• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, September 8, 2016

Toys R Us has just released its “Fabulous 15” toy list for the upcoming holiday, days after Walmart unwrapped its ultimate picks: Expect to hear plenty about Trolls, Star Wars and Pokémon. 

Retailers have better-than-average reasons to be hopeful about toy sales in the months ahead. The NPD Group recently reported that in the first six months of this year, toy sales jumped an impressive 7.5%, and that it expects U.S. sales for the full year to be $1.4 billion -- 7% ahead of 2015. That growth, fueled by movie tie-ins, would make it the fastest-growing year since 1999. Star Wars toys -- the year’s best-selling category so far -- gained 200% in the first half of the year, followed by Nerf, Shopkins and Pokémon.

Although Toys R Us, based in Wayne, New Jersey, features 40 items on its Hot Toys list, it names 15 as the ones it predicts will be in fiercest demand come Christmas. Dreamworks’ Trolls is due out in November, and the retailer thinks the Trolls Hug Time Poppy doll from Hasbro will be a big hit, too.

A handful of toys tied to the coming Rogue One: A Star Wars Story spinoff are also on the list, including Hasbro’s Star Wars InteracTech Stormtrooper Figure. Tomy’s Pokémon Z-ring is also expected to do well, as are quite a few animal-themed toys, including Spin Master’s Hatchimals; Little Live Pets’ Snuggles My Dream Puppy, and Paw Patrol’s Zoomer Marshall, also from Spin Master.

Walmart says it compiled its wish list of 25 toys from a panel of kids, ages 18 months to 12. And it kicked off the season last week by opening its annual layaway program.

Star Wars, with an Electronic R2D2, and Paw Patrol’s Zooming Marshall loom large here, too, as does the Num Noms Lipgloss Truck, Doc McStuffins Hospital Care Cart, FurReal Friends Torch, My Blazin' Dragon, and Little Live Pets Puppy. It also has a handful of exclusive toys, as well as limited exclusivity on a whipped cream-fueled game called Pie Face Showdown!

The Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer is also betting big on video games and consoles, including the Sony PlayStation Virtual Reality Bundle.