American Greetings relaunched the Care Bear brand as part of the Bears’ 20th anniversary celebration with a series of dolls, toys and movies. The artwork and design of the bears were changed for relaunch. Also, Funshine Bear’s gender was changed from female to male, Champ Bear’s colours were changed from tan to true blue, with his tummy symbol changed to a winner’s cup with a star, and Share Bear’s tummy symbol was changed from a milkshake with two straws to two lollipops crossed. The change to Share Bear’s symbol stems from Play Along Toys’ suggestion of the change on the grounds that sharing a milkshake may spread germs. Apart from that, many other minor changes were made to the designs, mostly involving lightening the colors of the bears and minor redesigns to the tummy symbols.

In the midst of this revival, Play Along released brand-new toys based on the newly-redesigned Bears, sold at stores such as Wal-Mart, KMart, Toys “R” Us, Target, K•B Toys, and Mervyns.[9] The new merchandise included the Bears doing aerobics; Tenderheart Bear as a patient (casting the child that is playing with the toy as the doctor); Champ Bear as a fireman; and the Care Bears themselves as Cubs.[10] Over 70 million 13-inch plush Bears have been sold since the re-launch.[11] In addition, Lionsgate Home Entertainment and subsidiary FHE Pictures, in association with Nelvana, have made two direct-to-DVD computer-animated films, Care Bears: Journey to Joke-a-lot in 2004 and The Care Bears’ Big Wish Movie. in 2005. Also worth noting is that the role of unofficial leader was apparently temporarily transferred from Tenderheart Bear to Champ Bear shortly before the 2005 movie, and it is unknown if the role was returned to Tenderheart after the movie. Various other music CDs featuring the bears and video games were also produced. No Care Bears movie was produced in 2006, but hints of the second revival and the upcoming movie, Oopsy Does It!, started circulating among fans in the Internet towards the end of 2006.