As the folks of the Walt Disney Company are fond of saying, “It all started with a mouse.” And since his creation in 1928, the eight decades that followed have seen that simple little mouse grow to monolithic proportions. Star of screen, print, television, pretty much any medium ever devised, Mickey Mouse is no mere cartoon character; he is, without doubt, the most beloved, most recognizable, most endearing and enduring cartoon character that has ever been created. And his sweet little face has been plastered on more merchandising than any other person, real of fictional, in all of history.

Walt Disney created Mickey Mouse while traveling on a train with his wife, a short time after he had lost the rights to a former character, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. He wanted to name the character “Mortimer the Mouse” but luckily, his wife intervened and Mickey Mouse was born. With the help of animator Ub Iwerks, Mickey debuted on the big screen on November 18th, 1928, in Steamboat Willie and found instant success, especially with the little ones. The marketing machine was started two years later with the introduction of the first Mickey Mouse doll, and the character made an equally successful splash in the publishing world with the first of a series of Mickey Mouse books.

Mickey began showing up in the newspaper comics in 1932 and soon after, a man named Herman Kay Kamen entered into a licensing agreement with Walt to give the little guy a little more exposure. Once the floodgates opened, there was no looking back. Soon, everything under the sun had a Mickey Mouse face adorning it, including flashlights, silverware, sleds, comic books, tea sets, figurines, watches, games, puzzles and sand pails. An agreement with Lionel Trains in 1934 led to the issue of a Mickey and Minnie (his girlfriend, of course) wind-up handcar, the first of many Lionel trains to feature Mickey. His mug also graced the box of Post Toasties, making him the first character to ever be licenced to appear on a cereal box.

This mountainous volume of merchandise has only continued to grow since then, spawning its own descriptive term – Disneyana. The number of collectors of all things mouse-related eventually grew to the point that annual conventions were eventually held for fans and collectors to trade their wares, a tradition that continues to this day.

And although stars come and go, Mickey Mouse is just as popular as he ever was. Adoring fans still flock to Disney theme parks around the world, hoping to get an autograph or picture with their favorite friend. They can even visit Mickey’s Toontown within the parks and take a walk through his cartoon-like home.

In fact, hardly a child exists in the world whom has yet to hear of Mickey Mouse. They love his high-pitched falsetto voice, they love his welcoming smile, and they love those big ears.  Walt Disney once remarked “I only hope that we don’t lose sight of one thing – that it was all started by a mouse.” Eight decades later, it seems pretty clear that those fears were unfounded.