STEPHEN BUNTING is hoping to go from Toy Story to World Glory this Christmas.
As No 4 seed, the Bullet will fancy his chances of a deep run and opens his Ally Pally campaign against Pole Sebastian Bialecki on Sunday evening.
Off the oche, he has been working on the design for a plushie — a soft toy — in his image, with grey hair and thick black-rimmed glasses.
Bunting, 40, is one of the most popular players around and fans have flocked to his website to buy the £35 gift for their kids for Christmas.
It followed his decision to unveil the toy on his walk-on during last month’s Grand Slam of Darts in Wolverhampton.
The ex-Lakeside world champion said: “I’ve got a cuddly teddy out now. The website crashed the other month — we had 250,000 hits.
“The guys from Custom Toys UK got in touch and said they’d like to do a teddy version of me. I’ve sold over 300 already.
“It took about six months to get them from first production to being shipped over. I don’t know where I’m going to put them all.
“I’ve put them in my garage for now. With the website crashing, the missus had been sending them out.
“She couldn’t even get on to see the orders, so we were panicking for two days.
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“But, thankfully, it was soon back up and running.”
Bunting already outsells the likes of Luke Littler and Luke Humphries in terms of shirts bought at darts exhibitions.
Can you imagine what life would be like for the Liverpool fan if he became the first £1million world champion on January 3?
Bunting, a two-time PDC world semi-finalist, laughed as he said: “It would be crazy.
“Absolutely crazy. I could see I’m a Celebrity … ringing me up and Strictly Come Dancing.
“It would be great to be the first millionaire winner, wouldn’t it?
“I think the hype around it with the press and the TV and everything that goes with that…
“It’ll be a sell-out again. The fans will play a big part in it as well. I really just can’t wait to get to Ally Pally and get started.
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“The better you do, the more people want to pull you from pillar to post. I accept it. Like I say, I’m a people’s champion.
“I love the fame that comes with it. I’ve gotten more recognised over the last year. I can’t walk around town now without people recognising me. I’ve got one of them faces.
“I’m quite popular but if you’re winning the worlds, it takes you to another level. I’d love to be able to say in January I’m world champion.
“I can take some time off the tour and have a holiday and just enjoy life, to be honest.
“So I’ll be turning every stone to make sure it happens.”
