Moose Jaw man has around 50,000 Star Wars items

In a theatre not, not far away in a time not long ago, millions of Canadian fans will head out to watch Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker over the weekend.

But it’s doubtful any of them are as big of a fan of the franchise as Moose Jaw’s Ryan Johnson.

Johnson has a collection of about 50,000 Star Wars items — enough to make any intergalactic bounty hunter jealous.

“I’ve been collecting Star Wars (items) since I was a little kid in the late ’70s,” Johnson told the Greg Morgan Morning Show on Thursday.

Johnson’s collection has grown so massive over the years that he had to build an addition onto his home in order to keep them somewhere.

“I kept running out of room and kept everything in boxes and I decided I needed to have a way to be able to enjoy it and show it off to my friends and family when they’re over,” Johnson said.

“I don’t know anyone who’s got more stuff but I know some people have some pretty impressive stuff. I’m quite proud of my collection. It’s got everything that I’m looking for.”

He said he tries to keep his items in pristine condition. His addition was built and designed to try and keep as much dust out as possible.

“I’m trying to keep it almost museum-like conditions,” he said. “I try to keep humidity down to a certain level.”

Johnson also has special cases for some of the more rare items to protect them if something were to ever happen to the room.

But the rarest of the items are kept in a secret location.

“I have certain things that I just don’t want left with the collection,” Johnson said. “If I know certain people are coming over, I may bring them out but just in case someone were to ever get into the house, the most valuable things wouldn’t go missing.”

Johnson said he keeps two databases when it comes to his collection — things he already owns and items he still needs to track down.

“There’s a few items I still need to get but that’s what collecting is all about,” he said. “Eventually I’ll get them; it’s just a matter of time.”