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Disney’s iconic “Mickey Mouse” is a character that has evolved over the years. From the earliest Mickey Mouse stuffed animal to the latest, they all have one thing in common: the nostalgic feel from our childhood. 

Nostalgia is commonly understood as the feeling that one experiences when longing for a time that has passed. This feeling can be attributed to a tangible object, a time in history, or a place. The nostalgic feeling that individuals experience with their childhood stuffed animals is defined differently for everyone. This kind of nostalgia may come into an individual’s life once their childhood has ended. It may bring feelings of joy, yet at the same time feelings of sadness in reminiscing. The smell of a place, the feeling of an object: these things are more than enough to capture a moment in time that brings nostalgia. 

I received my first Mickey Mouse stuffed animal in 2010 from my biological father, Agustin Martinez, when I was about seven years old. My brother Aldo Martinez and I received the same stuffed animal from Agustin. However, during the next years, our family moved a total of three times across the Des Moines area. Aldo began to neglect his belongings, and in one of the final moves to the East side, he lost his Mickey.

Aldo regrets not taking better care of his Mickey when he was a kid. I still had mine, but the issue was that when I was younger, I ripped the tag off of my Mickey’s clothes, so we are not able to identify my Mickey’s specific make and model. 

A few months after Agustin gave Aldo and me our Mickeys, he left our lives, leaving many questions unanswered. One of these was the origin of this special stuffed animal he gave us that day. Although our step father came in later in our lives, we felt the need to find closure in Mickey Mouse since it was the last thing we had left of our biological father. 

Agustin may have left our lives as a father, but the day came when he left this world completely in an accident after being deported to Mexico. 

When we received news of Agustin passing away, Aldo and I valued the one Mickey we had left. We were kids at the time, so finding closure in Mickey was the only way we knew how to cope. Aldo claims to have something missing from his childhood and expresses his pent-up feelings and emotions from missing this part of his childhood. 

“I relate it to my father a lot because if I had that Mickey still, he would in a way, still be with me. Since he’s not here anymore, I have nothing to hold on to,” Aldo said.

Once my brother lost his Mickey – and once I realized that I could not identify mine – we were determined to find out more information about our stuffed animals. 

Aldo assumes our Mickey was manufactured between the years 2005 and 2010. This is reasonable because it follows the timeline of when Aldo received it in elementary school, and the time frame that Agustin was in our lives. 

When looking for our exact Mickey stuffed animal, the ones we found through internet searches were weird looking and not exactly a match. After extensive searching, Aldo and I concluded that Disney and other manufacturers most likely do not make the kind of Mickey that we own anymore. 

“We found one that was almost a match, but we just can’t find this certain Mickey, so we don’t know exactly when he was made or what kind of Mickey he is,” Aldo said. 

My brother and I tried searching the internet for all the names and models of the different Mickeys through time, yet we found nothing. He has become the ‘Unknown Mickey’. Aldo and I are identifying where our stuffed animals come from and why everyone’s stuffed animals might provide such a nostalgic feeling for children all over the world. 

Hart Cluett Museum’s 2023 Mickey Mouse states that the first Mickey Mouse doll was created in 1930 and mass-produced in 1931. Although this was a fast production, it is one that would evolve into much more as the years passed. Archivist and Librarian Libby Spatz’s 2018 book, “The Making of a Mickey Mouse Doll in 1930s Style” states that it all started with a woman named Charlotte Clark. She asked her nephew, Bob Clampett, who was 16 years old at the time, to begin designing a model for a Mickey Mouse doll. This was then proposed to the Disney brothers, which ended up pleasing them. 

From then on, various Mickey Mouse stuffed animals have been released. Although this was the humble beginning of the Mickey Mouse stuffed animals staying true to the original design, there have been various changes as the years have passed. This means that there are various models of Mickey Mouse stuffed animals since the original design, making it easy for one model to become stuck in time and be lost in the different versions of Mickey throughout the year. 

“Sometimes you see stuffed animals now, or even back then and they’re very weird looking. Their heads are bigger than their bodies, or they have skinny arms and skinny legs. But our Mickey, and a Bugs Bunny that I had- it was perfect. It’s like it was the real thing, like how you saw it in the cartoons,” Aldo said. 

The interesting thing is when we look up photos of all possible Mickey models, none would compare to the one I have. The nose, mouth, and even ears are drastically different than any other Mickey I have seen over the years. This has been especially true since the start of Disney’s Mickey Mouse due to the makes and models of their stuffed toys being produced interchangeably. This not only happens to our own Mickey Mouse stuffed animals, if not many childhood stuffed animals. Other children may have sentimental value attached to their childhood belongings. This nostalgia may be rooted in childhood experiences that individuals attribute to stuffed animals in later years. However, these nostalgic feelings may be negative, positive, and even sometimes bittersweet. 

Aldo expresses feelings of time passing, and how he could have taken advantage of a special opportunity. He specifically states feelings of regret in seeing me have my own Mickey years later. The same Mickey that has given me closure of our deceased father is the same Mickey he no longer has access to. 

“If I did have Mickey, I would also, like my brother, take care of him like he does, and cherish the moments of our childhood because they don’t last forever,” Aldo said. 

Disney will continue to make and remake different Mickeys as time passes. This is even seen in the media as the digital evolution of Mickey has also changed through the course of history. 

My nostalgia for Mickey Mouse left me in a spiral for years. I began collecting all things Mickey, but in moderation and appropriately for my age. I find closure in collecting Mickey Mouse items such as pillows, toys, trinkets, clothing, and more. I even named one of my pet chickens after Mickey.

My Mickey Mouse stuffed animal has been with me since I can remember. I think this is a cute way of making him a part of my identity since my specific Mickey is and was of great significance for my coming of age and development. After hearing my brother’s thoughts on his stuffed animals, I felt moved to continue my practice of appreciating Mickey until I can have children of my own to pass down the tradition of a stuffed animal having so much sentimental value, even after we’ve grown out of childhood. This is teaching me to appreciate mine even more and to hold on to the nostalgia the stuffed animal provides when thinking of when our father was still with us.

Our worlds and the things we grow up with change every day. The way our childhood vanishes as we grow is the same way our world keeps changing and updating, just like many of the stuffed animals in the world. We grow, and our stuffed animals grow with us.