Dwayne Johnson Pablo Cuadra/WireImage/Getty Images
Dwayne Johnson played the role of Santa Claus as he bought gifts for everyone shopping at an iconic toy store in New York City.
In an Instagram clip posted on Wednesday, December 20, the doorman announced, “Hey, everybody, it’s toy soldier Johnny from FAO Schwarz. The Rock just purchased everybody’s toys for the holiday season!”
Inside the store, Johnson, 51, told the unsuspecting crowd, “I know you have not bought your gifts yet. Y’all come with me.”Holding a credit card in his hand, Johnson added, “Gifts are on me right now. Let’s go to the register.”
Johnson led dozens of excited shoppers down the stairs to buy their presents as Christmas music played in the background. He told a store employee, “Ring everybody up,” and the worker responded, You got it.”
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One male shopper commented, “I love Dwayne Johnson. I think this is great.”
The former wrestling champion was joined by Jimmy Fallon as he mingled with the crowd, taking selfies and holding babies.
Before the surprise announcement, Fallon, 49, and Johnson had fun with the crowd, who did not know they were in the store. They hid behind a curtain as Fallon anonymously talked to a shopper using the voice of a giant robot.
“Who is your favorite wrestler-turned-actor-superstar?” Fallon asked a couple of store guests through the robot.
“Dwayne Johnson,” a woman quickly replied. When the robot asked for an introduction to Johnson, she said, “I would love to, but I don’t know him!”
“But you know him now,” Johnson said as he emerged from behind the curtain to joyful screams and a hilariously stunned expression from her fellow shopper.
“I want him to be president of the United States one day,” she said.
“I love to do crazy cool s–t for people, because it keeps me from going insane,” Johnson captioned the video via Instagram. “When I was a little boy, my old man would wrestle in New York City once a month at Madison Square Garden — and every month I would dream about going to FAO Schwarz to buy a toy. Finally, my mom took me to FAO back in 1983 and I bought ONE TOY for $13 bucks (a magic set) and walked around that magical toy utopia thinking ‘oh my god this place is HEAVEN.’”
Johnson added that his childhood visit to the store was so special that it inspired him to return 40 years later and spread holiday cheer.
“I just had to come back to NYC & visit FAO and buy every single kid’s toys. Didn’t care how many toys they had or what they wanted. I’ll take care of it all and it was awesome,” Johnson continued. “Later that night at dinner, I got the bill for everyone’s toys and thought holy s–t I think I just purchased the entire FAO Schwarz company. Seriously, seeing all those kids’ faces light up with joy made this one of the BEST DAYS EVER!! “
The joyous video ended with the caption, “Happy Holidays. Love, Dwanta Claus.”