Context based interactive toy

An interactive toy for interacting with a user while a story is being read aloud from a book or played from a movie/video is disclosed. The toy includes a speech recognition unit that receives and detects certain triggering phrases as they are read aloud or played from a companion literary work. The toy includes a sound module which activates one or more messages in response to the triggering phrase being detected. The speech recognition unit and sound module may be at least partly positioned within an interior cavity of the toy. The triggering phrase read aloud from the book or played in the movie/video may have independent significance or may only have significance when combined with other phrases read aloud from the book or played in the movie/video.