Toei sets generative AI rules and starts using AI in production

Toei, the Japanese studio behind Kamen Rider and the Super Sentai series that became Power Rangers, has drawn up rules for generative AI and started using AI in production, president and CEO Fumio Yoshimura said at the Taiwan Creative Content Fest (TCCF) in Taipei on November 6, 2026.

Toei has not published the rules. Variety, which first reported the keynote, does not say what they permit or ban, and neither does Deadline, whose account covers the same session. The session ran under the title "Survival Strategies for Global Enterprises: Japan's Toei on IP, Globalization, and Business Mindset."

Yoshimura said the tools are already in the pipeline. "We're also experimenting with GenAI image generation," he said, per Deadline. "The Toei team is performing tests on practical AI applications daily; building tools to assist junior producers in estimating production budgets, and using AI in background artwork. However we believe human creativity remains the core of everything we do."

Variety reported that a dedicated team is testing how far AI can go in actual content production, and that the budget system is aimed at less experienced producers. Toei's back-office departments also use AI for routine tasks, data processing and internal queries, and the company is looking at applying it to the creative supervision of merchandise tied to its franchises.

Yoshimura pointed to "Dreams of Violets," a 75-minute live-action feature made entirely with generative AI that was selected for the Tribeca Festival in June. Variety reported it was made by two creators for around $2,000.

On the production side, Toei is expanding the virtual-production and motion-capture facilities at its studios in Tokyo and Kyoto, Deadline reported. Toei's own medium-term vision, Toei New Wave 2033, lists virtual production, digital humans and "production process automation through AI" among the technologies it is bringing in, and names redevelopment of the Kyoto Uzumasa area and the Tokyo Oizumi area.

The plan, launched in February 2023, targets lifting the overseas share of Toei's sales from about 30% to 50% by 2033, with Asia the current focus. Deadline put the program at $2 billion and said it included the studio upgrades. Yoshimura cited estimates that the global entertainment and media market is growing about 3.4% a year, Variety reported.

Gaming is the second arm. Toei Games, a label launched this year for the company's 75th anniversary, will publish Hino in early 2027, with Killa and Debug Nephemee following from spring 2027, Variety reported. All three are original titles from outside developers rather than adaptations of Toei franchises, and all launch on Steam before Nintendo Switch, PlayStation and Xbox. Hino comes from UnGloomStudio, Killa from the Korean team Black Tangerine, and Debug Nephemee from Nephemee Studio, per Anime News Network.

"We aim to bring game creators' talent on board over the long term as a new vein of IP creation, and make games the starting point for stories in place of novels and comics," Yoshimura said, per Variety.

Kamen Rider, which turned 55 this year, is the franchise Yoshimura held up as Toei's model for what it calls the "evergreening" of IP. The studio now runs three film labels for it: The Kamen Rider Chronicle, for films drawn from earlier Riders; The Kamen Rider Animated, launched in April with Aniplex and Shirogumi; and The Kamen Rider Premium, a live-action label for large-scale hero action films aimed at international viewers and people who do not follow the TV shows, per Variety and Animation World Network.

For creators who pitch or sell work to studios, Toei's move shows a major Asian producer treating generative AI as a production input with an internal policy attached. What that policy allows, and whether it covers AI-assisted artwork in licensed merchandise or only internal workflows, is not public.

Toei Games' first title, Hino, is due in early 2027. TCCF ran November 6-9 at the Nangang Exhibition Center in Taipei.