Images: Wild for Webkinz

Company CEO Howard Ganz came up with the idea for Webkinz, spokeswoman Susan McVeigh told The New York Times. "He wanted to pay attention to what kids are doing these days, and what they're doing is going online," she said. The toys were introduced in April 2005. Sales last year neared the 1 million mark. Shown here is Webkinz cheeky monkey.

Photo by Amazon.com