--- title: Crayola: The Day the Crayons Quit Author on Retired Color description: When Crayola announced that it would be retiring a color from its 24-pack for the first time, Drew Daywalt knew what should replace it canonical: https://time.com/4719760/crayola-day-crayons-quit-dandelion/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-03-30T22:40:01.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:54:28.891Z article:section: Ideas og:title: ‘The Day the Crayons Quit' Author on What Crayola’s New Color Should Be og:description: "I went out and bought a 24-pack today," Drew Daywalt said. "I gotta have it in case it’s gone" og:url: https://time.com/4719760/crayola-day-crayons-quit-dandelion/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc630ca87a6375f13/6988c0b70a4a222dce9cd7c0/gettyimages-98356121.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Crayons og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: ‘The Day the Crayons Quit' Author on What Crayola’s New Color Should Be twitter:description: "I went out and bought a 24-pack today," Drew Daywalt said. "I gotta have it in case it’s gone" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc630ca87a6375f13/6988c0b70a4a222dce9cd7c0/gettyimages-98356121.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # _The Day the Crayons Quit_ Author on What Crayola’s New Color Should Be ## Video: You Don’t Need Superpowers to be Batman–Just This Much Money [Watch (HLS stream): You Don’t Need Superpowers to be Batman–Just This Much Money](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/2zEU4BJY.m3u8) (1:16)  _Published 2017-02-09. Being the 'Caped Cruiser' isn't cheap. In fact, it's absurdly expensive._ by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Mar 30, 2017 10:40 PM UTC  Crayons CrayonsGarry Gay—Getty Images by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Mar 30, 2017 10:40 PM UTC When Crayola announced this week that it would be [retiring a color from its 24-pack](http://time.com/4714929/crayola-crayons-retire/) for the first time, Drew Daywalt headed to the store. “I went out and bought a 24-pack today,” he tells TIME. “I gotta have it in case it’s gone.” Like other savvy customers, he’ll be able to hang onto the soon-to-disappear [Dandelion](http://time.com/4719440/crayola-dandelion-retiring/) crayon after it’s removed from boxes. Daywalt knows more about crayons than most folks: the children’s book author has topped bestseller lists with his hits [_The Day the Crayons Quit_](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0399255370/?tag=timecom-20)and [_The Day the Crayons Came Home_](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0399172750/?tag=timecom-20), popular with children and parents alike. Of all the 24 crayons in the Crayola box, Daywalt said he would have expected Red Violet to be the one to get the ax (“That’s like it’s kind of red and purple — it doesn’t really have a home”). Crayola hasn’t yet announced a replacement color, Daywalt’s vote is plaid, striped or rainbow, “the acceptance crayon.” Daywalt has quite a following in the crayon world. “A week doesn’t go by that I don’t get an art teacher or a teacher who has crayons in the classroom writing to say, ‘Thanks a lot, my crayons are naked now, they’ve torn off all their wrappers,” as happens to a crayon character in the story. “Every time I do a school visit, I get some really cool new crayon melted project, which in a way is kind of horrifying,” he says. “They give me crayons melted on paper and I’m like, ‘Oh God, their heads are melting!'” The best crayon-themed gift he’s received: a pea green, 3-ft.-long, knitted, stuffed crayon resembling his character Esteban the Magnificent. Daywalt toted him along on tour, including bringing him to airport bars. Though Daywalt says he hasn’t collaborated with Crayola, he has a great fondness for the company’s products: “They were my best friends when I was a little boy, and they helped me draw all my favorite _Star Wars_ characters,” he says. “My goal was to make something that was as universally loved as the items it was about.” Asked whether he has any future crayon-themed projects in the pipeline, he demurs. “I’ll just say I’m not allowed to tell you.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4719760/crayola-day-crayons-quit-dandelion/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4719760/crayola-day-crayons-quit-dandelion/"},"headline":"The Day the Crayons Quit Author on What Crayola’s New Color Should Be","datePublished":"2017-03-30T22:40:01.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:54:28.891Z","description":"\"I went out and bought a 24-pack today,\" Drew Daywalt said. \"I gotta have it in case it’s gone\"","url":"https://time.com/4719760/crayola-day-crayons-quit-dandelion/","keywords":["Books","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc630ca87a6375f13/6988c0b70a4a222dce9cd7c0/gettyimages-98356121.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc630ca87a6375f13/6988c0b70a4a222dce9cd7c0/gettyimages-98356121.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Crayons","caption":"Crayons","creditText":"Garry Gay—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/books/","name":"Books"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4719760/crayola-day-crayons-quit-dandelion/","name":"The Day the Crayons Quit Author on What Crayola’s New Color Should Be"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"You Don’t Need Superpowers to be Batman–Just This Much Money","description":"Being the 'Caped Cruiser' isn't cheap. 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