If you ever stop and think about the biggest toy fads of the ‘90s, there is one line of plush toys that will undoubtedly come to mind: Beanie Babies. Similarly to Pogs (click to read our article), Beanie Babies rose to popularity just as quickly as they came crashing back down to Earth. Unlike Pogs, which were just a craze among kids, Beanie Babies got adults involved, who thought that they were investing in something that could really pay off for them in the future. Where did they come from, what made them into such a hot commodity, and why did they lose their value just as quickly? Read on!
The story begins in the late 1970s in the Chicago area, where a man named Ty Warner was working as a salesman for the market leader in the world of plush toys, a company called Dakin. While he was their best salesman, he wasn’t satisfied with that life, and began to work on his own toy line on the side. His bosses found out, and gave him the boot. But, that prompted him to start his own company in 1983, which he called Ty Inc. (very original).
The first toy Warner created was a line of himalayan cats that he would sell at trade shows — it was at one of those trade shows that he met Bill Harlow, who was selling quilts with his wife at the time. Warner made a deal with him — buy some of the himalayan cats, lay them on your quilts, and the quilts will start selling. This tactic turned out to work, improving sales of both the cats and the quilts, and would eventually lead to Harlow becoming the exclusive Ty Inc. distributor in Canada.
What set the cats, and ultimately the Beanie Babies themselves, apart from other plush toys at the time was in how they were made. While those other plush toys were stuffed and immoveable, Warner had the idea to understuff the plushes and put in “beans” aka plastic pellets, which made them poseable. With his new type of plush in mind, Warner would go on to create the first line of Beanie Babies — the “original nine” as they would come to be called — which he introduced at a Tennessee gift show in November 1993.
From the beginning, Warner would only sell his plush toys to local mom and pop stores, in order to make them feel like they were special and not something you could go buy at your local Walmart or Target. Interestingly, though, Warner’s initial intention was to create a toy that kids could spend their allowance money on without having to go to their parents. By all accounts, he never meant for the crazy aftermarket to come into fruition, and even called those who would become collectors “totally nuts.”
Still, the aftermarket didn’t come out of nowhere — in 1995, a non-Beanie stuffed Lamb called Lovie from Ty Inc. had to be discontinued because of problems with the company’s Chinese supplier. People were pissed that they couldn’t get Lovie, so Warner and his reps started telling them that the toy had been “retired” instead of discontinued. And with that little change in semantics, those who had already bought Lovie were delighted that they had something that might now be worth something more. So, Warner decided to intentionally start retiring some specific Beanie Babies.
So, in early 1996, collectors were starting to pop up, and they ended up setting the prices for most of the aftermarket Beanie Babies, though it’s reported that they were just making those prices up and had no real idea what any of these babies would be worth in the future. These made up price lists popped up in collectors magazines, and for those who played their cards right, a lot of money could be made on Beanie Babies. One of the collectors, for example, was able to sell a handful of her rarest Beanie Babies to pay for her first child’s adoption.
Beanie Baby mania truly set in, and by the end of 1996, Ty’s sales had risen tenfold, to $280 million. That year, Warner himself made $90 million. But that wasn’t the peak quite yet, that would come in 1998 when the company’s sales would eclipse $1.3 billion dollars, with Warner raking in $700 million. Sales were so good, that Warner gave his staff all a bonus of an entire year’s salary. Things were great, but by just the next year, Beanie Babies would start their decline.
What could cause such a decline in something so massively popular? Well, that very popularity. By 1997, it was estimated that 64% of American households owned at least one Beanie Baby. They were becoming too ubiquitous for their own good — everyone had some, thus decreasing their special-ness. In January 1999, after Ty announced retirements, the prices on those retired Beanies didn’t go up. These retired Beanies were suddenly easy to find with supply outweighing demand. In subsequent years, sales declined by more than 90%, and in 2004, Warner claimed losses of more than $39 million on his tax return. The mighty had truly fallen.
Beanie Babies and Ty Inc. are still around today, though they certainly don’t fetch the moola they once did. No longer are they sold just in those mom and pop shops — you can find them in all major retailers. While the plush toys are certainly still cute, they’ll never quite compare to their ‘90s counterparts and all of the hype surrounding them.
But what about you? Did you love Beanie Babies, and do you still have some of them? Let us know in the comments, but first, if you want to buy the next generation a Beanie Baby or two, check out some of our favorites:
- Warner famously would not collaborate or co-brand with anyone, including Steven Spielberg. The only collaboration he agreed to was with McDonald’s. In 1997, they produced 100 million “Teenie Beanie Babies” in a promotion that was supposed to last five weeks, but only made it two weeks before selling out. They even had to cancel commercials that were planned to air as the demand was already so high, but you can watch some of them here.
- In 2013, Warner was arrested for tax evasion for keeping over $100 million in a secret Swiss bank account. He paid a $53.5 million civil judgment and was sentenced to two years’ probation and 500 hours of community service.
- Warner is still considered one of the richest people in America — he owns the Four Seasons Hotel in New York, and as of 2020 had a net worth of $2.3 billion.
- One of the many who fell victim to the decline in value of their Beanie Babies was Chris Robinson, who played Dr. Rick Webber on General Hospital. Ten years after leaving the show, his acting work had become scarce, so he decided to invest $100,000 in Beanie Babies in the hopes that they would pay for his childrens’ college educations. In the end, he lost all that money, and still has over 20,000 Beanie Babies in his home.
- These days, while most Beanie Babies won’t fetch you much, there are a few that are still worth some good money. Some of the rarest include Large Wallace and his Squad, and Princess the Bear.
- Warner famously would not collaborate or co-brand with anyone, including Steven Spielberg. The only collaboration he agreed to was with McDonald’s. In 1997, they produced 100 million “Teenie Beanie Babies” in a promotion that was supposed to last five weeks, but only made it two weeks before selling out. They even had to cancel commercials that were planned to air as the demand was already so high, but you can watch some of them here.
- In 2013, Warner was arrested for tax evasion for keeping over $100 million in a secret Swiss bank account. He paid a $53.5 million civil judgment and was sentenced to two years’ probation and 500 hours of community service.
- Warner is still considered one of the richest people in America — he owns the Four Seasons Hotel in New York, and as of 2020 had a net worth of $2.3 billion.
- One of the many who fell victim to the decline in value of their Beanie Babies was Chris Robinson, who played Dr. Rick Webber on General Hospital. Ten years after leaving the show, his acting work had become scarce, so he decided to invest $100,000 in Beanie Babies in the hopes that they would pay for his childrens’ college educations. In the end, he lost all that money, and still has over 20,000 Beanie Babies in his home.
- These days, while most Beanie Babies won’t fetch you much, there are a few that are still worth some good money. Some of the rarest include Large Wallace and his Squad, and Princess the Bear.
