Ty Beanie Ballz
The Beanie Ballz product line was introduced at the Ty online site on January 1, 2011. The introduction included nine Ballz named Avalanche, Bananas, Bandit, Bonsai, Dots, Flash, Speedy, Tumbles and Zips.
When the Ballz are thrown, rolled or bounced, they land on their feet.
On August 25, 2011, Dinger became the first Ballz product given out as an exclusive sports promotion.
The Fall 2011 Ty Retailer Catalog introduced two new sizes of Beanie Ballz, large and extra large. The large versions began appearing on retailer shelves in September 2011. The first extra large Ballz were available for retail sale in late October 2011.
In October 2011 Ty released Prickles, the first of the Beanie Ballz to have newly designed, larger eyes than the original Ballz.
Prior to January 2012, Ty referred to the Ballz sizes as regular (5-inch), large (8-inch) and extra large (13-inch). In the Spring 2012 Ty retailer catalog, when the Beanie Ballz key-clips were first offered, the size labels for the others were changed to regular (5-inch), Medium (8-inch) and Large (13-inch). All size labels for Ty Beanie Ballz at tycollector.com have been updated to reflect the new sizing labels in current Ty retailer catalogs.
In January 2012, KISSES Brand, Morsel and Smoothie became the first Walgreens exclusive Beanie Ballz. These were also the first Beanie Ballz to appear with the new 3rd generation Beanie Ballz swing tag.
The January 2012 Ty Retailer Catalog introduced the first Beanie Ballz key-clips. They arrived in retail stores near the end of January 2012.
In February 2012, Ty introduced a new series of Beanie Ballz to represent NBA basketball teams. This series was followed in July 2012 with a series of Beanie Ballz representing NFL football teams. Whereas the NBA Ballz were animals reflecting the teams they represented, the football Ballz were a new design that featured a football helmet.
In 2012, Ty Inc. obtained a license to produce Disney characters. The first Ty-produced Disney characters showed up as Walgreens exclusive Beanie Babies in October 2012. The first Beanie Ballz Disney characters appeared in the Ty retailer Spring 2013 catalog. They started shipping to retailers in January 2013. The first four to hit store shelves were Mickey, Minnie, Tigger and Winnie the Pooh.
In January 2013, Ty introduced two more sports-themed Ballz sets, one for NHL hockey teams and one for major league baseball teams. The hockey team Ballz wear hockey helmets and the baseball teams Ballz feature textured uniforms and baseball batting caps.
In February 2013, Ty introduced the first Ballz exclusive to another country, Italy. They represented the Italian soccer teams, Roma and SSC Napoli.
As of June 2019, a new Ty Ballz plush has not been introduced since July 2014. Although various Ty Beanie Ballz are still listed for retail sale at the Ty online store (June 23, 2019), from a collector's standpoint this product line is "retired." The Ballz product line has been changed to the "retired" category at tycollector.com. If in the future, Ty introduces any new Ty Beanie Ballz, we will move the product line back to the "active" category.
In 2022, ty renamed his product line "Ty Puffies" as "Beanie Balls." Although the Beanie Balls look similar to the original Beanie Ballz (note the different last letter in the name), the Beanie Balls are an entirely different product line.