Toei Animation Co., Ltd. is a Japanese animation studio primarily controlled by its namesake Toei Company. It has produced numerous series, including Sally the Witch, GeGeGe no Kitarō, Mazinger Z, Galaxy Express 999, Cutie Honey, Dr. Slump, Dragon Ball, Saint Seiya, Sailor Moon, Slam Dunk, Digimon, One Piece, Toriko, World Trigger, The Transformers, and the Pretty Cure series.

An animation studio is a company producing animated media. The broadest such companies conceive of products to produce, own the physical equipment for production, employ operators for that equipment, and hold a major stake in the sales or rentals of the media produced. They also own rights over merchandising and creative rights for characters created/held by the company, much like authors holding copyrights. In some early cases, they also held patent rights over methods of animation used in certain studios that were used for boosting productivity. Overall, they are business concerns and can function as such in legal terms.