It didn’t exactly make the top of my news feed, but I recently noticed a small story that stopped me in my tracks. Kellogg’s—the cereal giant that anchored so many of our childhood mornings—is bringing back the practice of placing small toys inside cereal boxes, something it abandoned years ago.

The new promotion will feature special editions of Frosted Flakes, Froot Loops, Apple Jacks, and Corn Pops, each containing plastic figurines tied to the upcoming film Toy Story 5. The movie is scheduled to hit theaters this June. It’s not exactly front-page news. But for me, it unlocked a flood of memories—vivid, sensory, almost tactile—of being a kid in the 1960s and 1970s, sitting at the breakfast table and plunging my hand into a freshly opened box of cereal, searching for buried treasure.

Back then, the toy wasn’t an afterthought. In many ways, it was the point.

I can still remember the ritual. A new box would be opened, the waxy inner bag peeled back, and without hesitation—without even pretending to pour a bowl first—my hand would go straight in, digging past the cereal to the bottom. There was no waiting for the box to empty. The prize had to be claimed immediately. Whatever it was—a whistle, a ring, a tiny puzzle, or a miniature airplane—it felt like something earned, even though it came........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)