A Beanie Baby is a stuffed animal, and made by Ty Warner Inc., which was later renamed as Ty Inc. in late 1993. Each toy has an inner "posable lining" and is stuffed with plastic pellets (or "beans") rather than stuffing (see PVC and PE), giving Beanie Babies a flexible feel.

The original nine Beanie Babies launched in 1993 were Legs the Frog, Squealer the Pig, Spot the Dog, Flash the Dolphin, Splash the Whale, Chocolate the Moose, Patti the Platypus, Brownie the Bear (later renamed "Cubbie") and Punchers the Lobster (later renamed "Pinchers").. The line became a phenomenon in the late 90s when Beanie Babies became both a fad and a collectible. Ty decided to stop making Beanies in 1999. But consumer demand made Ty change his mind. In 2000, a Beanie Baby named "The Beginning" was introduced to remind people of Beanie Babies' comeback.

Teenie Beanies, an offshoot of the Beanie Babies line, were made by additional manufacturers for a few McDonalds Happy Meal promotions. They are not new Beanie Babies, but Beanie Babies in a smaller size.

Sociology of Beanie Babies

The phenomenon of Beanie Babies is an example of a product of popular culture. Based on the sales and revenue of this toy, Ty warner Inc. created an empire worth over $6 billion. In 1995, there was fear that this hot commodity was slowly losing interest to the general public. To their surprise, there was exponentially increasing demand for the product, resulting in a profit of $250 million in the following year, with substantial re-sale value in the secondary market. In 2008 they released a follow-up line, Beanie Babies 2.0. They are new Beanie Babies with codes to use on online games on the Ty website.