Chicago history lesson: Ty Warner and Beanie Babies

Ty Warner, the infamous suburban Chicago creator of '90s-defining toys Beanie Babies, takes center stage in a new movie.

Driving the news: Zach Galifianakis re-creates Warner's rise and fall in "The Beanie Bubble," currently streaming on Apple TV.

Of note: Filmmakers took creative liberties with the drama, stating right up front: "There are parts of the truth you just can't make up. The rest, we did."

Backstory: Warner, who grew up in La Grange, was a sales rep at Dakin Toy Co. After getting fired, he came up with the idea of "understuffed" toy cats that were floppier and more malleable.

• Those became a hit, and in 1993, he started selling Beanie Babies, according to a 2014 Chicago magazine profile.

Details: Beanie Babies sold for around $5 each back then, but they could earn up to $10,000 when resold on eBay, according to Zac Bissonnette, who wrote the book on Beanie Babies.

• Warner would phase out certain animals and release exclusives to make the toys more valuable.
• The company also sold Beanie Babies on its website — a revolutionary move at the time.

Flash forward: In 1999, Warner announced he was forever retiring Beanie Babies to make the toys even more desirable. The market is fickle, though, and consumers saw it as a marketing ploy and moved on to the next thing.

• In 2014, Warner was sentenced to two years' probation for failing to report more than $24 million in income and evading nearly $5.6 million in federal taxes.n in income, and evading nearly $5.6 million in federal taxes.
• The sentencing judge lauded Warner's charitable gifts to hospitals and youth organizations as the reason the defendant skipped jail time.