How a Sask. man amassed one of the largest 'Star Wars' collections in Canada

Many “Star Wars” fans around the world celebrate May 4 every year, as the date is a variant of the popular phrase, “May the force be with you.”

“Star Wars” fan and collector Ryan Johnson joined CTV Regina Morning Live on Thursday to talk about his collection, which has grown to about 50,000 pieces.

Johnson said he saw the first “Star Wars” movie as a child, and his interest in the franchise continued from there.

“I just continued going, and I’ve been doing this [collecting] for a good chunk of my life now,” he said.

Johnson, who is from Moose Jaw, said to him, collecting pieces is more about the hunt of finding an item he doesn’t have than simply going to eBay and just buying it.

“It’s about meeting people, having discussions. A lot of my pieces have a story to it,” he said.

The collector’s pieces vary from figurines to signs, as well as different pieces such as a cardboard Death Star.

“It was a series exclusive sold in Canada, it was also available in the UK,” he explained. “The Cardboard Death Star is something that a lot of people couldn’t have, and it didn’t last long, they were cardboard, kids destroyed them quite quickly.”

Johnson’s collection of memorabilia is so huge that he built an addition to his home to keep his collection. However, his entire collection can’t be displayed even with the addition.

“I have a lot more stuff now in storage. I do rotate things around, kind of like a museum, where I’ll bring stuff out and put stuff away, and right now, I’m in the middle of doing that, so I like to enjoy it but I am running out of space, so I’m becoming a lot more selective on what I buy,” he said.

Even though he is running out of space for his collection, Johnson said he still enjoys it.

“I’ve been doing it pretty well my whole life now and I keep enjoying doing it so I’ll continue until I can’t,” he said.

- With files from CTV Regina Morning Live