2000 Playoff Prestige: "Alma Mater Materials" Insert
2008 Upper Deck SP Authentic: "Rookie Jersey Numbers" Insert
1997 Proline: "Emerald Autographs" Insert Set
2000 Playoff Prestige: "Alma Mater Materials" Insert
Jay's Football Cards
Topps: Five Stars
Topps: Five Stars Collection (Updated June 7th, 2026)
In 1991, Topps added its "Super Premium" title to counter Fleer's "Super Premium" brand that had entered the hobby, titled Fleer Ultra. In 2010, they upped the ante again with the Topps Five-Star title. I felt this title was a little late to the game. Upper Deck released its Upper Deck Ultimate title in 2003. And just like this Upper Deck title, the Topps Five-Star title wasn't for kids. These cards are for the adult collectors. The base cards are #'d to an extremely low number of 79. The cardstock is firm, and the photography is unique (See the 2010 Topps Five-Star "Adrian Peterson" #10 left). Due to the high cost of producing a set like this, the set size is smaller than most sets, 180 cards. I guess Topps wanted to make sure that the title was a hit first before it spent too much on a larger set. One hundred and eighty cards is pretty low. They did, however, spend a lot of money putting together 8 high-quality insert sets.
2010 Topps Five-Star: “Adrian Peterson” #10*
Since I haven't collected the 2010 through 2012 sets yet or any of their insert sets yet, I'll stick to the base set write-up only.
*Note: I do not own the card above. Unfortunately, I haven't taken the time to put this set together.
Topps followed up the small '10 release with a slightly larger release. And I do mean, slighty. It was 183 cards. The 2011 release contained 183 cards. I can only guess that the '10 release was a success due to the
slight uptick in the number of cards in the '11 release. Again, the cardstock was solid and really added to the durability of the cards (See the 2011 Topps Five Star "Philip Rivers" #144 right). And again, the real gem here, were the insert sets. Twelve insert sets. And all of them were either jerseys, patches and autographs. High end Stuff. Not priced for kids.
2012 Topps Five Star: “Malcolm Floyd” #47*
*Note: I do not own the card above. Unfortunately, I haven't taken the time to put this set together.
The 2012 Five-Star release really jumped up in set size this year. Obviously, this new Ultra Premium adult title was surpassing all predictions and estimates. It moved from 183 in 2011 to 190 in 2012. The release in 2012 had the same style as its predecessors, a player cut out and pasted onto a themed background. This was Topps' Five-Star title routine (See the 2012 Topps Five Star "Malcolm Floyd" #47 left). The '12 release keep the insert titles pretty much the same, all Jerseys and autographs. The insert sets went from 12 to 13. That is a huge number of sets, especially when they are all high-end cards, such as these.
The 2013 Topps Five-Star was the same as all the previous Five-Star releases. A player cut-out on a themed background. This release did have a significant drop in cards to 145 cards, (See the 2013 Topps Five-Star "Patrick Peterson" #54 right). The base cards are numbered to 208...for whatever reason.
The rookie memorabilia cards for this set are a gem. (See the 2013 Topps Five Star "Dion Jordan" Rookie Jersey Autograph #110 left below). The jersey swatch is a solid size, and they are numbered to a pretty nice number...94. No idea why that number was chosen.
2011 Topps Five Star: “Philip Rivers” #144*
*Note: I do not own the card above. Unfortunately, I haven't taken the time to put this set together.
2013 Topps Five Star: “Patrick Peterson” #54*
*Note: I do not own the card above.
2013 Topps Five Star: “Dion Jordan” Rookie Jersey Autograph #110
The real treasure with this title are the insert sets. And there are 12 of them. These insert sets are high-end cards that are perfectly designed and laid out.
The first set I'd like to talk about is the general Jumbo Jersey Relic set and the Gold parallel set (See the 2013 Topps Five Star "DeAndre
2013 Topps Five Star: “DeAndre Hopkins” Jumbo Jerseys Relic #FSJJR-DH
Hopkins" Jumbo Jersey Relics #FSJJR-DH below left). The Jumbo Jerseys have been a part of the hobby for a while now, but they are always nice to include in a release. The Jumbo Jerseys come in 2 versions, the regular version seen above and the Gold version, which is numbered to 25. I love sets numbered to 25; it seems like a perfect number of scarcity.
Another really solid insert set is the Futures Dual Autographs Patch. Whether it's the rookies or veterans, this insert set in book form is wildly successful. The design is sharp, the patches are just big enough, and there is ample place for the player to sign (See the 2013 Topps Five Stars "Manti Te'o / Keenan Allen" Futures Dual Autograph Patch #FSFDAP-AT below left). And these cards aren't easy to get, they're numbered very low (This one is numbered to 15), and normally they're priced around $50 for even the most common of rookies. Another thing I want to point out is the fact that these cards fold in half, just like a book. A very nice touch. Definitely not the first card to do this, but very cool nonetheless.
2013 Topps Five Star: “Keenan Allen / Manti Te'o” Futures Dual Autograph Patch #FSFDAP-AT*
*Note: I do not own the card above.
2013 Topps Five Star: “Manuel / Smith / Glennon / Barkley” Futures Quadra-Graph Book #FSFQ-1
Piggybacking on the Futures Dual Autograph card is the Futures Quadra-Graph Book. This one, in particular, has four of the top rookie quarterbacks. The autos aren't stickers either; they are cards signed. And when you have a card like this numbered to 10, you have a pretty solid gem (See the 2013 Topps Five Star "E.J. Manuel / Geno Smith / Mike Glennon / Matt Barkley" Futures Quadra-Graph #FSFQ-1 below left). Unfortunately, Beckett removed these cards from their Annual price guide, so I have no idea how many cards are in the set.
To round out the awesome group of insert sets is the "Futures 4-Piece Autograph Book," as it's called on the card back, or if you go by what Beckett calls it, it's called the "Rookie Autographed Quad Jersey". So take your pick, but either way, it's a great card set. And when you have a card like this numbered as low as 15, you have a pretty solid gem (See the 2013 Topps Five Star "Zach Ertz" Futures 4-Piece Autograph Book #FSFA4-ZE below left). And when you can get them as Jersey Patches, as shown left, it's tough to beat this card for a Rookie card.
2013 Topps Five Star: “Zach Ertz” Futures 4-Piece Autograph Book #FSFA4-ZE*
*Note: I do not own the card above.
In closing, the "Topps: Five Star" brand was just an awesome extension to the Topps family. Yes, it was a totally different brand, definitely with a different age group in mind (those of us like me, older with a little more lunch money), but in reality, the Topps Five-Star brand was such an upper-tier title. I really wonder where we can go from here? What is there left to do? Regardless of your opinion, it's safe to say the collector should feel safe that if they are going after either this title or, say, the Upper Deck Ultimate title, they are truly getting a lot of bang for their buck!! Yes, the set sizes are horrendously small, but the insert sets are truly amazing!!
I have complete sets:
Topps Five Stars:
1) 2010 Topps Five Star - Do Not Have
2) 2011 Topps Five Star - Do Not Have
3) 2012 Topps Five Star - Do Not Have
4) 2013 Topps Five Star - Incomplete ( 24 / 146 )
A) Futures Dual Autographs Insert - Incomplete ( 8 / 29 )
B) Futures Dual Autograph Patch Book Insert - Incomplete ( 2 / 30 )
C) Dual Patch Insert - Incomplete ( 5 / X )*
D) Futures Quadra-Graph Book Cards Insert - Incomplete ( 1 / X )*
E) Jumbo Jerseys Insert - Incomplete ( 49 / 50 )
F) Jumbo Jerseys Gold Insert - Incomplete ( 19 / 50 )
G) Rookie Autograph Quad Jersey Insert - Incomplete ( 6 / 30 )
H) Rookie Quotable Autographs Insert - Incomplete ( 2 / X )*
7) 2014 Topps Five Star - Do Not Have
*Note: I'm not quite sure how many cards are in this set.
