December 16, 2025 • 9 mins
It’s the holiday season, a time that brings out our desire to please those we love, particularly the kids in our lives. There’s a red hot toy every year, but what happens when that toy puts dollar signs in the eyes of grownups? This is about one toy that caused a lot of folks financial ruin and divorce, while it made a billionaire out of the guy who created it.
Feel free to DM me if you have a story you’d like me to cover . . On Facebook it’s Patty Steele and on Instagram Real Patty Steele
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right. If you are a kid, or a kid
at heart, you have kids, or you ever were a kid,
then you know the holiday season always seems to have
one red hot must have toy. Every year, there are
tons of new things to buy, but there's always a standout.
This year, labuobos have been firing up the marketplace, at
least for younger kids now. Only a handful of toys
(00:22):
have stayed popular through the ages, but one in particular
took folks on a wild roller coaster ride in the
investment world. I'm Patty Steele. The perfect toy turns into
the perfect investment temporarily. That's next on the backstory. The
(00:43):
backstory is back. Getting the perfect toy for the holidays
isn't just the goal of every kid. It's the sometimes
frustrating goal of every parent, grandparent, aunt, and uncle. Laboo
Boos are one of the hottest toys this holiday season.
In case you don't know, it's a little squishy monster
thing that'll set you back anywhere from twenty to twenty
(01:04):
five bucks. But what launches a toy into the stratosphere
making it iconic? One toy I'll tell you about in
a bit became hugely desired as an investment until the
bubble burst. But first, let's go back in the past.
There was the Teddy bear craze, which began in nineteen
oh six. It really hasn't stopped since. It started with
(01:27):
President Teddy Roosevelt sparing the life of a tied up
black bear while on a hunting trip, then jumping on
the publicity surrounding the story. A German toy company produced
a ton of stuffed bears, and voila, every kid needed
a Teddy Bear. That was pretty much the first major
toy craze. Since before the twentieth century, toys were mostly
(01:50):
simple and homemade. Then in nineteen twenty, Raggedy Ann and
Andy hit the scene in a big way. These soft
cloth dolls with red yarn and for hair were introduced
and became popular for decades. They were cuddly, inexpensive, and
somewhat indestructible unless your dog got hold of it. Also
(02:10):
big in the nineteen twenties. Yo yos actually invented as
much as three thousand years ago, possibly in China. It
took the marketing genius of a guy named Don Duncan
to manufacture and sell a jillion Yo yos by starting
Yo yo trick competitions. The nineteen thirties brought the depression,
but every little girl wanted to be soothed by a
(02:32):
Shirley Temple doll. They cost as little as three bucks,
but that was still a big investment for parents in
tough times. They did make forty five million dollars for
the people that made the dolls. World War Two was
responsible for the next big craze, the slinky. A ship
engineer discovered it when he knocked over a box of
(02:53):
ship springs and watched them walk off the table, onto
a chair and across the floor. Then it got really serious.
In nineteen fifty two, Mister potato Head was the first
kid's toy to advertise on TV. The early version was
a bunch of plastic pieces that you would jam into
a real potato. A million of the sets were sold
(03:15):
in the first year, and now with the fully plastic
potato they continue to sell. Other popular toys followed, like
Barbie dolls, Gi Joe, Easy Bake ovens, and Star Wars
action figures. Then in the mid nineteen eighties we started
seeing literal riots breakout during crazed Black Friday shopping all
(03:36):
in an effort to snag a cabbage patch kid. The
kind of ugly cloth and final dolls led to some
crazy stories when Pennsylvania woman got a broken leg when
a thousand person crowd turned into a violent department store mob.
In another spot, a store manager said he armed himself
with a baseball bat to defend his position behind the counter,
(04:00):
and he didn't stop there. The infamous Tickle Me Elmo
shopping frenzy of nineteen ninety six saw stampedes, scalpers, arrests,
and tons of injuries. Rosie O'Donnell had featured the giggling
Elmo on her popular daytime talk show In October. By
Black Friday, Elmo was sold out across the country. When
(04:21):
it got restocked, folks went nuts. One Walmart worker told
People magazine about the store getting a late night Elmo shipment.
He said he was caught in a stampede. I was
pulled under, trampled, the crotch was yanked out of my
brand new jeans. He suffered a pulled hamstring, injuries to
his back, jaw and knee, a broken rib, and a concussion.
(04:44):
He said, I was kicked with a white Adidas before
I became unconscious. All that for a giggling Elmo. But
that same year, one of the most amazing toy crazes
left the realm of kid toy and went straight to
the grown up thrill of making money. Before NFTs and
meme stalks, there was a different kind of mania that
(05:05):
grabbed the entire nation by the throat. It was just
a little toy filled with plastic pellets, but it went
on to sell for hundreds, even thousands of dollars. It
literally created overnight millionaires, bankrupted families, and became one of
the largest pop culture frenzies ever. It was the Beanie
Baby's bubble, when a kid's toy became an economic supernova.
(05:29):
Ty Warner was a former failed actor and adored toward
toy salesman who had an idea create slightly odd looking
little figures with imperfect features so they looked more real.
And he didn't sell to big stores, no wal Mart,
no Toys r Us, just tiny mom and pop shops.
Because they were harder to find, they felt more rare.
(05:52):
Kids begged for them, parents lined up for them, and
eventually collectors started snagging them. That was part of time scheme.
Just when a figure got super hot, he'd retire it
and bring on another. That turned a five dollars toy
into a legend because everybody had to get him if
they were being discontinued. By the end of nineteen ninety six,
(06:15):
beanie babies were no longer toys. They were assets. There
were collector clubs and magazines. Some families even spent their
savings buying inventory they thought would eventually pay for college.
For a while, a few beanie babies sold for a fortune.
The Princess Bear was listed as high as five hundred
thousand dollars, while the Royal Blue Peanut, the Elephant, and
(06:38):
the Magenta Patty the Platypus sold for as much as
fifteen thousand dollars. People hoarded them in plastic bins and
climate controlled storage units. The wildest part We'll keep in mind.
This was before the Internet explosion, but then came eBay.
It was brand new, and in the beginning, eBay survived
(06:59):
because of beanie babies. That's right, At one point ten
percent of all eBay listings were beanie babies. Crazy, right,
But then the collapse began slowly. At first, Ty Warner
announced the immediate retirement of dozens of Beanie Babies. Collectors panicked,
some bought more, some cashed out. Then stores began overordering,
(07:24):
and so scarcity evaporated. The bubble popped on December thirty first,
nineteen ninety nine, when Ty Warner released a now infamous
announcement Beanie Babies were being discontinued forever. Collectors rushed to
buy whatever they could, Demands surged and then died Suddenly,
the fifteen thousand dollars collectibles were worth about three bucks apiece.
(07:48):
Some families lost thousands, and according to court records, some
couples literally divorced over Beanie Baby collections and Ty Warner
he pulled off one of the greatest pop culture cash
outs ever. Now, at the age of eighty one, he's
worth almost seven and a half billion dollars, largely thanks
(08:08):
to Beanie Babies. So the moral is, when buying your
little oneed toy, only look at it as an investment
in their joy. I hope you're enjoying the Backstory with
Patty Steele. Please leave a review and follow or subscribe
for free to get new episodes delivered automatically. Also, feel
free to DM me if you have a story you'd
(08:28):
like me to cover on Facebook, It's Patty Steele and
on Instagram Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele. The Backstory
is a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, the Elvis Durand Group,
and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser. Our
writer Jake Kushner. We have new episodes every Tuesday and Friday.
(08:52):
Feel free to reach out to me with comments and
even story suggestions on Instagram at Real Patty Steele and
on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening to the
back Story with Patty Steele. The pieces of history you
didn't know you needed to know.
All right. If you are a kid, or a kid
at heart, you have kids, or you ever were a kid,
then you know the holiday season always seems to have
one red hot must have toy. Every year, there are
tons of new things to buy, but there's always a standout.
This year, labuobos have been firing up the marketplace, at
least for younger kids now. Only a handful of toys
(00:22):
have stayed popular through the ages, but one in particular
took folks on a wild roller coaster ride in the
investment world. I'm Patty Steele. The perfect toy turns into
the perfect investment temporarily. That's next on the backstory. The
(00:43):
backstory is back. Getting the perfect toy for the holidays
isn't just the goal of every kid. It's the sometimes
frustrating goal of every parent, grandparent, aunt, and uncle. Laboo
Boos are one of the hottest toys this holiday season.
In case you don't know, it's a little squishy monster
thing that'll set you back anywhere from twenty to twenty
(01:04):
five bucks. But what launches a toy into the stratosphere
making it iconic? One toy I'll tell you about in
a bit became hugely desired as an investment until the
bubble burst. But first, let's go back in the past.
There was the Teddy bear craze, which began in nineteen
oh six. It really hasn't stopped since. It started with
(01:27):
President Teddy Roosevelt sparing the life of a tied up
black bear while on a hunting trip, then jumping on
the publicity surrounding the story. A German toy company produced
a ton of stuffed bears, and voila, every kid needed
a Teddy Bear. That was pretty much the first major
toy craze. Since before the twentieth century, toys were mostly
(01:50):
simple and homemade. Then in nineteen twenty, Raggedy Ann and
Andy hit the scene in a big way. These soft
cloth dolls with red yarn and for hair were introduced
and became popular for decades. They were cuddly, inexpensive, and
somewhat indestructible unless your dog got hold of it. Also
(02:10):
big in the nineteen twenties. Yo yos actually invented as
much as three thousand years ago, possibly in China. It
took the marketing genius of a guy named Don Duncan
to manufacture and sell a jillion Yo yos by starting
Yo yo trick competitions. The nineteen thirties brought the depression,
but every little girl wanted to be soothed by a
(02:32):
Shirley Temple doll. They cost as little as three bucks,
but that was still a big investment for parents in
tough times. They did make forty five million dollars for
the people that made the dolls. World War Two was
responsible for the next big craze, the slinky. A ship
engineer discovered it when he knocked over a box of
(02:53):
ship springs and watched them walk off the table, onto
a chair and across the floor. Then it got really serious.
In nineteen fifty two, Mister potato Head was the first
kid's toy to advertise on TV. The early version was
a bunch of plastic pieces that you would jam into
a real potato. A million of the sets were sold
(03:15):
in the first year, and now with the fully plastic
potato they continue to sell. Other popular toys followed, like
Barbie dolls, Gi Joe, Easy Bake ovens, and Star Wars
action figures. Then in the mid nineteen eighties we started
seeing literal riots breakout during crazed Black Friday shopping all
(03:36):
in an effort to snag a cabbage patch kid. The
kind of ugly cloth and final dolls led to some
crazy stories when Pennsylvania woman got a broken leg when
a thousand person crowd turned into a violent department store mob.
In another spot, a store manager said he armed himself
with a baseball bat to defend his position behind the counter,
(04:00):
and he didn't stop there. The infamous Tickle Me Elmo
shopping frenzy of nineteen ninety six saw stampedes, scalpers, arrests,
and tons of injuries. Rosie O'Donnell had featured the giggling
Elmo on her popular daytime talk show In October. By
Black Friday, Elmo was sold out across the country. When
(04:21):
it got restocked, folks went nuts. One Walmart worker told
People magazine about the store getting a late night Elmo shipment.
He said he was caught in a stampede. I was
pulled under, trampled, the crotch was yanked out of my
brand new jeans. He suffered a pulled hamstring, injuries to
his back, jaw and knee, a broken rib, and a concussion.
(04:44):
He said, I was kicked with a white Adidas before
I became unconscious. All that for a giggling Elmo. But
that same year, one of the most amazing toy crazes
left the realm of kid toy and went straight to
the grown up thrill of making money. Before NFTs and
meme stalks, there was a different kind of mania that
(05:05):
grabbed the entire nation by the throat. It was just
a little toy filled with plastic pellets, but it went
on to sell for hundreds, even thousands of dollars. It
literally created overnight millionaires, bankrupted families, and became one of
the largest pop culture frenzies ever. It was the Beanie
Baby's bubble, when a kid's toy became an economic supernova.
(05:29):
Ty Warner was a former failed actor and adored toward
toy salesman who had an idea create slightly odd looking
little figures with imperfect features so they looked more real.
And he didn't sell to big stores, no wal Mart,
no Toys r Us, just tiny mom and pop shops.
Because they were harder to find, they felt more rare.
(05:52):
Kids begged for them, parents lined up for them, and
eventually collectors started snagging them. That was part of time scheme.
Just when a figure got super hot, he'd retire it
and bring on another. That turned a five dollars toy
into a legend because everybody had to get him if
they were being discontinued. By the end of nineteen ninety six,
(06:15):
beanie babies were no longer toys. They were assets. There
were collector clubs and magazines. Some families even spent their
savings buying inventory they thought would eventually pay for college.
For a while, a few beanie babies sold for a fortune.
The Princess Bear was listed as high as five hundred
thousand dollars, while the Royal Blue Peanut, the Elephant, and
(06:38):
the Magenta Patty the Platypus sold for as much as
fifteen thousand dollars. People hoarded them in plastic bins and
climate controlled storage units. The wildest part We'll keep in mind.
This was before the Internet explosion, but then came eBay.
It was brand new, and in the beginning, eBay survived
(06:59):
because of beanie babies. That's right, At one point ten
percent of all eBay listings were beanie babies. Crazy, right,
But then the collapse began slowly. At first, Ty Warner
announced the immediate retirement of dozens of Beanie Babies. Collectors panicked,
some bought more, some cashed out. Then stores began overordering,
(07:24):
and so scarcity evaporated. The bubble popped on December thirty first,
nineteen ninety nine, when Ty Warner released a now infamous
announcement Beanie Babies were being discontinued forever. Collectors rushed to
buy whatever they could, Demands surged and then died Suddenly,
the fifteen thousand dollars collectibles were worth about three bucks apiece.
(07:48):
Some families lost thousands, and according to court records, some
couples literally divorced over Beanie Baby collections and Ty Warner
he pulled off one of the greatest pop culture cash
outs ever. Now, at the age of eighty one, he's
worth almost seven and a half billion dollars, largely thanks
(08:08):
to Beanie Babies. So the moral is, when buying your
little oneed toy, only look at it as an investment
in their joy. I hope you're enjoying the Backstory with
Patty Steele. Please leave a review and follow or subscribe
for free to get new episodes delivered automatically. Also, feel
free to DM me if you have a story you'd
(08:28):
like me to cover on Facebook, It's Patty Steele and
on Instagram Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele. The Backstory
is a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, the Elvis Durand Group,
and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser. Our
writer Jake Kushner. We have new episodes every Tuesday and Friday.
(08:52):
Feel free to reach out to me with comments and
even story suggestions on Instagram at Real Patty Steele and
on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening to the
back Story with Patty Steele. The pieces of history you
didn't know you needed to know.
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