The Disney "Cars" Franchise

"Cars" Toy Display at Toys R Us in San Jose

I have no idea why I was taken aback by the huge "Cars" display at Toys R Us. After all, we have all seen similar displays whenever a movie has hit the big time. I guess I never thought of how pervasive the Disney Cars and Cars 2 animated films have become.

Instead of buying my grandson's birthday present in Hawaii and taking it with us to the mainland, it was decided that the more prudent thing to do would be to wait until we got there and then take the boy to the store so he could pick his own present.

The kid sure knew what he wanted. As soon as we got into Toys R Us, he made a beeline to the correct aisle and proceeded to investigate ... inspecting each and every item on the shelf, one at a time. He must have spent an hour doing that, so while the wife and his father helped him, I wandered around the store looking at what they had on the shelves.

I did the whole store, went back to the "Cars" aisle, and they were still at it. The kid knew the names of all the car characters and what happened during the World Grand Prix races in Cars 2. Amazing.

He finally made his choice. And you know what? He picked a wall-mounted track system that wasn't even a "Cars" item - Hot Wheels Wall Tracks. That's not to say he's lost interest in the Cars cars. Nearly all the gifts his friends and preschool classmates gave him at his birthday party were cars of some kind.

There must be a conspiracy we don't know about.