Toner and method of preparing the toner

A toner, comprising:

• a binder resin;
• a colorant;
• and
• a release agent,
• wherein the toner has a volume average particle diameter (Dv) of from 3 to 9 μm, and
• wherein the binder resin and the release agent form a sea-island structure in which the island formed of the release agent is dispersed in the sea formed of the binder resin in a cross-sectional image of the toner obtained by a transmission electron microscope (TEM), and the following relationships are satisfied:
• IB>IA and IB>IC
• wherein IA represents an area ratio (%) of the island in an outermost region (A) of the cross-sectional image of the toner, having a thickness of 0.05 Dv;
• IB represents an area ratio (%) of the island in an intermediate region (B) thereof located under the outermost region (A), having a thickness of 0.15 Dv;
• and IC represents an area ratio (%) of the island in an innermost region (C) thereof located under the intermediate region (B).