The Late Late
Toy Show 2026

Your Toy Show night, wherever you are

The Late Late Toy Show 2026 takes place on Friday 4 December, with Patrick Kielty hosting. RTÉ confirmed the date in its September announcement. The exact start time and full viewing arrangements for this year’s show still need confirmation.^[1]

Whether you are settling onto the sofa in Ireland, joining in from overseas or saving the show for the following morning, here is what to know before making plans.

When is the Late Late Toy Show 2026?

The confirmed date is Friday 4 December 2026. Here are the key details at a glance:

The date comes from RTÉ’s 2026 announcement. The expected time and viewing options are based on the current Late Late Show schedule and RTÉ’s arrangements for the 2025 Toy Show, rather than a complete 2026 broadcast announcement.^[1][2][3]

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What time does the Toy Show start?

9.35pm Irish time is a reasonable planning guide, but not yet a confirmed start time for the 2026 Toy Show.

The current season of The Late Late Show airs at 9.35pm, and the 2025 Toy Show began at that time too. A 2026-specific start time was not confirmed in the RTÉ announcements checked for this guide.^[2][3]

Check the official Late Late Show page or your television listings closer to Friday 4 December before setting a reminder.

For anyone converting the time from overseas, Ireland will be on Greenwich Mean Time (GMT, UTC+0) in December, not its summer time.^[7]

How to watch the Toy Show in Ireland

RTÉ One on television and RTÉ Player online are the expected places to watch. Both carry the current Late Late Show, and both broadcast the 2025 Toy Show.^[2][3]

For television viewing, look for the Toy Show in RTÉ One’s listings for Friday 4 December. Use the programme name rather than relying on a channel number from someone else’s television setup.

For online viewing, open RTÉ Player and look for this year’s Toy Show live listing when it appears. RTÉ offered the 2025 show through both its website and app.^[4]

It is worth testing your chosen device before gathering everyone around it. Check that the picture plays, the sound works and any connection to the television is ready to go. That is a much nicer job to finish before the opening number.

How to watch the Late Late Toy Show internationally

Start with RTÉ Player, rather than assuming you need a paid Irish television service.

For the 2025 Toy Show, RTÉ explicitly offered free worldwide viewing, both live and on demand, through the Player website and app. That made the official stream available to families outside Ireland as well as those watching at home. The equivalent 2026 announcement is still pending.^[4]

Once this year’s viewing details are confirmed, the practical route is to open RTÉ Player, find the 2026 Toy Show live stream, and join at the local time where you live. To watch later, look for the full episode rather than an individual performance or highlights clip.^[5]

Do not buy a subscription or VPN solely on the assumption that the Toy Show is blocked abroad: last year, RTÉ’s own worldwide stream was free. Check the show-specific announcement for 2026 before paying for another service.^[4]

What time will the Toy Show be on in my country?

The times below are provisional. They assume the show starts at 9.35pm in Ireland on Friday 4 December 2026. They are calculated local equivalents, not confirmed RTÉ broadcast times.^[8]

For families in Australia and New Zealand, that would make the live show a Saturday-morning event, not a Friday-night one. Check your city rather than using a single time for an entire country, and revisit these times once RTÉ confirms the Irish start time.^[8]

Can you watch the Toy Show the next day?

RTÉ Player is the place to check for next-day catch-up. That is separate from the scheduled television repeat. RTÉ made the 2025 Toy Show available on demand after its live broadcast.^[5]

For a family viewing on Saturday 5 December 2026, look for the full 2026 programme on Player once it has been made available. The exact time it will appear has not yet been confirmed, so do not plan around a guaranteed midnight or early-morning upload.

Check the year and episode before pressing play. A collection of favourite moments from an older Toy Show is not the same as this year’s full programme.

Watching later also lets you build the occasion around your family: breakfast first, a break when someone needs one, and the rest of the show another time. There is no need to make finishing the whole programme part of the challenge.

When is the Toy Show repeated on television?

The 2026 television repeat date and time are still awaiting confirmation.

Last year, RTÉ One repeated the show on Sunday 7 December 2025 at 3.10pm. That is useful context, but it is not this year’s schedule and does not confirm a Saturday television repeat.^[3]

For a next-day watch, check Player. For a scheduled television showing, check RTÉ One’s final listings for the weekend of 5–6 December 2026.

Will Irish Sign Language and audio description be available?

RTÉ provided Irish Sign Language interpretation and live audio description for the 2025 Toy Show. ISL coverage was available through the RTÉ News Channel and RTÉ Player, while live audio description was available on RTÉ One.^[6]

The 2026 arrangements still need confirmation. Families using these services should look for RTÉ’s accessibility announcement and the appropriate version of the programme rather than assuming the main stream includes every option.

This is an independent viewing guide from SantasWorkshop.ie. Check RTÉ’s official listings for the final broadcast time, international availability and repeat schedule.

Sources

1. RTÉ, Last chance to apply to be part of this year’s Late Late Toy Show, 25 September 2026. Confirms Friday 4 December and host Patrick Kielty.
2. RTÉ, The Late Late Show is back, 17 September 2026. Confirms the current programme’s 9.35pm slot on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player; this is not a Toy Show-specific start-time announcement.
3. RTÉ, The Late Late Toy Show blasts off!, 14 November 2025. Historical evidence for the 9.35pm start, live/on-demand viewing and Sunday television repeat. These are 2025 arrangements, not confirmed 2026 arrangements.
4. RTÉ, Everything you need to know about The Late Late Toy Show 2025, 2025. Confirms free worldwide live and on-demand access on desktop and app for that edition.
5. RTÉ, Watch The Late Late Toy Show around the world, 4 December 2025. Historical evidence for the official overseas live stream and on-demand catch-up.
6. RTÉ, The Late Late Toy Show is for everyone with Audio Description and Irish Sign Language, updated 8 December 2025. These accessibility details refer to the 2025 edition.
7. Timeanddate, Dublin time zones and clock changes. Dublin returns to GMT on 25 October 2026.
8. Local times calculated from 2026-12-04 21:35 Europe/Dublin using Python’s IANA-backed zoneinfo conversions. Key December offsets were cross-checked against Timeanddate’s pages for Dublin, London, Toronto, Los Angeles, Sydney and Auckland. The assumed Irish start time is not confirmed.