They're fairly pointless, but the way Disney makes money off of them when people collect them also applies to actual US coins and currency. That's why the US Mint makes things like series of dollar coins with all the Presidents on them, or the 50 state quarters. If somebody just collects them instead of spending them, that's revenue for the government, equal to the difference between the face value and the cost of production (that's called seigniorage).
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Face value is one thing, but when you have a group of fans that spans the world and is deeply loyal, I think that's the makings of a de facto currency. And since they don't make these anymore, the collector value certainly has been going up.