Toys R Us Sora-Generated Ad Marks Milestone for AI-Generated Video

Toys R Us releases first commercial made with OpenAI’s Sora, signaling growing momentum for AI-generated video in advertising and entertainment.

Key details of the Toys R Us commercial: The retailer partnered with ad agency Native Foreign to create a one-minute video narrating the origin story of Toys R Us and its founder, Charles Lazarus, using OpenAI’s generative AI video model Sora:

• The video features fully AI-generated representations of a young Lazarus and the toy store’s mascot, Geoffrey the Giraffe, and was produced in just a few weeks from conception to final product.
• Native Foreign co-founder and creative director Nik Kleverov directed the ad, working with a team of about 12 creatives, including art directors, designers, and original music composers.
• The commercial premiered during the 2024 Cannes Lions Festival, marking a significant milestone for AI-generated video in advertising.

Growing adoption of AI video generation tools: OpenAI’s Sora and other AI video models are gaining traction among filmmakers, musicians, and brands, despite some models being limited in availability or facing legal challenges:

• OpenAI released Sora in February 2024 to a select group of creators and has since expanded access, showcasing five Sora-made short films at the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival.
• Other AI video generation tools, such as Runway’s Gen-3 Alpha, Luma AI, Kling, and Pika Labs, are offering public access to their models, enabling users to create short video clips from text prompts.
• However, some AI video companies face lawsuits from artists alleging copyright infringement for training models on copyrighted video clips without permission or compensation.

Broader implications for the creative industry: The Toys R Us commercial highlights the potential for AI-generated video to transform advertising, filmmaking, and entertainment by enabling rapid iteration, reducing production costs, and expanding creative possibilities:

• As Kleverov noted, tools like Sora allow creatives to “explore your imagination.. in motion” and reduce the influence of budgets on shaping narratives.
• The ability to generate high-quality video content in a matter of weeks could significantly disrupt traditional production timelines and workflows in the creative industry.
• However, the rise of AI-generated video also raises questions about the role of human creativity, the potential for misuse, and the legal and ethical implications of training models on copyrighted content without consent.