Gyo Fujikawa was born in Berkeley, California, to Japanese parents, Hikozo and Yu Fujikawa. The masculine name, Gyo (pronounced "ghee-o"), is after a Chinese emperor her father admired.

Gyo Fujikawa received a scholarship to attended Chouinard Art Institute and was on the faculty of from 1933-39. She worked for the Walt Disney Company in California as a promotional artist, before moving to New York in 1941. From 1943-51 she worked for pharmaceutical advertising agency William Douglas McAdams.

In 1951 Fujikawa became a full-time freelancer and about five years later was approached by juvenile editor Debra Dorfman at Grosset & Dunlap to illustrate Robert Louis Stevenson's "A Child's Garden of Verses". This was her first published children's book in 1957. Babies, the first book both written and illustrated by Fujikawa in 1963, was also one of the earliest children's books to use multi-racial characters, a consistent feature across her body of work.

Fujikawa's books have been reprinted for mass-market and published worldwide. Her most popular books, Babies, Baby Animals, A to Z Picture Book and Oh!, What A Busy Day!, unfailingly represent a happy, detailed version of childhood. Her joyous illustrations remain sweet and nostalgic, without ever becoming overly saccharine. Her paintings of children are recognizable for round happy faces, rosy cheeks and simple dot eyes. Discussing her respect for her audience, she said:

"In illustrating for children, what I relish most is trying to satisfy the constant question in the back of my mind--will this picture capture a child's imagination? What can I do to enhance it further? Does it help to tell a story? I am far from being successful (whatever that means), but I am ever so grateful to small readers who find 'something' in any book of mine."

Fujikawa died on November 26, 1998, in New York Hospital. Although she had been engaged at the age of 19, she never married.

Fujikawa's notable commercial clients included Beech-Nut baby food and Eskimo Pie, creating the round-faced child icon for the ice cream treat. She created six stamps for the United States Post Office, including the 1997 32¢ "yellow rose" self-adhesive stamp and the United States-Japan Treaty ratification centenary stamp of 1960. Fujikawa was a life member of the Society of Illustrators.

File:Stamp US 1960 JapanTreaty100th.jpg|United States-Japan Treaty centenary stampFile:Fujikawa5cent.jpg|Plant for a More Beautiful America Cherry Blossom stamp

Written and illustrated by Gyo Fujikawa

• Babies, 1963
• Baby Animals, 1963
• A to Z Picture Book, 1974
• Let's Eat, 1975
• Let's Play, 1975
• Puppies, Pussycats, and Other Friends, 1975
• Sleepy Time, 1975
• Oh, What a Busy Day!, 1976
• Babies of the Wild, 1977
• Betty Bear's Birthday, 1977
• Can You Count? New York, 1977
• Our Best Friends, 1977
• Millie's Secret, 1978
• Let's Grow A Garden, 1978
• My Favorite Thing, 1978
• Surprise! Surprise!, 1978
• Come Follow Me to the Secret World of Elves and Fairies and Gnomes and Trolls, 1979
• Jenny Learns A Lesson, 1980
• Welcome Is a Wonderful Word, 1980
• Come Out and Play, 1981
• Dreamland, 1981
• Fairyland, 1981
• Faraway Friends, 1981
• The Flyaway Kite, 1981
• Good Morning!, 1981
• Here I Am, 1981
• Jenny and Jupie, 1981
• The Magic Show, 1981
• Make-Believe, 1981
• My Animal Friends, 1981
• One, Two, Three, A Counting Book, 1981
• Shags Has a Dream, 1981
• Mother Goose, 1981
• A Tiny Word Book, 1981
• Year In, Year Out, 1981
• Jenny and Jupie to the Rescue, 1982
• Fraidy Cat, 1982
• Me Too! New York, 1982
• Sam's All-Wrong Day, 1982
• Shags Finds a Kitten, 1983
• That's Not Fair, 1983
• Are You My Friend Today?, 1988
• Sunny Books: Four Favorite Tales, 1989
• Ten Little Babies, 1989
• See What I Can Be!, 1990
• Good Night, Sleep Tight, Shh, 1990

Illustrated by Gyo Fujikawa

• A Child's Garden of Verses, 1957, by Robert Louis Stevenson
• The Night Before Christmas, 1961, by Clement C. Moore
• Mother Goose, 1968
• A Child's Book of Poems, 1969
• Fairy Tales and Fables, 1970
• Poems for Children, 1980
• Baby Mother Goose, 1989
• Poems for Small Friends, 1989