TOY WARS: KIDS MEAL TOYS HAVE BECOME COLLECTOR ITEMS WITH BOTH ADULTS AND CHILDREN

Jerry Davis has run out of room to display his McDonald's Happy Meal toys. Five-year-old Zackary DeBoe of Cape Girardeau thinks Burger King's "Pocahontas" figures are cool.

At fast-food restaurants across America, it is often the toys that get customers in the door.

They are a hit with parents and children, and even collectors.

DeBoe played with a plastic "Grandmother Willow" toy as he ate his Kids Club Meal at the Burger King restaurant on Broadway. Grandmother Willow is the talking tree in the Disney movie, "Pocahontas."

"We went to see `Pocahontas' so you have to get the toys to go with it," explained DeBoe's mother, Laura.

Parents have pulled into fast-food restaurants week after week to collect all the kiddie meal toys in a particular series, everything from Barbies to Power Rangers.

Typically, the toys change weekly. Many of the action figures are tied to movies.

"It is like anything else, you are marketing something," said Ken Augustyn, who heads up Drury Restaurants, which owns 19 Burger Kings in Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky and Arkansas.

Restaurants like Burger King and McDonald's offer fun with their food. Many of them have indoor play areas.

"You are trying to let the moms and dads relax a little bit while the kids play," Augustyn said.

Jerry Davis owns six McDonald's restaurants. The kitchen of a house that serves as his office is crammed full of Happy Meal toys, everything from McDonald's own restaurant characters to Hot Wheels.

"I've got a basement full of this stuff," he said.

There is even a thick, paperback collector's guide of McDonald's toys.

Davis and Augustyn said there's a great demand for the toys.

"I have had people call from out of state trying to find things," Augustyn said. People often call the Burger King hotline in an effort to locate a particular Kids Club Meal toy.

Fast-food toys have been around nationally since McDonald's first offered Happy Meals in 1977. "They realized they could generate a lot of sales with premium toys," said Davis, who estimates that a fourth of the meals sold at his stores are Happy Meals.

Other fast-food chains, most notably Burger King, have followed suit.

Burger King handed out 8.5 million action figures four years ago. Last year, it gave out 50 million in "The Lion King" promotion alone.

Davis said it is a good deal for customers, who get quality toys and a meal too. "Basically, some of these toys go for $2 to $3 at a store."

As for Zackary DeBoe, nothing compares to playing with your food.