remain in good, playable condition for years,” says Ilya Malkin, co-founder and CEO of Sort A Brick. “But LEGO models often collapse into pieces during play, and kids lack the time and patience to separate and organize them for future rebuilds. Instead, they just sweep loose bricks into a box, mixing them together with other sets. Since manually restoring sets from mixed bricks at home is nearly impossible, we thought there had to be a way to bring fun and excitement back to existing LEGO collections, as an alternative to buying new sets all the time.”

When customers send their brick collections to Sort A Brick, the bricks are cleaned and scanned, and AI-enabled software identifies each brick and the models that could be restored from them. The system then flags any missing pieces that would needed to build a complete set, and gives the customer the option to purchase those pieces. When the customer has chosen which sets they would like to receive, Sort A Brick repacks and returns the customer’s original bricks, organized into sets ready for building, along with links to online versions of instruction manuals. Orders are currently being taken for early adopters.

“Our goal is to make it easy for families to keep enjoying bricks they already own,” says Malkin. “Since LEGO bricks themselves are built to last, there is no reason why they shouldn’t be refreshed and restored, staying fun and exciting from generation to generation.”

The value of vintage, beyond sustainability

The movement toward repair and reuse reflects a shift in consumer habits, toward more sustainable practices. This is true across many sectors, from clothing to electronics. Instead of buying new, consumers are looking to renew the lifespan of existing products, keeping them out of landfills, and reducing overconsumption. As people become more environmentally conscious, they are also seeking new value in familiar possessions. “Repair and reuse does not just reduce waste,” says Malkin, “it can create more personalized connections with the things we own.”

Beyond environmental benefits, restoration also has an emotional component. Vintage items often carry sentimental value and may represent a family legacy. When it comes to toys, many parents want to pass on a sense of history and tradition to their children through the objects of their own childhood. “It can be incredibly meaningful for children to play with the same toys that their parents, or even grandparents, did,” says Malkin. “It’s about making a connection to the past, through objects, which allows families to pass their stories on to future generations.”