Toast is a census-designated place in Surry County, North Carolina, United States, just west of Mount Airy. The population was 1,922 at the 2000 census. A post office called Toast has been in operation since 1929. The name "Toast" was supplied by the Post Office Department. E. P. McLeod, the school principal, supposedly came up with the name while buying groceries at Hutchens Store one evening in 1927.