The origins of a planned live-action film about Barbie date back to September 2009, when Mattel announced a collaboration with Universal Pictures that never materialized. In April 2014, Mattel entered into a cooperation with Sony Pictures, with Jenny Bricks as screenwriter and Laurie Macdonald and Walter F. Parkes as producers. The planned start of filming at the end of the year was delayed.

In March 2015, Diablo Cody joined as screenwriter to revise the script and Amy Pascal became another producer. Sony Pictures was still not convinced and hired other screenwriters such as Lindsey Beer, Bert V. Royal and Hillary Winston.

From December 2016, Amy Schumer was in negotiations for the title role, based on a revised script by Hillary Winston and Kim Caramele. In March 2017, Schumer dropped out due to a shooting conflict, but later cited creative differences as the reason.

As of July 2017, Anne Hathaway was in talks for the title role, Olivia Milch was to rewrite the script and Alethea Jones was to direct. The planned plot involved Barbie leaving the perfect universe and embarking on a journey to realize that perfection comes from within. Jones was confirmed as director in March 2018. In October 2018, Sony lost the film rights, which went to Warner Bros. Pictures. This ended the involvement of Hathaway, Jones, Macdonald, Parkes and Pascal.

In October 2018, it was announced that Margot Robbie was being considered for the title role and Patty Jenkins for the director's role at Warner. In July 2019, the signing of Robbie, Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach as new screenwriters was officially confirmed. In July 2021, Gerwig was also officially unveiled as director, with a shooting start in 2022. Robbie explained that the aim was to subvert expectations.

Ryan Gosling was in negotiations for the role of Ken from October 2021. His involvement and that of the rest of the cast was confirmed in the first half of 2022. Warner released a budget of 128-145 million US dollars for the production. Filming began in March 2022 at Warner Studios Leavesden in England. Rodrigo Prieto has been hired as director of photography and Jacqueline Durran as costume designer.

A first scene photo with Robbie as Barbie was shown in April 2022, and a photo of Gosling as Ken attracted a lot of attention on social media in June 2022. Filming with Robbie and Gosling on inline skates in Venice Beach in June 2022 was reminiscent of the 1994 "Hot Skatin' Barbie".

The film was produced by Robbie's company LuckyChap Entertainment, with Mattel Films and HeyDay Films as co-producers. Originally Alexandre Desplat was to compose the film music, but was replaced by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt. Greta Gerwig cited ten films as major influences, including "The Wizard of Oz", "2001: A Space Odyssey" and Jacques Demy's musicals.