Move over Luke Skywalker, hold your jets Buzz Lightyear, there’s a new top toy in town.
Tucked into an investor presentation that Walt Disney released on Tuesday was this little tidbit of news: Duffy, Mickey Mouse’s very own teddy bear, is one of the company’s best-selling products, with annual merchandise sales of $500 million.
The stuffed animal is the best seller at Disney resorts in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Tokyo. It is also sold at the company’s Aulani hotel in Hawaii, and sometimes on its website and at fan events.
The character was created by Disney theme park designers known as the Imagineers and introduced in 2002 at the company’s Once Upon a Toy store in Orlando, Florida. It was later taken to Aunt Peg’s Village Store at the Tokyo DisneySea resort, where it was sold exclusively for four years and regularly sold out.
The designers created a backstory for Duffy: Minnie Mouse made the teddy bear as a gift for sailor Mickey when he left Cape Cod for a long voyage. After noticing that guests were buying multiple Duffys and giving them new names and outfits, Disney came up with more characters, including his friend ShellieMay, a cat named Gelatoni, and a bunny, StellaLou.
This month there is now a Duffy Show and Dinner at Tokyo Disneyland and a Duffy Festival at Shanghai Disneyland.
Duffy still hasn’t appeared in a TV series or movie, but that’s coming soon. The character will star in a six-episode animated series on the Disney+ streaming service next year.