Joanna Gaines is celebrating her newest project — a Joanna Barbie, complete with roller skates. The former HGTV star took fans behind the scenes of what it was like to design the doll as well as a Barbie townhouse.
Joanna Gaines Gives Inside Look at Making Her Barbie
On September 27, Gaines took to Instagram to give a little peek at the process of creating a Barbie doll.
“We started this process two years ago and it has been such a FUN journey! I loved visiting the @mattel headquarters with my family and seeing all the behind the scenes magic and hearing about Ruth Handler’s original vision for @barbie,” she wrote in the caption.
Gaines continued, “What an honor it has been to get to work with their incredible team on designing the townhouse and my doll. The final reveal was my favorite part.✨”
“This collab reminded me that anything is possible,” she added. “Thank y’all for your kindness this week and for celebrating with me 💕🥹.”
In the video, Gaines and her husband Chip visit Mattel, where they got to pose in front of a life-size Barbie DreamHouse and meet with the Barbie team.
Gaines also showed the variety of pieces she got to choose from for the townhouse and her reaction to seeing her Barbie and the house for the first time.
Gaines Says Barbie Was a Dream Collab
In a September 2025 post on the Magnolia blog, Gaines shared what it was like to be approached by Mattel for this project.
“Because my work typically centers around home and food, my days at the office tend to look the part — from design brainstorms and content planning to taste testing and product development,” she wrote. “But every now and then something entirely unexpected comes our way — a not-so-everyday opportunity that’s simply too fun to pass up.”
When asked about a Barbie collaboration, Gaines shared that “it was an easy ‘yes’ for me.”
She continued, “This collaboration is like nothing I’ve ever done. It was so fun, and so nostalgic. It has been an absolute honor to partner with the iconic Barbie® brand. A brand that has spent its 80-year history empowering young girls to dream big and believe that all of us can do or be anything we want.”
“When Chip and I visited Mattel’s Headquarters at the beginning of this partnership we took note of a quote they have inscribed on one of their walls,” the “Magnolia Table” star recalled. “It’s from Ruth Handler, the creator of the Barbie® doll, and it said: ‘My whole philosophy of Barbie® was that, through the doll, the little girl could be anything she wanted to be.'”
She added, “As soon as I saw it, I thought, yes, that’s exactly how I felt and exactly what I hope this collaboration carries forward.”
