Fear of new objects is a survival skill
In the wild, a bird who investigates every unfamiliar object does not live long, so your bird's alarm at a new toy is instinct working exactly as designed. Bright colours, dangling parts and an object that appeared suddenly inside his cage, which is his safest place, can all read as threats. Forcing the meeting by hanging the toy beside his favourite perch usually deepens the fear and can damage his trust in the cage itself. The slower introduction below works with the instinct instead of against it, and for many birds it also becomes their general way of accepting anything new.
Your aim is for the toy to become boring first and interesting second. Boredom is the gateway: a bird who has ignored an object for days has quietly classified it as harmless.
Start across the room, on neutral ground
Set the new toy somewhere he can see it during out-of-cage time, at a distance where he notices it but continues eating, playing and preening normally. If he leans away, alarm-calls or freezes, it is too close; move it further off or partly behind something. Leave it there for days, not hours, while life goes on around it.
Bring it closer in small steps only after he has been relaxed at the current distance for a couple of sessions. A useful sign of readiness is indifference: he turns his back on it to play with something else. Rushing this stage is the commonest reason introductions fail, because each fright resets the clock.
Make the toy predict good things
While it sits at its safe distance, interact with the toy yourself. Pick it up, turn it over, tap its bell and show obvious enjoyment, because birds read their flock's reactions closely. Place a favourite treat on or beside it and walk away, letting him choose to approach when you are not hovering. If he takes the treat, repeat the game at that distance before moving anything.
Some owners introduce a toy first to a bolder companion bird, whose relaxed shredding in view of the nervous bird is persuasive evidence no lecture can match. Keep sessions pressure-free throughout: he always has the option to move away, and that option is what makes approaching feel safe.
Into the cage, in the right spot
When he investigates the toy calmly outside the cage, hang it on the outside of the bars first, near a lower perch rather than his sleeping or favourite spot. After a day or two there, move it inside at the same lower, out-of-the-way position, so he can keep his distance within the cage while it becomes part of the furniture.
Only once he brushes past it without concern should it move toward the busier parts of the cage. If he stops eating or refuses to enter the cage at any point, take the toy back a stage immediately; appetite and cage trust always outrank toy progress.
Choose and adapt toys for a nervous bird
Start with smaller, quieter, natural-coloured items: a plain balsa piece or a small woven ball is a gentler first challenge than a large, brightly coloured toy with bells and chains. You can also shrink the challenge by introducing one component, such as a single wooden bead block, before the full toy. Avoid looming over him with the toy in your hand, and never chase or corner him with it, even in play.
A bird whose fear generalises to everything new, who stops eating around changes or who panics to the point of injury needs a slower plan and guidance from an avian veterinarian or behaviourist.
Note the distance and stage at which your bird is relaxed around each new toy in KinsLe Care Teams so everyone introduces his next toy just as patiently.