Beanie Babies were the brainchild of Ty Warner, sole owner of Ty, Inc., a company he started in 1985. In 1993, he created the now famous (or infamous) Beanie Baby Collection, and the first nine were introduced in January of 1994. They were Squealer the Pig, Legs the Frog, Cubbie the Bear, Splash the Whale, Flash the Dolphin, Patti the Platypus, Spot the Dog, Pinchers the Lobster and the ever delicious Chocolate the Moose. The reclusive Mr.Warner's idea of an affordable, pocket-sized "toy" that children could buy with their allowance money, soon became the hottest collecting craze of recent history.

Of the original nine, only Chocolate remains. In January of 1995, Beanies began to be officially "retired" on a regular basis, and in January of 1996 the practice of retiring Beanies each time new ones were introduced, was begun. This helped to sustain not only their popularity, but it also created a lucrative secondary market for people buying and selling the retirees.