Its been a while since i thought of doing an arudino project xD
But, heres a question:
Could I use an Infrared receiver from old toy or racing car and use it with my arduino?
Theoretically: yes, practically: it depends. If your toy uses one of the standard component and you either find a datasheet for it or you could guess the pin assignment from the toy's PCB layout, you could probably use it with your Arduino. Else you'll have a hard life :).