A pop-up toy assembly includes a head portion having a cap portion with an interior space, a base portion, a mesh tubing having a top end portion and a bottom end portion narrower than the top end portion, and a latching mechanism, wherein the top end portion is attached to an interior surface of the interior space of the head portion and the bottom end portion is attached to the base portion, the mesh tubing is configured to invert inwards when a compress force is applied to move the assembly from an uncompressed state to a compressed state, and the latching mechanism is configured to latch the head portion and the base portion in a compressed state and, upon impact with another object, the latching mechanism is configured to unlatch from the compressed state and spring back to the uncompressed state with enough force to propel the assembly away from the another object.