A killer toy is a stock character in horror fiction. They include toys, such as dolls and ventriloquist dummies, that come to life and seek to kill or otherwise carry out violence. The killer toy subverts the associations of childhood with innocence and lack of agency while invoking the uncanny nature of a lifelike toy. Killer toy fiction often invokes ideas of companionship and the corruption of children, sometimes taking place in dysfunctional or single parent homes. They have historically been associated with occultism and spirit possession, though artificial intelligence became more common in later works.
The killer toy most commonly appears in film, where it dates back to Dead of Night (1945) and expands on earlier films such as The Great Gabbo (1929) and The Devil-Doll (1936). These early examples primarily featured ventriloquist dummies, with works featuring killer dolls developing in the 1960s through the 1980s. The genre of killer toy fiction was popularized by Child's Play (1988) and its killer doll Chucky, which has become widely recognized as a horror icon in popular culture. Killer toy fiction has remained prevalent in horror, and other popular killer doll franchises have been created since then, including Puppet Master and The Conjuring.