Dec 25, 2025
From a ship in WWII to the toy aisle: A look back at how Slinky sprang into the zeitgeist
“What walks down stairs alone or in pairs and makes a slinkety sound? Everyone knows it’s Slinky!”
!["In the 1970s, [Betty James] purchased an idea for a plastic slinky," recounted Michelle Parnett-Dwyer, curator at The Strong Museum National of Play. "And then in the 1990s she gets a call from Pixar, and they said, 'We would love to bring your Slinky dog into our movie Toy Story.'"](https://img.apmcdn.org/8155ed6454ba363c62a65aee1e2a2d3166a7fd47/widescreen/5dacbb-20251218-slinky-toy-history-of-toys-webp2000.webp)
"In the 1970s, [Betty James] purchased an idea for a plastic slinky," recounted Michelle Parnett-Dwyer, curator at The Strong Museum National of Play. "And then in the 1990s she gets a call from Pixar, and they said, 'We would love to bring your Slinky dog into our movie Toy Story.'"
Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images
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