Around the end of 1988, Patrick Leonard approached bassist Guy Pratt about forming a band and helping him audition and recruit members, as the two had become friends through working on Madonna's "Like a Prayer" song and I'm Breathless album, and other material previously.

Pratt agreed and from then through the beginning of 1989, they recruited singer/lyricist/multi-instrumentalist Kevin Gilbert, drummer Brian MacLeod, and guitarist Tim Pierce to complete the ensemble.

Starting in late 1990, the group engaged in heavy radio promotion wherever possible, most notably frequent appearances on The Mark & Brian Show on Los Angeles-area station KLOS.

Two of the songs on Toy Matinee—"The Ballad of Jenny Ledge" and "Last Plane Out"—received wide play on AOR stations partly due to Gilbert's promotional work, both of them peaking at No.

[7] Retrospectively, Tim Pierce has called Toy Matinee "the greatest band he ever joined",[8] while Guy Pratt has dubbed it "one of the coolest projects he was ever involved with.